First Day of Preschool!

 Dad said Macy had NO problems going to Preschool on her first day.  We were a little concerned because our first choice was preschool on Jon's campus, just a walk away from Dad's office.  They sent an email announcing they would be closing their doors in December after 30 years of service to the community to make room for students.  This email came in July.  We scrambled and visited a couple other preschools knowing they, too, would soon fill up.  We settled on Xavier Preschool, the other catholic preschool in Leavenworth. 

Macy and all the other students have to have the same bag, but preschoolers do not need to wear a uniform.  She picked out her own outfit for the first day, and Jon said she did famously when he dropped her off.  Immediately, she found a friendly face, Carson, with whom she knows b/c his dad works at the university, too.  Jon said she didn't shed a tear.  After I received his text at work, I high-fived my coworkers (yes, I still high-five) and felt confident she would do well this year.

But, then I got a little sad b/c Macy won't be small and easy to rock soon.  She knows she's my little baby and will rock with me anytime I ask.  She loves to be held and carried places, even by Caitlin, who loves to carry her, too!  My heart was so happy that she was not sad, but made me also realize that she, too, is growing up just like her sister and it all goes too fast.  I'm just thankful I get to spend as much time as I do with them and hopefully slow time down as much as I can. 

First Day of 2nd Grade!

 Oh my gosh.  Second grade sounds so old!  Caitlin is entering her second year at Lansing Elementary and although excited, she was nervous, too.  I let her wear a necklace of mine so she could think of me, and Dad said she was a little distraught on the way to school b/c it kept tangling.  He gave her a big pep talk and then she wouldn't even let him walk her in!  She is growing up so fast!  She looks so grown up in this picture and everyday.

Macy wanted to be in the picture, too, although she had to go to work with dad for the next week.  What a couple of cuties!  Makes me well up a little now that they are both in school, but I remind myself that Macy is still in preschool for awhile and I'm totally good with that.   If she stays there for a long while.

Family Vacation - Wisconsin Dells 2011!

This past August, my mom took our family and my sister's family on vacation to Wisconsin Dells - home of the biggest waterpark in the U.S.!

The start of the trip: Grandma was a TROOPER and rode in the backseat nearly the entire way (which ended up being like 7 hours)...

 Here is a picture of Caitlin and I during the hour I spent in the back seat.

Mom wanted to do the "Oregon Ducks," which I assumed was watching ducks from a boat.  In all actuality, it's a tour of the area in this boat/road rider thing - a huge attraction for those vacationing in the Dells.  The kids thought it was a blast - especially SPLASHING into the river! 

Talia and Macy posing for pix - they're so good at it.

In the "party room," as my mom called it - Kelly and Brian and the kids relaxing before we went to our second waterpark.

The kids - ready for bed - and pouncing on Grandma...again, what a TROOPER!

While Jon golfed one morning and Grandma went to her time share meeting, Brian, Kelly and I took the girls to an indoor amusement and game arcade.  Macy LOVED the airplanes, Caitlin was thrilled to ride the bungee shoot and roller coaster and Talia wanted to ride EVERYTHING!  She kept saying, "I'm brave!"

I think Kelly gets the TROOPER award at this game playin' Extravaganza!

I'm pretty sure Caitlin's favorite part of every waterpark was the wave pool.  She did karate against the waves.  Dad through her in the waves.  She dove in the waves, got carried like a mermaid through the waves.  She rode the tube with Grandma in the waves.  She just loves waves, I guess.

We had a great time.  The girls loved seeing Grandma, their aunt and uncle and cousin.  They loved waking up and going next door and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Fights were rare, but fun was abundant!  It was a great time and we are so thankful Grandma took us on this trip! :)  Wonder what we're doing next year????

"Bake Sale!"

 Not your typical bake sale...the girls decided they wanted to "bake cookies" with play-doh - they are big fans of creativity and of play-doh.  Jon - not a fan of the play-doh.  Sometimes I just let them go for it, though, and I even let them set up their "kitchen" on their dresser top because, of course, play-doh is much easier to vacuum up than sweep off the dining room floor, right?

 They had an absolute blast.  I let them use whatever cookie cutters they wanted.  They only charged a quarter a cookie, too!  That is, until dad got home.  When he arrived, they named their price, and when he said he only had dollar bills, they said they'd accept those.  He handed Caitlin a dollar and she gave him one cookie.  He said, "What about the other 3?"  She said, "3 dollars!"  He reminded her that if he paid her a dollar, that was actually worth 4 quarters; the price of 4 cookies."  She looked at him quizically and said, "Price went up, dad, since you only had a dollar."  What a business woman.

I got off the hook and left Jon with clean up.  Maybe I'm the smart business woman.  :)

Great Wolf Lodge Mini Vacation 2011

Last year, we went to Great Wolf Lodge, courtesy of gift cards from Grandma Dawn, and Grandma and Grandpa Rudy & Tootie.  When we went there, the Triple Twist Slide was "out of commission," so they gave us 4 free day passes to come back and enjoy on this random super hot summer Tuesday!

Our girls were not the daredevil go down every slide as many times as you can kinda kids here.  They liked the safe staples...the 1000 gallon bucket (Caitlin stood almost completely under it...a safe distance away),

the water contraption that they played with for hours last time, and again, raced to start and stop the water in this intriguing, safe stationary toy,

and the spouting fountains that mezmorized Macy...

We did convince Macy to go down a small Frog slide outside, and we forced Caitlin to go down one of the large fast major slides of Great Wolf Lodge.  In fact, I took Caitlin up, she started crying, and I told her there was no other way down except to go down the slide.  Then, Jon took her up, crying all the way, and he said a lady behind gave him an "Awww," look, and he said, "It's okay, she cries each time and we just keep on forcing her to go down," and supposedly the lady said, "Good for you."  It's possible we are damaging her fear level, but we just KNEW she'd love it!  (those were the only 2 times she went down any slide today, by the way)...

