What A Busy Weekend!

What a crazy, busy weekend we had, starting with Friday, after school, as we headed to the hospital to see Linsey and Ryan's new baby/Lily's new brother! Kayli was sooo excited about seeing this brand new baby, and kept saying "Ohhhh, I wish we could just keep him!" then, "Mom, why can't we get a baby? It would be sooo much fun!" My response..."I think a puppy might be a better solution for our family." Baby Graeme is pretty darn cute, though...

So, while we were at the hospital, ooing and ahhing over the baby, everyone was noticing that Kayli's front tooth was SOOO wiggly! Well, sure enough, one minute she was wiggling it with her tongue and the next minute she was handing it to me! Now, in addition to being "over-the-top-excited" about how cute this baby was, she was additionally "over-the-top-excited" about the tooth fairy coming tonight! She had already lost her other front tooth, as noted in a previous blog, and a new "grown-up" tooth is almost in, so she might as well just clear the way for both her new"grown-up" front teeth to move in... another milestone...

and, as anticipated, the tooth fairy slipped in and out, sometime in the night, leaving behind a trail of "pixie dust", a handful of shiny coins...

and a "special key" for Kayli's key collection...

she was thrilled!

Saturday morning, being the good sport I am, I decided to take Kayli to a special event offering free admission to the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" at a nearby theatre. This required us to be out of our house shortly after 8 am., a little too early for a Saturday morning! Kayli watched most of the movie from the floor, as she knelt behind the chair in front of her, peeking and ducking as the scary parts played out. 

All in all it turned out to be a not-too-scary-pretty-good movie. The movie theatre was in the mall, so I decided to walk around a little bit after the movie, doing some shopping, and stopping in the food court to get hotdogs for Kayli and I for lunch. Then, when we rounded the corner of the mall to find the playland, Kayli, who apparently was thinking this whole time we were in some kind of extension of the movie theatre, announced "WOW, MOM, this is the most AMAZING movie theatre. It has EVERYTHING!" LOL!

Later that afternoon, we decided to go visit Kayli's Grandpa. I told Kayli we could bring her bike along and maybe Grandpa would want to take his scooter out while she practiced riding her bike. Well, Grandpa thought that was a fabulous idea...

Kayli has only had her bike out a few times, so wasn't very confident in her "braking abilities". Aunt Suzanne was visiting too and stayed near Kayli, shouting instructions while I, of course, manned the camera!

they went around and around...

and it wasn't long before Kayli was feeling pretty darn proud of her accomplishment on that bike...

Later that evening, Suzanne came to our house, she and Kayli put on their swimsuits, grabbed some water toys, and played in the hot tub til' dark! 

Love the mix of planned events and spontaneity!

There She Goes!

It's working! She didn't even crane her neck back to try to give me that forlorne look as she was being lead down the hall today! Ohhhh, I can feel her independence coming... in tiny... baby... steps!

The Sweet Pea Started 1st Grade This Week!

Hard to believe, 1st grade!

Seems like just yesterday I was dropping a scared little 3-year-old off at her first preschool...

then I "blinked" and it was already time to start kindergarten...

 I "blinked" again, and suddenly I have a 6 year old heading off to 1st grade...

Last week all the kids got to come up to school one evening to meet their teachers and choose a frozen treat from the "ice cream man"!

Below, Kayli poses with one of her teachers. She has two teachers this year, that are job sharing...

We had to stop by my classroom, of course, to see if everything was as she remembered...

We got all the required school supplies..

Got up extra early and took time to actually sit down and eat breakfast on the first day of first grade. Then, Kayli posed for a quick picture and we headed out into the pouring rain!

once inside, we dried off and waited for the bell to ring. Then, it was time to meet the 2nd of Kayli's two teachers...

I helped her find her tabletop nameplate and alphabet/number strip, then she got to choose the desk she wanted to sit in.

