The Week Before School Starts

Summer is over and School has started!

But that's not what this post is about.

This is summarizing a few highlights of the last week of summer.

Since we start so late I've already seen enough first day of school pictures to last a lifetime, but ours are still coming. 

Back to summer. This was the key to my (partial) sanity of grocery shopping:

 Samples and heelies.

I give full credit to Amy who found Macey a pair 

and told me the way to learn is at the grocery store.

Not only did it keep my naughty bored kids from running cause they would fall,

but it entertained them and was great balance/heelie practice.

Genius!!

 Mackayla has been riding her new bike all over town. She loves it!

 We hit up our favorite waterpark once more.

 This is random, but I sometimes crack up at the things Mackayla wants to wear (princess crowns and lots of jewelry). Sometimes I feel kinda like she's fancy nancy and we're the plain lame family she was given.

 The girls had a little ballet/tap showcase:

 Banana!

 After dance we snuck in one last ward beach day.

We collected water bottles this summer and with the money they earned they got a treat at the snack bar at the beach.

 Kayla loves taking random pictures on my phone. Here's 1 of 50: 

 We went on a hike along the dirt paths in the area one day. There were tons of crazy spider webs. This time of year is so creepy with gigantic spiders everywhere! Just in time for Halloween I guess.

 

FOUR

Happy Birthday Mackayla!!

We love your funky style

and your sweetness.

You hate meat but will force yourself to eat a little because you like the idea of it giving you big muscles

You STILL get the hiccups when you laugh really hard

You still love drawing and filling a page with intricate designs

Your food cannot touch on your plate and you absolutely CANNOT have dirty hands or spills at the table

You remember names and people better than most

Sweet*Sassy*Strong*Sensitive and everything in between

You value cleanliness and order

You value your dad's opinion greatly and love to show him things

For your birthday celebration we went to Soak City with Dad on Saturday

On Wednesday, the 12th, your birth day, we had a few close friends come for cupcakes and ice cream, (and pirate booty your favorite!!) at the park.

We threw water balloons and played bean boozled too.

the ice cream melted... 

Once everyone was done with the game you went ahead and ate the rest of the dozen beans left.

The gross ones like dog food and vomit you quietly took out, looking like you would cry, and daintily handed them to me. Then you would dig right in and grab another to try.

I think that describes you well...equally brave, unafraid, sensitive and subtle.

 

 Your biggest concern about turning 4 and getting bigger was that you would be too big for me to pick you up anymore.

And you were so relieved when I picked you up in the morning and hugged you - I think it made your day. 

You want to be big, but not too big. We're on the same page :)

Swim Lessons

Kayla swimming across the pool!

Cody and Macey showing us one of their strokes they worked on:

Cody, Macey, Mackayla and a Sunset

Cody started up baseball and they had their "opening day" on Saturday. It's was a crowded place, it seems like Every boy plays baseball in Ladera, and they take their baseball pret-ty seriously here.

They have baseball practice Saturdays, but Sunday is batting practice so we will have to miss that.

Even from a non-lds perspective, it seems sad that there is literally NO day that anyone can rest any more. Doesn't everyone need a break from crazy life at least one day a week? More isn't always more.

Cody also started scouting. It's literally a whole new world I have never delved into with signs and salutes and uniforms and vocabulary. phew.

For one of their first den meetings or pack meetings or wolf attacks, whichever one it is, they did "picture taking." I love that idea. Enjoy Cody's handy work:

Macey was sick last week. Sick enough to stay home one day, but not sick enough not to be incredibly demanding and not sleep. I thought fevers wiped you out?!

(This is her and her cd collection :))

That evening her fever broke and she claimed she was completely better.

Now, you are welcome to judge me with all the righteous wrath that a good protective parent has, but I let her go to school the next day. gulp. After I heard that everyone else in the class had had this sickness I figured there was no one left to expose and it was "100 days of school" day. And Macey loves school more than anything on earth, even though it's mostly taught her...no new things.

Getting ready was a humorous humbling experience.

She told me she had an old person look (on the left):

  As we chatted about what old people wore I asked what shoes they wear. She gasped and said, "Oh I know the perfect shoes. They are in your closet." As a parent you have to not be surprised or indignant about these things so I enthusiastically went to see which shoes I would be giving to goodwill.

Incidentally, the only time Macey actually napped this week was in the bathtub. 

I gently woke her and she just smiled a huge grin at me, not sure what just happened, but pretty relaxed.

 These girls are pretty cute together when they want to be.

This is her face one day after I told her that I was once a baby: 

She was PURE mad and told me not to say that.

Macey bed mess:

 Mackayla bed mess:

 Cody, the mad scientist:

 One morning I went on an early morning run in some back(ish) hills. We saw several deer! (I swear they are probably in this picture.) 

 It was so fun to see the sun come up over the city and then watch it set again that night at the park.

Every place has its beauty and it's fun to take it in and sometimes catch it on camera. One of these days I want to take a class and actually learn how to work with lighting.

 We have family coming in two days!! Yippee!!

It might rain on them. Ack!

Cody's getting baptized this Saturday!!

We have SIX more chapters in the Book of Mormon!!!!