We played from 9:30am-4:00pm, and had a great time.  After missing the Triple Twist Slide the first time, Jon was able to brave it with a 7 year old kid who had been ditched by his tube buddy, too, so he finally got to ride it.  Not worth it, he said.  In fact, the funny thing is, the slide we forced Caitlin to go on was probably the fastest and scariest.  No wonder she denied us the rest of the day!

After Macy fell asleep on the way home, and after Jon and the kids watched a movie together, the kids talked about their favorite parts of the day.  They listed every activity and moment and prayed at the end of the night their thanks for a day with family - what it's all about.

4th Of July 2011

 

The girls showing off their specially chosen barbie dresses (Grandma chose them from Suzanne Kelly's Barbie Museum - her own handcrafted creations!) Mom and the girls after a day of play!

Jon and Talia on the swingset.  Talia is showing Jon the "Spider."  He had no idea what she was talking about. :)

This year, my mom, Kelly, Brian and Talia came to visit us the week of the 4th of July.  At first, I tried to think of many activities around the KC area to entertain us, and that we might have a lot of down time.  In fact, we didn't even get to all of our activities!

 Some pictures before the fireworks display...

 There were bounce houses, train rides, rock climbing walls, and FOOD!

 Kelly painted some toes, Grandma played some "Have you ever ever ever..." with Caitlin and by the end of the night...

We were all spent.  The fireworks were fantastic, as usual, and the kids LOVED it!  The anticipation was long lasting, though.  The rest of the week consisted of Dave & Busters, shopping, playing at Jon's gym, a date for Kelly and Brian, and trips to local boutiques.  A fun time was had by all! :)  We hope to do it again soon!

Our Girls Right Now

 Caitlin & Macy have been spending almost 100% of the summer together.  We moved Caitlin's full size bed out and bought a new twin size bed for her.  We also moved Macy's twin size bed in to Caitlin's room - making it Caitlin & Macy's room.  Caitlin reads umpteen books to Macy and they giggle for quite awhile before settling down for the night.

 They play lots of dress-up and a game they call "mama-baby."  We go to the pool when it's over 80 degrees, and they play with barbies together, mostly with their fashion dresses that no other kid seems to have! (Thanks, Mrs. Kelly!)

 They are so close.  When Macy gets hurt, Caitlin instantly cries and helps her sister.  She looks out for her, and insists when friends come over that they all play together, so as not to leave Macy out.  Macy cannot sleep without her sister in the same room, and screams out for "sissy" all day long. 

 Caitlin is growing up so fast.  This picture is so beautiful, but so grown up it wells up a tear in my eye.  She loves dance class (hip hop and cheer/pom pom), and is growing more independent every day.  She is extremely sensitive and worries about other people, people dying, and what other people think.  She reminds me soooo much of myself when I was young, and I try to allow her to have fun and not worry about scores as much as she does, or about things we cannot control.  She has lots of questions about God and Jesus, but has so much faith.  Her prayers are so honest and caring, and I can tell she works very hard at them.  She looks out for her little sister, but gets annoyed easily by her 3 year old nuisances.  Her current career goals are nurse or daycare worker.  She absolutely adores little kids and they seek her out.  She's usually a rule follower, but can be convinced by her sister to be ornary.  She can go 100 miles a minute, but tires out fast (especially after a day at the pool).  She is a fish in the water and constantly wants to do handstands, strokes and sommersaults in the water.  Her sensitivity allows her to be friends with girls who tell her what to do and threaten to not be her friend anymore on any given day and this upsets her so much.  I hope she will gain confidence and the ability to stand up for herself and be able to turn down a friend if it means giving in.  She is extremely moral and often tells on herself when she has done something she knows is wrong.  Her reading is coming along, but math she still likes to just "get through."  She likes to play basketball, but soccer is still her strongest sport, although she doesn't LOVE it.  She'll play it, but she wouldn't choose to do it all day long.  She plays hard, together, and competitive, and does get frustrated easily, especially if she doesn't win something.  She's sweet, sensitive, and has an incredible imagination that she shares with her sister when she listens...

Macy isn't what you would call a follower, except in the case of her sister.  She copies her, wants to play whatever she's playing, and likes what she likes.  Macy is certainly her own person, though, and likes things done routinely.  Her favorite games are Memory and the Glob game (a computer game).  She has picked up on Caitlin's DS game, "Smart Girls."  She is definitely ready for her own, which is scary!  She can be one extreme or the other - extremely sweet and caring, or snotty and mouthy.  She can scream "NO!" to her parents and not blink an eye, but snuggles up to all of us after bath, if she has an owwie, or when you read her a book.  Books are a favorite of hers and she can listen to them for an afternoon.  She loves the library and will start preschool in the fall.  She still throws fits, but they are becoming less and less lengthy and she is beginning to understand consequences.  At night, she tends to get her giggly, goofy, defiant personality and may get up and ask for OJ, a hug, or a random item just to put off bed.  Her blanky is still ever present for nap and bedtime, and the pool is a favorite place, but she trusts less than a handful of people to hold her.  Swimming lessons were not a hit, but ballet was fun for her.  Odd as it sounds, she declined a second class.  She is still very small for her age in weight, but has gained some inches.  She still wears 18 month pj's and skirts b/c otherwise they will fall off of her.  You never know if she'll say hi, have a conversation, or shy away or yell no.  She's our little pistol, though, and we're thankful she's the way she is!