Is it really October!?

Wow, we have been busy around here!


We have spent a lot of fun times with Jason's side of the family this past week.

Jena and one of her daughters, Sydney and son Tyler arrived on time late Thursday night. Jason picked them up at the airport. Friday we had a slow morning, I got Alexis on the bus and then we just relaxed, that afternoon we went to the lake. It was a beautiful day. Just the right temperature and sunny. Jason took the kids for rides on the jet ski and took them tubing also. Tyler and Brayden played in the water with Jena and Lyndie. That night a few more people came. We were able to meet our newest great nephew, Michael. We helped Jen make her yummy spaghetti. Mmmm so good!

On Saturday we had plans to meet at the Mall of America. About 30 minutes before we were suppose to leave. Alexis started acting different, she was complaining of pains in her stomach. I decided to stay home with her and about and hour later she got sick:( Once she did that she was pretty much back to normal and kept saying Brayden is having more fun then me and I wish I wasn't sick:( I feel so bad for her. She was really looking forward to the merry go round and being with family! We were able to take a walk in the afternoon and got some fresh air. Everyone arrived around 5:30 and I made Korean BBQ(Bulgogi) for them. Aunt Kelly brought cheesecake, so good!!

Sunday we hosted a wedding shower brunch for Jason's nephew Kyle and Liz. I had a lot of help from my sister in laws. Everyone seemed to have a fun time and we had lots of good food. Once everyone left, a few of us had some great conversation and enjoyed some potato soup that Jena made:)

Monday was the day Jen left. We hung out for the morning and then Jason and Kelly brought Jen back to the airport. It was sad to see them go home. They say they will be back in August, we can't wait to see them then:)

Tyler is just too cute:)

Brayden, Jason and Sydney on the jet ski

Brayden and Aunt Kelly

Brayden and Cousin Lyndie

Jason walking with Tyler on the dock

Roar-Playing with Sydney

Tyler playing peek a boo with Jason

Jason put Tyler to sleep on the 4 wheeler

Brayden having fun playing with Cousin Luke

Jason pulling Sydney and Alexis on the tube

Jason and Mitch

Aunt Amy and Tyler

Brayden and Sydney playing again.

Jason holding our great nephew Michael

Sydney and Alexis had a lot of fun playing together too. Sydney did a lot of reading to Alexis.

Saturday when Alexis was feeling better. The cat she is holding was from Jen, she sleeps with it every night along with her other 2 stuffed and 1 real:)

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

Wow three posts in one day:)

Every year we go through the process of collecting caterpillars. Feeding them milkweed until they make a cocoon and then they turn into the butterfly. This spring/summer wasn't a good year for the monarchs. We weren't able to find any caterpillars until about 3 weeks ago when we found 5 of them within a few weeks. So Sunday was the day that 2 of them came out and became butterflys. The kids were super excited. We waited for them to dry out a little and let them start opening and closing their wings. Then we brought them outside and let them walk on us and then put them on some flowers for them to fly away when they were ready.


Here we are opening the container for one of them to get out.

Alexis took it first


She said it was tickling her arm

So it was Braydens turn

If you look close you can see one on the flowers in the background by my hand and one on the stick .

We were able to see one fly away but the other one was sneeky and flew away when we weren't looking. Alexis brought one to school which should be coming out tomorrow or Wednesday. Then we have one left which just made it's cocoon last Friday.

Fun Times

I love it when Alexis gets off the bus after school. She always runs in the door. Opens up her backpack and digs in to get everything out. She was so excited today and wouldn't look at me or talk to me. I figured out why in a just a few seconds. Out came this little homemade envelope. She lost her third tooth today. It's been loose for a while since the two next to it started coming up. She explained the whole story she was out on the playground and it was turning around so she went to her teacher and her teacher pulled it out for her. She was worried about loosing it on the playground:) I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring her tonight?

Another thing to be proud of. Alexis is student of the week in gym class:) Exciting!

This was Abigails first day at daycare.

Brayden putting Abigail to sleep

First time in the saucer

Tummy time

Sorry, I haven't had much time to blog lately.

We have managed to kill all of the lice from Alexis head! Thank goodness(I'm also knocking on wood!) It actually didn't take too long. They were all gone by last Monday night. She has been able to go to school since Tuesday. She continues to love school and even loves riding the bus. Last Thursday I was going to drop her off at school and she said no thanks I want to ride the bus! One more fun thing Alexis told us this weekend, was that the kids in her class ran around the track at school and she was the first one to finish:)

Brayden is loving preschool. He misses Alexis during the day but he is also becoming a lot more independent. When Alexis first started school him and Riley would not go downstairs by themselves. Now today they are down playing in the toyroom with toys I haven't seen in 6 months:)

We have been keeping busy. I have a baby in the house these days, wow you forget how much work they are:) It is so fun though! It almost makes me want to have another:) Abigail is too cute and gets bigger everytime I see her! She is only 8 weeks old almost 9. Work at the salon has slowed quite a bit these days. Jason is still crazy busy at work which is great.

Jasons sister Jen, one of her daughters and son will be coming from California late Thursday night and staying until Monday afternoon. We are excited to see them. We have plans to go to the MOA and hanging out at the lake. We are also hosting a shower(brunch) for Jason's nephew Kyle and Liz' wedding.

Look at how much Brayden has grown!

I couldn't believe these pictures when I was comparing them! Look at where Braydens head ends on the door in the first picture and then look at the second picture. Wow he has to have grown 3 or 4 inches in the last year. I knew he seemed taller!

All I need to say is Head Lice. Are you itching yet?

