Twin's B-day party at Splash Park

Grant in the splashpark

Kim and Jason "The Parents"

Hailey loving the party

Jason's son Cameron

Abby

Izzy

I love this pic

Jason and his birthday girls

Give me some sisterly love

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for Izzy and Abby and loved it! The girls are adorable and the party was so much fun for the kiddos. I got to take pictures all night and all was well in the world. Luckily i did since kim's camera decided to have dead batteries about 30 minutes into the party. It was at a splashpark and the kids went nuts playing in the water. They knew the perfect thing to make my little rugrats wear themselves out. The food was great: lots of pasta salad, crackers, vegies, dips and hotdogs, beans, mutton and another tasty bbq'd meat. It was fantastic. The shelter was huge with fans and screens, keeping the bees and bugs away from the food and us. I think we are going to plan our next family gathering there soon.
The twins got alot of cool clothes, pink bedspreads, some toys and giftcards! Lots of gooey butterfly cupcakes smeared all over the kids and adults ended the party on a sweet note

and soon after we sent ourselves packing.

The Dreaded Bus

Today my baby girl starts her fourth day of first grade and her first day to ride a school bus (EVER)!!! I am freaking out a little but i know it is going to simplify my life and help with our daily routine...and maybe save me some gas money along the way. I am still planning on taking her to school in the mornings but we might take advantage of the bus in the mornings occassionally. My main concern is that i have to wake grant up from his nap to go get her and i hate messing with his sleep schedule. Also hailey has been begging me since last year to ride the bus.

I know she will be fine and have a good time but i remember horror stories about the bus. I don't want my daughter getting involved in any crazy shenanagins. We are testing new waters and momma is really freaked out. I am trying to release the reigns and let her grow up but it is very very hard...i didn't want to leave her classroom again this morning. I just want to be there the whole time checking on her.

Do you have any horror stories from your bus rides in school or good stories that might ease my fears?? I don't remember the little kids getting in trouble much but just seeing and hearing the big kids doing the things they do really freaks me out...have you heard the things that come out of the kids mouths nowadays??

My BIG handsome man

Grant got his second haircut yesterday and he looks like such a big man. He sat very still without having to be distracted and let her cut his whole head of crazy curls off without even a budge. He looks so cute!!

I think someone REALLY likes his new haircut...do you like his winky smile??? I do.

The day before hailey started 1st grade!

To prepare for school we went shopping yesterday and found the kids some cute shoes at JcPenny's. It was a great deal but 1 get 1 free. We got hailey some adorable brown leather mary janes and grant some lowtop brown leather boots(look like Doc martin's). And we also found hailey some cute little shoes for next spring.

We originally went looking for a new backpack something a bit smaller and cuter(more grown up, brown with pink and multi-colored polkadots)) but the one we wanted was already sold out. So she went to school with the same one she used last year. Not like she really needed a new backpack her's barely looks used. I don't think she is really old enough to notice yet but i wanted it. I will look later this week and see if target or khol's has any left that are cute.

I tried to get pictures off their website but they are not cooperating. And they didn't have the right sizes so i had them order them for me(with in store pick-up instead of catalog shopping i have no shipping costs). So they will be here in a couple of days. And over the weekend hailey got new nike tf -shoes to start school with, also from penny's. I love their shoe sales this time of the year. So now we need winter dress shoes and the kids will be done shoe shopping for awhile.

Then we went and got grant's and hailey's haircut. They both look so grown up now. My baby's aren't exactly babies anymore. Grant sat perfectly and barely moved. It helped that he was 2 hours past naptime...i thought he would scream and cry but instead he was an angel. I didnt even give hima toy or sucker. Maybe he was scared whatever it was it went great. Hailey just got a trim. She says she wants her hair to grow long now so i think we will try. BUT we will only let it grow long if she takes care of it and doesn't complain. If it gets to be problematic then it will go back to a bob...which i think looks great on her and is soooo easy to maintain!

Other than that we spent the rest of the day at the mall getting some gifts and looking at the winter clothes that are coming out. Some really cute stuff is out right now...i am ready to finish up winter shopping already(we are almost done)! Then let the kids play at the mall play placebefore heading home.

Once home hailey swam(then took a bath) while grant took a nap. Then we made brats for dinner..yum yum with kettle chips(my favorite)and yams! Then it was almost bedtime for the kiddos. It took hailey longer than normal to fall asleep since it was so early but since she got up very early this morning i am hoping tonight will be easier.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Well she did it. I have a big girl now.

A. First. Grader.

I loved seeing her in school again.



She thrived last year and grew up so much.




I hope for a wonderful year making new friends and loving her teacher. I know how important this year is in terms of what she will learn and carry with her in future classes and i just hope she really learns everything she will need to succeed.

I want her to have the world and i know a quality education is the cornerstone of reaching the stars. A saying me and hailey have been saying lately is "Reach for the moon and if it is to far out grab a star and hold on tight"...she is a big girl now and she makes her own destiny!!! I want her to know how important school is and that it isn't for playing but for learning. I want her to have fun but know that is not the true purpose. She's a big girl now!!!

1st Grade Jitters

Tomorrow is the big day. Hailey starts first grade. I am excited but sad, as is she. She misses her kindergarten teacher so much. She doesn't understand why she can't have her beloved Mrs. kassenbrock back (only the best kindergarten teacher ever)!!! But on to new things. Her new teacher is Mrs. Shoulders. I have been praying for a nice teacher. I still remember my first grade teacher. She was so mean with long fingernails. She would grab kids by their ears when they were bad....i didn't like her much. But i am regressing. We haven't met her yet but we are hoping for a good day.
Only one thing we can't decide on yet and that is her riding the bus. I am having a hard-time deciding what will work for us. I am not really wanting her to ride the bus all the time because i like to meet her teacher occassionally and i think pick-up for first graders are outside anyways. So we are going to take her this week and then next week we will see what happens. It is all new for us.

So today we are going shopping to look for a new more modern backpack and i think i willlsuprise her with a new haircut. I want her to be excited about this new year and understand how important shcool is. I want her to grow and learn and be excited about the process. Last year she thrived and really loved going to school and i hope this year will be no different. I am hoping her jitters go away the first moment she gets up and sees all her friends. I pray some of her girlfriends who came for a slumberparty will be in her class.

She doesn't want to leave us. She doesn't want to get up early or go to bed early but last night was better. She was asleep before 9 and up by 7:45. Hopefully tonight we can have her asleep by 8-8:30 and up by 6:45...we will see! If not then she will go to bed extra early tomorrow night. We will try to post pics from the first day. I haven't really been taking many with my wrist being sore and the camera being so heavy and big. But i want to start picking it up again asap...i really miss capturing all of their precious moments in life!