Welcome to our World

  We hadn't been planning on it, but we ended up joining some of Dan's family at Disneyland in October and had a magnificent time.  How did Ethan put it?  The fun members of the family?  (:  Here are the 5 cousins while meeting characters during dinner at Goofy's kitchen.  This was the first time we did character dinning the children really loved it.  I later took the girls to Ariel's Grotto and they had a blast with the princesses.  Super not having to wait in long lines. There were several reasons we decided to go for it.  Since Dan's parents are on a mission in the Caribbean, we wouldn't be traveling out to see family over the holidays and this was a chance to spend quality time with part of the clan.  Also, with Kaelah beginning kindergarten next year and Colorado schools not having a fall break like Utah does this would be our last chance to enjoy the Halloween festivities at Disneyland.  Also, we had been thinking of do...

 My children can be such good helpers.  We had a great time planting new tulip bulbs in the front yard. I think they will be so proud when they come up next spring.  We will be giving the garden a rest, having been planted for 7 years now, so I have a feeling there will be lots and lots of flowers in our yard next year.  In October our family enjoyed making fancy Halloween sugar cookies.  I loved how creative and detailed Kaelah's cookies were.  Dying the dough instead of working with frosting was a Pinterest idea I'm glad I found and will certainly use the trick again.  The children also loved getting out the costumes on a daily basis.  Michelle practically wore out her costume -- I had to sew it back together before we even made it to Halloween.  Kaelah made sure to only wear her costume the week of Halloween to make sure hers stayed nice.  Danny's costume was actually a bit too small and very hot so he told me today to give i...

 We love autumn.  Here's a picture to prove we still have Meigo, she's still beautiful, and still gets attention once in a while.  Certainly not as much as she got back when it was just Kaelah & I at home all day, but enough.  For Michelle's half birthday, my mother used her cake genius to make Michelle a Mickey Mouse cake. Whenever Michelle discovers she can now do something she previously wasn't able to do she makes a comment about being bigger because she is two and a half now.  That child melts my heart.  All through the summer and now until the end of 2012 Danny & Michelle are continuing their gym class and Kaelah attends her dancenastics class.  It is amazing to see the progress the girls have made.  Danny seems to be getting bored -- he is naturally good at everything they ask him to do and has started to get crazy.  Kaelah sometimes doesn't want to go, so we'll be taking a break from Christmas until summer.  I'm s...

When Kaelah's best friend moved away around Memorial Day I promised that Kaelah and I would come visit her.  We did so Sept. 7-9 and enjoyed a great quick weekend visit.  We couldn't have asked for a better host family.  It was also wonderful to simply spent time alone with Kaelah.  Oldest children don't get that opportunity very often. On Friday we arrived in time to pick up Bernadette from kindergarten.  Smiles! We liked visiting Santa Monica pier, complete with carrosel and cotton candy.  Kaelah was so excited to have her picture taken with the Subway sandwich guy.  I'll blame a love of characters on our trip to Disney World last fall.  (: Kaelah & I were very happy to see the ocean again.  She & I relish the sound of the waves. Saturday was beach day, where we met the G. family, which had moved to San Diego in July.  Seeing Kristine & Bernadette and Kaelah playing in the waves together made those 2 airp...

Way too much time went by before we made it back to Coot Lake.  My dad joined us and Kaelah and Danny sure took advantage of that.  First they got their hands wet and used his knees as a towel.  Then they went in up to their waists and sat on him, laughing hysterically the entire time.  I'm glad he's a good sport and can ham it up for his grandchildren.  There is no way I would have let them do that to me!  The last picture is of Michelle's feet to prove she had a great time too.  Let's just say all of my kids, even the black 4 legged one got baths asap.  It was a wonderful time.

Choosing preschool was super hard for me this year.  I love Waldorf education but Dan and I decided it just isn't worth the tuition when you already pay for public school with your tax money.  So, for Kaelah's last year before kindergarten, and Danny's first year as a preschooler, I had to decide what to do.  I felt it would be a major shock to the system to go from a 3 day Waldorf school to a 5 day public school, so a more modern main stream approach was what I had to find.  I originally signed Kaelah up for the preschool program at the elementary school I want her to attend.  I felt that would be the easiest transition, but we were #2 on the waiting list and told there was no hope of getting in.  So the search continued.  Extra long story short, Kaelah attends an at-home preschool on Monday/Wednesday with a friend in the ward who used to be a kindergarden teacher.  On Tuesday/Thursday both Kaelah & Danny participate in a co-op preschool w...

Jessica had the idea to go on a field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion the week Kaelah & Danny learned about the letter B in preschool and I couldn't resist.  I was super proud of Kaelah for being willing to hold Rosie the tarantula this time.  She was so brave Michelle & Danny did too.  I had to suppress a giggle when Danny had Michelle go before him.