30 Days Hath September...

...and I didn't blog on a single one of them. But it's a new month, and the blogging vacation is officially over.

Here's the run-down on what we've been up to the last month or so:

Dallin started 2nd grade. If you ask him how he likes school, he'll probably shrug and then tell you, "It's too easy."

Gracie started Kindergarten. I didn't cry when I dropped her off the first day...or the next day...or the next. You get the picture. But I reserve the right to cry and have a pity party a year from now when my "baby" leaves me all day for 1st grade.

Here she is with her BFF, Sophie.

Gracie turned and looked at me as her class was going inside on the first day. That's more than Dallin did on his first day of K, so I guess she might like me after all. But then again, when I go to pick her up after school, she begs to stay with Mrs. W. just a little bit longer. She's completely in love with her teacher and even says that Mrs. W. looks just like Snow White. If you ask me, Mrs. W. must be a little bit magical to have not just 7, but 27 little dwarfs hanging on her every word. She's amazing!

In other news, Dallin just finished his first season of flag football.

And Gracie hit the soccer field again. She had been on an 18-month hiatus after she realized that she could get the same snacks at home - and without all that running around. Her final game was rained out, so now we can cross soccer off our list - at least until next Spring.

Gracie also hung up her leotard and ballet shoes this Fall in exchange for group singing classes. We found a lady who is teaching lessons in her basement. She has a cute stage down there complete with lighting and musical instruments. Gracie is in her element there for sure. Her big dream is to be on American Idol one day - that or a High School Musical movie. She really wanted to do dance, AND singing, AND soccer, AND tumbling, AND a cheer clinic. But I was a mean mom and made her choose what she wanted to do most.

As for me, I was released as the ward Relief Society President. I've been in the RS presidency since Gracie was a baby. She'll be 6 in just a couple weeks, and she can't remember life any other way. She literally jumped up and down and did the happy dance when I told her I was getting released. "YAY, no more food orders!" she cheered. While it's been nice to have the weight lifted off my shoulders, it's also been harder than I thought it would be to sit back and let it all go. I still lay awake at night worrying about the sisters I've grown to love so much.

Adam has been spending every spare moment on his mountain bike trying to get in as many "final" rides as he can before the snow flies - which could be any day now considering where we live. His mountain bike had a near-death experience when it flew off the back of his bike rack on I-15 a couple of weeks ago. Luckily the airborne bike didn't kill or maim anyone, and Adam wasn't hit by a semi while darting onto the freeway waving his arms trying to rescue his "baby." He claimed he was swearing off mountain biking for good after that little mishap, but he didn't fool me. The bike was in critical condition for a few days, but after some TLC and a big chunk of change, it's back in working order. Adam was out enjoying the "maiden voyage" on his new and improved bike less than a week after the accident.

I'm glad he's happy, but do you know what would make me happy? Packing up the bike, the helmet, and the smokin' hot spandex pants for the winter. I'm really looking forward to reclaiming my husband, my evenings, and my weekends for a while...well for a few days at least. You know - until the Jazz season starts again. LOL! A girl can dream, right?

Kindergarten 'ssessment

Today we took her in for her Kindergarten "'ssessment" test. She's been a little bit anxious about the "test" - so much so that she was insisting for a while that she wasn't going to Kindergarten if she had to take the test.

To ease her anxiety, I let her sign her own name to schedule the appointment on back to school night. She put her little "John Hancock" down for Friday at 9:30. Fabulous, I thought! Until I discovered that I would be delivering food orders on Friday at 9:30. (You'd think I'd never done this before...) I called the school to reschedule and they had an opening, but we had to be there in less than half an hour.

So off we went to the school where she showed them everything she's forgotten since preschool. LOL! No seriously, she did fine, but she really had forgotten more than I had realized over the summer. I suddenly felt like a slacker mom for going all summer without doing any writing with her. Oops! But we did have lots of fun together the last 3 months. That's got to count for something...right?

Dallin was a total crack-up when I took him in for his assessment 2 years ago. When the teacher asked him how high he could count he replied, "I can count waaaaay past 1,000, but I just don't think you have time for that." LOL!

Anyone who knows Gracie knows that she has never been one to be outdone. She had her own funny moment this time around. The teacher handed her some blocks and asked her to name the shapes. Gracie rattled them off, no problem. Next the teacher handed her a bundle of crayons and asked Gracie to tell her what color the crayons were. Gracie picked up the red and turned it around and around just looking at it. This went on for a little bit too long and honestly the silence was making me quite uncomfortable. "How could she not know the color red?" I was thinking to myself. Finally she found the spot she was looking for on the label and slowly sounded out the word "red." Next she picked up a purple crayon and read from the label, "violet." She repeated this for each of the colors. The teacher turned and looked at me kind of surprised and asked me if she was reading already? It was a classic Gracie moment and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.

Catching Up - May

Here are some of the highlights from our past month:


A DAY AT THE ZOO

I told the kids there was NO way the white alligator was still going to be there. I guess I lied.


Excuse me, but you're in my personal space.


