1st day of preschool and misc.

Brayden is going to the three day morning preschool this year. He had a fun first day and has seemed to enjoy his first few weeks. He only gives out the information that you pry out but seems to be having fun. Here he is on the first day of preschool:

Under the sign pic that we've done for the last four years. This will be the last...

Hanging on to his glue sticks
He was happy to see the play dough sitting out on the table when we arrived.

Brayden and Alexis are both loving school. Alexis is still running off the bus this year and opening her bag to show us all the fun things she is bringing home. Although she hasn't really had much homework and won't have much until 3rd grade. We are really enjoying her new school and can't wait for the year to progress on and see all the things they will be learning. She will be starting to learn the Chinese language for the next three years and then in 4th grade will have the option to either continue on with Chinese or learn Spanish. What a great opportunity! In the next few years our kids will be speaking Chinese to each other and we won't have a clue what they are talking about... We may have to do something about this!:)

We did end up putting our house on the market. We don't have any plans right now. We just want to see what happens. There are a few places that we are interested in buying but we would have to make a contingent offer, so might as well put it on the market and see if there are any takers?!. We are very excited about our future, time will tell...

Other than that I've been busy putting a digital scrapbook together for one of my clients. Work is picking up a bit for me too which is wonderful. Jason's job is the same as of right now. Alexis will be turning seven in a few weeks! We'll be having a birthday party for her at a hotel. She is back in gymnastics and is going on Saturdays. Brayden is just enjoying life and has become a great helper(most of the time:)) when Alexis is not here.

We hope you all have a wonderful fall! I'll be back:)...

1st Day of 1st Grade

Alexis has been waiting all summer for this day to be here!

She was so happy that it was finally here
She is going to miss the cats, and yes the cats miss her too!

But the time has finally arrived for her to get on the big yellow bus again. We are very lonely at home without her!

Riley and Brayden will both be in preschool this year but on different days. So our schedule is all crazy starting next week! We are enjoying the end of summer and are looking into new living arrangements. We will see how that goes:) I also got my camera lens back and they said there was nothing wrong with it. I hope they are right! We will see...

Park

Last Wednesday we went to the park and brought a picnic lunch. We had so much fun we also decided to go on Thursday.

Here is Brayden climbing the wall

Alexis on these:) Not sure exactly what they are called(they move around and have a chain attached to the bottom)
I love how you can see Alexis jumping in the background and the boys on the teeter tooter thingy:) Along with Abigail in the stroller

Brayden and Alexis taking a break

This picture was impossible:) I took over 30 pictures and there was always someone not looking(mainly Riley, he wasn't in the picture taking mood:))

Open House and Meeting with Alexis teacher

Last week, Monday, we went to the open house/ribbon cutting at Alexis' new school. Grandma and Grandpa were able to make it too. Alexis did a good job of showing them around. It was fun to go see all the rooms put together:)

Here is Alexis at her spot at the table in her room: She has her very own window seat!

Then here is the cutting of the ribbon and the official opening of the school:)
Last Wednesday we went in to meet with Alexis teacher and talk to her about the upcoming school year.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel like I keep repeating myself:)

I haven't had much time to blog lately.

Changes are coming our way, maybe, we will see:)

More to follow... sometime...soon...;)

Hope your all enjoying the summer/fall weather!

School workday #2

On Saturday we volunteered again at Alexis new school.While Jason(cleaned, vacuumed, weeded the garden and tended to the kids and others)

I worked at getting
all these books logged into the computer. I think there were about 700 between the two of us typing them in. (They are looking for more if anyone has any books to donate let me know:))

I asked Alexis to walk around and take pictures:) Here is what we got:

Brayden and daddy cleaning out the windows

Daddy(I'm not sure what he is doing here?)

A view out one of her classroom windows towards the playground

Ladybugs up on the second floor which will be the teachers area for their desks. I think they will be doing some cleaning after everything else downstairs is done.

Also after the workday was done and we went walking around I saw a bat hanging upside down in a doorway next to this(the kids never saw it during the day)(there are no pictures of it because I ventured back downstairs after I showed J and the kids:):

After Alexis took the pictures her and Brayden did a little marker testing

This building is the home of the 6th grade classroom(and 7th grade next year) along with a gymnasium that has a stage and an overlook area.

There is also a football field and sand volleyball court along with a basketball hoop area and 4 square.

This is the back of the main building.

We are very excited for her to start 1st grade this year and Brayden will be going next year:) Next Monday will be a big night, they will have a ribbon cutting and are inviting the community to come see the grounds. I can't wait to see the school all put together!:):)

Saturday the 15th...

We went on a little getaway with my mom and dad. My mom had to make an exchange at a store in Stillwater and we told them we would tag along with them. I had never been to Stillwater, it is a really neat little town. Its your basic tourist area by the river, which has a lot of little boutique shops down main street.

While making the exchange the lady at the shop had asked us if we had been to...
We hadn't, so she gave us directions to go down the street and up the hill and we found a really nice play area:) With a BIG teddy bear...

The view overlooks the downtown and the Stillwater lift bridge...

Grandma had her camera and took a few pictures of the kids playing

I talked Alexis into climbing this wall

to get on top of it... Grandpa tried to get Brayden to go up but his legs are still a bit short!:)

And here are mom, dad and Jason hanging out in the humid weather, watching the kids...

We wandered back down the hill and walked down to see the river

We walked down just in time to see the bridge up, to let a few boats through...

Then the kids(and adults) were getting hungry so we found a restaurant by the river to eat at.

It was a fun day!

Goodbye...

After our family left I sent my camera lens off to be fixed:( It had not been working right for a month or so. Which means I really haven't taken many pictures. My backup lens is a standard 50mm, which means I can't zoom! Zooming is my friend. And it being 50mm I have to stand far away from what I want to take a picture of. I did hear that Nikon received the lens and it is logged into their computers(whatever that means?) They gave me no estimation of when I will have it back. I did use my old camera this weekend, but need to catch you up on the weekend before this last weekend first!

OK thay probably didn't make any sense:) So, in simple terms I will be posting again very soon!!:)

Rainy Day

Friday was a rainy day. The night before Kayla, Mitch and Luke went to Valleyfair. They spent the night at Aunt Kelly's and came out to our house mid morning. When the rain was in between downpours they brought in the prized monkey that Kayla won!

Brayden jumped on it

Aunt Kelly and Tyler

There was pretty much no way that Monkey was getting back to California so guess where that monkey is! Yes, its keeping the huge pony company but guess what, the pony is no longer huge!!!:) Thank you Kayla!

The End(of the pictures):) We had such a fun time with Jen and the family that we recently booked some very reasonable tickets to visit them this winter in San Diego! We can't wait:) But, shhh the kids don't know yet!

Firetrucks and Birthdays

Tuesday night we went to Aunt Amy's house. When we were there a firetruck pulled into their neighborhood for family night out(or something like that?) The kids had fun getting into the firetruck

Baby Michael didn't know what to think of the boots:)
Then later in the week we celebrated a few birthdays. Aunt Kelly

Oops this picture is out of order! Sydney and Alexis spent the night at Aunt Amys on Friday and they went to the Mall of America. They did a few rides and Sydney did a little shopping and then they ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Later when they went home they made bracelets and Rice Krispy Bars. Oh yes and the girls stayed up way past their bedtime!:) Saturday when they came to the lake they took a self portrait:)

I made a cake:) It was very yummy

Sydneys birthday

Kaylas birthday

More to come...