Animals

We went to the zoo last Tuesday after Kindergarten. Preston wanted to take a nap, but when I asked him if he wanted to see elephants and giraffes he was excited and forgot about his nap (he likes his naps). We picked up Kate, gave her a lunch to eat in the car and had Preston tell her where we were going. She was excited too. We used to have a zoo pass, but haven't had one for a while so it was fun to go again. The kids were actually well behaved (shocking!) and so we all had a good time. Plus, it wasn't busy so that made it nice.

I love this picture of Preston pointing with such excitement when he saw the giraffes eating the trees. He's been to the zoo before, but now he could express himself and actually enjoy it. It was fun to show him the animals.

The Elephants! Preston's favorite animal right now. He was so excited to see them and we stayed and watched them for a while.

They actually were moving around, eating and breaking bamboo sticks.

I had to include this picture of Preston because he is up on the table next to Lindsey in the bouncy chair often. He will talk to her and most of the time be nice to her.

Finally!!!

Kyle got a job!!!!

I've been wanting to say this for a very l o n g time. He just found out tonight at 4:50pm! We don't have a start date yet (so hopefully the job doesn't fall through after I've told everyone!). He will be working for a bank. The bank has a lot of property and developments so he will be doing a lot of the same stuff he was doing before. He is excited and nervous at the same time because it's been 20 months since he's been laid off. Such a long time! The bank is only 5 minutes from our house so his commute will be fabulous. We feel very blessed and so grateful for all our family and friends and the many times they fasted and prayed on our behalf. Tonight for dinner, I said the prayer and thanked Heavenly Father that Kyle got a job. Afterwards, Kate said "we've been praying so long for Daddy to get a job and it worked!"

Life Lately

My Mom made this adorable jumper for Kate and she loved it. Well, I washed it and it not only shrunk, but the pink bled onto the white and green part of the flower!!! I was so sad! She had only worn it once and it's ruined. Thank goodness my Mom is such a nice grandma (and Mom) she is going to make another one. :)

Kate and Preston love to play with and hold Lindsey. Here she is having tummy time with them. It's cute because Preston will ask to "hold her" and gives her lots of kisses (as well as the times when he has hit her or pinched her or... you know...what 2 1/2 yr old big brothers do). Preston had an eye check-up and the doctor wants us to patch his good eye so he uses the other eye more and strengthens it. The doctor thinks he probably could use glasses, but we all agreed he wouldn't keep them on. So we are supposed to patch either 4 hrs every other day or 2 hrs every day. We are going to try the 2 hrs every day. It's been a fight the last 2 times we have tried. I tried again today and it was a fight for the first 1/2 hr, but then the rest of the time he did fine, but doesn't like it. Poor kid. I wouldn't want to play with my eye patched either!

This picture turned sideways when I uploaded it, but I thought it was cute of her on Sunday with her flower that Melanie made for her. Lindsey is getting so long and big. She is sleeping good and we are working on getting a schedule down. It's just hard when we have to run errands or go somewhere during her normal nap time. So goes the life a 3rd child.

I've been watching cooking shows on the Food Network lately and Kate will watch them with me. Then she will go into the kitchen and pretend to have a cooking show. It's funny to listen to her, but annoying to have her make the mess. But I remember doing that and pretending to have a cooking show too. I was also watching a special on Taylor Swift one day and Kate watched it with me. She didn't know who she was so I was telling her about her and what she does. Well, now Kate loves Taylor Swift and asks to watch her show so she can dance to her music.

Kate's Real First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of Kindergarten for Kate!!!

Kate in her new outfit with her new backpack! She is feeling a lot better today and was excited to go to school. I took her and got pictures in front of her school and at her desk. There are lots of kids in her class, more than they want so they may open up another PM class, so I was helping out for a couple minutes. Kate was already making friends with the girl next to her. She was using her crayons and I told Kate she has crayons of her own, but Kate told me that the girl was sharing with her.

Being silly ;)

Kate in front of her school. (There were lots of kids around so it's suprising that there weren't any kids in her picture! I just noticed that!)

I'm excited for Kate to start school. I know she will do great there. After school, we are having her mini chocolate cupcakes with hot pink frosting and sprinkles for real this time.

First Day of Kindergarten- kind of

Kate's First Day of Kindergarten was spent like this!

What was supposed to be an exciting morning of getting dressed in a new outfit and going to Kindergarten for the first time turned into a morning of staying at home and not feeling well. Kate threw up last night before Kyle and I went to bed. Then, she threw up several more times throughout the night. So it was a long night between taking care of her and Lindsey. I even woke up this morning not feeling good. Lindsey and I were going to go with Kate to school (they want parents there the first day) while Kyle took Preston to preschool. We planned on coming home after school to a special treat (mini chocolate cupcakes with bright pink frosting and sprinkles). We even went to the back-to-school night at the school last night and had a good time meeing her teacher, seeing her classroom, getting a free book, getting a plastic fireman hat and eating dessert. So maybe tomorrow Kate will be better and she can go to Kindergarten for her "first" day. I will have to take a picture then. I just felt bad that she couldn't go on the first day of school because she has been looking forward to this day ALL summer long asking how much longer until she can go to Kindergarten.

Lindsey was smiling at us last week. She is going cross-eyed in this picture which makes us all laugh.

All dressed up for Church.

Round 2 for Weekend Getaway

Call us crazy, but we went back over to my parent's house again! After Lindsey's appointment on Wednesday (she weighed 9 lbs 14 oz so that was good weight gain, she probably weighs more now since that was a week ago), Kyle was going to leave to go to the demolition derby in Moses Lake with my Dad. Well, I decided to go with him instead of staying behind with Lindsey and Preston. So I hurried and packed up again and we left! My family was excited to have us back. Or at least that is what they said. ha ha. We were going to come home Thursday night, but kept getting talked into staying so we ended up staying until Sunday! I went to Tri-Cities on Friday with my Mom and all the kids. I picked out material for my Mom to make Lindsey's blessing dress. Then on Saturday, we went to the Moses Lake Aquatic Park and then on Sunday we had a family dinner where Jeni and her family came out and we played games and my Mom made spudnut donuts. What a fun weekend!

Jared with all the kids in the pool attacking him. He's such a good uncle to all of them!

Grandma Helen Gene with Lindsey.

I thought this was funny of Lindsey sleeping.

My Mom sitting between the kids in the back. She was a big help in giving out snacks to the kids and feeding Lindsey. I need her with me all the time! Carter (Jeni's kid) came to stay at grandma's house on Friday so this was all of us on the way to the water park.

Kate loves to feed Lindsey and always wants us to talk to Lindsey. Anytime we are holding Lindsey, Kate will say, "talk to her Mom". I'm glad that she loves her new sister.