Hanging out with the cousins.




The cutest little critter we saw all day.




DALLIN'S FIELD TRIP - RIDING THE TRAIN

I volunteer at the school, so I thought I knew who the "rowdy" kids were. It turns out that even the calmest children get a little wild when they go on a field trip.

Mrs. Bell's class.


Dallin with the conductor.


"Hey look, we're wearing the same shirt!"




GRACIE'S DANCE RECITAL

Gracie was so excited to be "Tiger Lily" in the Peter Pan show. She had a really bad sunburn, but she still danced like a star. She really knew her dance this year. She let me know that she was NOT happy that I didn't bring her any flowers this year. (Do you think she's a little spoiled?) Grandma and Grandpa 'Drickson came to watch her perform. After the show, we all went out for ice cream on Main Street in Park City.

Here's Gracie and Sophie at the dress rehearsal.




PRESCHOOL GRADUATION

I can't believe it...my baby's going to Kindergarten.


"When I grow up, I want to be an artist."





PAINTING DAY WITH LUKE & LIZ

We went to visit Luke and Liz to help them paint their kitchen/great room area. (Adam will work for meat.) I have a feeling Luke will never live down the green wall of shame. LOL! I thought it looked good after the 2nd coat - and Liz didn't even cry.

The kids had fun spending time with Halle & Caden.





MEMORIAL DAY BBQ

We went to a BBQ at Foed and Kelly's. I'm pretty sure I heard the meat mooing at the dinner table. Dallin finished every last bite. Gracie may have converted to vegetarianism. Fortunately no one got mad cow disease...at least not that we know of. LOL!

After dinner we walked over to a little farm to see the kangaroo, emus, turkeys, goats, etc. Gracie fell in love with Lilly. I'm not sure the feelings were mutual.



Can you spot the a** in the picture? He He! This just might be my all-time favorite picture. OK, not really, but it does make me laugh every time I see it.




WHEW! That's it for now....

Last Day

Life has been crazy around here the past few weeks. We've had all the typical end-of-the-year programs, graduations, recitals, field trips, etc. And on top of all that Relief Society has been completely insane the last couple of weeks. We've had one BIG funeral, 3 babies born, 2 other deaths, and a bunch of other stuff I won't bore you with. I don't have a compassionate service leader right now, so I've been running around like a crazy woman. In all the chaos, blogging and e-mails have kinda been put on the back burner. I guess I'll just jump in where we are now and maybe do a catch up post or two later next week.


Today was the last day of school. Yes, "summer" vacation is officially upon us. Somehow it doesn't feel like summer though. It was a chilly 41 degrees when I dropped Dallin off at school for his last day. Yesterday was his field day. I sent him to school in his winter coat...not exactly my idea of summer.


Yesterday was Gracie's last day of preschool. We've been sending our kids there for 3 years now. I was pretty excited when I wrote out the last big check earlier this month. It had me dreaming of all the ways I could spend that extra money every month. But then I started feeling a little sentimental when I picked her up for the last time yesterday. It's hard to believe that we are "done" with this stage of life. Next year both kids will be in elementary school. When they were babies, it seemed like this day would never come. It felt like I would spend eternity feeding, wiping, bouncing, rocking, and changing diapers of fussy (but adorable) babies - and all of this on little to no sleep.

OK, I think that's enough sentimental talk for one day.

So anyway, I wanted to have a fun afternoon with the kids today to celebrate the last day of school. We planned to go swimming and out for pizza with some friends. The kids started fighting, whining, and complaining the moment I picked Dallin up for school. We had total and complete meltdown when both pairs of swimming goggles turned up missing. One kid was in time out for the better part of the afternoon, and the other one was hysterical because they were missing out on the swimming.

When emotions had calmed and tempers were finally under control we set out to get some new goggles. Two stores later we bought 2 pairs and raced back to the car thinking that we could still make it to the pool. One pair of goggles didn't fit which led to more tears and tantrums. We traded the goggles for a new pair, but I was DONE! Instead of going to the pool, I drove straight home. (Call me crazy, but I really didn't think I should reward this kind of behavior.)

I have a feeling I'm in big trouble if the first couple of hours of summer vacation are any indication of what's in store the next couple of months.

Bye Bye Training Wheels!

Dallin has never had an interest in riding his bike before. He always said he'd rather ride his scooter....or "maybe next year." We took his training wheels off a couple weekends ago, but we didn't have much luck getting him to ride. Today after school he asked me to help him practice. I think he was inspired by Hunter. (Either that or the circus rig really had an effect on him. LOL!) I helped him for a minute or two, then he hopped on his bike and basically took off riding on his own.

I knew Adam would be more excited that Dallin was. He lives to bike and I think it was killing him that his kid had no interest in it whatsoever. He left work a little early and told Dallin we were going out to dinner to celebrate. Next stop was the bike shop to get Dallin a new helmet just like dad's.

We went on a family bike ride after dinner and he was riding like an old pro. Now if we could just get Gracie riding...I have a feeling it's going to be a while.