Oh the joys of school:) While putting Alexis hair up the other day, I noticed a couple bugs. They were brown I didn't really think anything of it because I always thought head lice was white. Nope! The actual bug that lays the white eggs is brown. I googled head lice and the nightmare began!

A friend told me to use Mayo and cover the head with a shower cap and let it sit there as long as possible. Alexis lasted through a whole movie. Then we used Dawn soap to wash it out and then shampooed with a coconut shampoo. This worked great. It was really hard to get out the eggs with the comb I had so I went to the drug store and bought RID which had a special comb in it. We picked up all her stuffed animals and toys and bedding. It is all in bags for a couple weeks.

This morning when I combed through it after combing last night there were still a few live lice so I used the rid and combed through it again. 4 hours later we were at the school and they sent us home because there were a few empty egg shells that I had missed. Alexis was so upset(She absolutely loves school)! So we went home 4 kids in tow and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Washing everything I could. Then we picked out the few eggs shells that were left over.

I'm praying I got them all and there are no more live ones tomorrow morning! What a nightmare!

So that is the excitement in our lives right now. Off to wash some rugs:)

Brayden started preschool last week!

Tuesday was Braydens special day. We dropped Alexis off at school and were on our way to preschool. Brayden was really excited to go play with the kids escpecially his friend Adrianna:) The first day of preschool the parents stay and play with the kids. It was fun to see him playing and running around.

Alexis and Brayden before school.(Braydens backpack looks so huge on him!)

SO excited to start the day!

Checking out the tape measure

Him and his friend Adrianna sorting bears

Braydens turn to show off his self portrait he drew along with his favorite things

Brayden and I traced his hand and cut out a heart representing the kissing hand from the book.

Too funny. Adrianna wouldn't sit down until Brayden was done washing his hands. She wanted to sit right next to him:)

Gold fish and juice time. Yummy!

Playing on the rope climb with another friend Owen

Brayden thought it would be a lot better to slide down on his belly.

Brayden went back to schoool on Thursday and had a blast! He talked my ear off all the way home!

A quick funny

Jason and the kids were playing tag tonight before bed. Brayden was it and he tells Jason as he is running to tag him "speed, I am speed". I guess you had to be here. But it was good laugh at the time:)

FYI:
If you haven't watched Cars 100+ times like we have, that is a line from the movie.

Today was the big day!

Alexis was all giddy this morning when I went to wake her up. Yes I had to wake her up the first time in a few years! We got her ready and then I had to wake up Brayden to bring Alexis to the bus. They are currently tearing up our road to town which is usually about a 10 minute stretch of road (We now have to go around and it took me 35 minutes to get to work tonight). So all the kids that live in this area met at one stop this morning. Which confused Alexis because she got off at the wrong bus stop after school (luckily it was a friends house).

So anyways, Alexis had a fun time at school. She came home and filled my fridge with artwork and papers(I think I need a bigger fridge). She came home and told us she was still green at the end of the day. Which means she was a good listener and didn't get into trouble. She was very proud of that.

She was a bit of a turkey when she got home though. Maybe too much attention today? Grandma called her to see how her day was and Alexis said "I don't want to talk to you" then handed the phone to Brayden. I wasn't home at the time but sounds like Jason dealt with the situation. When I got home she got a second talking to. I really think we are going to have our hands full with her? We will see!

Here she is getting her new shoes on:

Her bus:

She survived!

We went to meet Alexis teacher

Yesterday we went to meet Alexis teacher at school. Jason took the day off to go with, it was lots of fun. Alexis found her classroom and learned all about the things she will be doing. She is now excited to start tomorrow. Yeah! Mom's a little nervous about the bus ride but I won't tell her that:)

Here she is with her weighted down school bag before we left.

We walked into the room and started unloading it. Brayden was a little jealous. His day will be next week.

Here she is with her teacher.

Last night before bed she said she couldn't wait for kindergarten. She said the room looked like so much fun. Tomorrow is the big day. The bus will pick her up a little before 7:00 and I won't see my big little girl until 4:10:( tomorrow afternoon! She is going to have so much fun, I can't wait to hear all about it!

Thursday-Saturday

We went to see Tami, Riley and baby Abigail on Thursday. We spent the morning at their house. Holding Abigail and playing with Riley. It was fun to see them. They will both be coming for daycare two days next week. It should be a lot of fun!


Both Alexis and Brayden were able to hold Abigail and Alexis didn't want to stop:) Except we had to go because Alexis had gymnastics. It was her last day of summer gymnastics she will start the fall session in a few weeks. She has really improved in the last few months and leaves with a smile on her face every time. She only has a few skills to accomplish before moving up to the next level.


After that we picked up her friend Grace and they had a fun afternoon together playing outside in the sprinkler, and downstairs with the pony's!

Friday brought a few garage sales and lots of last minute running around before school starts. Alexis got a new pair of shoes and a different lunch bag. Oh yes and a few groceries to put in her lunches. I can't believe that she is starting school in on a few days!

We don't have a lot of plans for the weekend. Tami and Ryan might come out with the kids on Monday.

I want to say a Big CONGRATULATIONS to Jason's niece who had a very healthy baby boy(Michael David)last night! He was 9lbs 7oz, WOW! We hope everything is going well and can't wait to see a picture:)

Wednesday-Girls Day Out!

Alexis is starting Kindergarten this year so I wanted to do something special with her. She doesn't really need any new clothes so I decided to pamper her a little:)


I made appointments to get my hair done, her haircut and styled and she also got a pedicure and her fingernails polished. We had a great time and Alexis left feeling like a princess:)


Shampoo

Style-with curls

The Pedicure chair was a little to high for her so we had her sit in a different chair

I even soaked my feet and got a back massage from the chair while I waited.