She decided to sit next to some familiar faces from her kindergarten class. I helped her unpack her school supplies, gave her a hug and a kiss and wished her a fun filled fabulous day as I headed down the hall to begin my busy day with all the kids back in school! Today was actually only a half day of school for the kids, while all of us teachers spent the rest of the day enduring, I mean enjoying yet another stimulating inservice!
The second day of 1st grade was a sunny day, and we were back to our old familiar routine of heading out the door with a yogurt smoothie in one hand, and a half eaten waffle in the other, making sure to get to school on time!

1st grade is "off to space" this year, meeting lots of martians along the way...

On the 3rd day of 1st grade Kayli was thrilled to get a package in the mail from our good friend, Natalie. She sent some of her famous "first-day-of-school-monster-cookies!" What a great surprise!

 Kayli and I talked a lot about starting a new school year and I told her that she didn't need me to walk her down the hall this year. The day before school started she told me that she didn't want to hurt my feelings when I was telling her about being big enough to walk to her class alone, but she really didn't think that was a good idea. In fact, she would prefer that I didn't talk about it again! Ok, so I had to do some creative thinking...a teacher near my classroom has a first grader that walks down the hall with a big sister. This teacher and I made a plan that her girls would knock on my classroom door and pick up Kayli on their way down the hall. Well, so far, she hasn't been thrilled about it, but wants to be nice to the girls who so sweetly take each of Kayli's hands and guide her down the hall, after I've given her a hug, a kiss, and a little push! 

We just take each day as it comes, because like I said before, another blink of an eye and these days will be just a memory. A very sweet memory.

Hangin' Out With Grandpa

 Ever since we taught Kayli how to play the "Kings in the Corner" card game while trying to help her grandpa pass the time in the hospital and rehab center, she just can't seem to get enough of this exciting card game! Whenever we head over to her grandpa's house to either run an errand, help out with something, or just visit, Kayli begs to get the cards out! Last time we were there, she won 3 out of 5 rounds!

She also loves to help grandpa "bird watch" and she'll get the bird chart out and identify the birds we spotted on his porch. She's always loved the big, colorful, laminated bird "identifier" he has at his house, and whenever we would head outdoors, she would insist on bringing that along, just in case we needed to identify a bird on our walk! Now, grandpa is not taking walks, as his knees are just causing him too much pain, and he is still not real strong after his recent surgery, but who doesn't need to get outside for fresh air? So, grandpa has been trying out a new motorized scooter! Kayli was over-the-top excited to hear that we could get grandpa out on a "walk" with his new scooter! So, as we prepared to head out the door, she, of course, ran back to grab the bird chart before catching up with grandpa...

Still Unpacking...

Ohhh, the packing, planning, preparing, anticipating, and counting down to a lake vacation! One whole week, 7 days, away from home, immersed in lakelife, eating, drinking, swimming, shopping, game nights, and just kicked-back-late nights, then letting the sunlight of the morning coax us out of our slumber and into the kitchen where we stay in our jammies, savoring a sweet breakfast and watching the boats out on the water, and knowing that getting dressed for the day just means putting on our swimsuits and deciding whether we'll head to the dock on the lake or the pool with our bag full of pool toys!
Kayli loved having ALL her cousins around  all week! On Thursday or Friday, we were walking back to our cabin after another great day at the resort pool, and Kayli said "Mom, I just can't decide." What? I ask. "Well, I do miss our home, but I also LOVE living here!" Too funny. Which reminds me...when I was packing the last of the bags from the garage into our car, the day we were leaving for the lake, Kayli says to me "So, mom, are we coming back, or are we moving again?" I never know what's going through this child's head, so it's a good thing she asks lots of questions!
So, without further ado, I bring you an assortment of photos depicting the lake vacation, as grandly experienced by Kayli. Suffice it to say that there are plenty of photos of the grown-ups enjoying our time too, gathered in the pool, the lake, the swim up bar, but on this blog, there is really just so much space!

I found these totally cool glow-stick baseball caps at the dollar store!

and probably the biggest hit of the week, after so much reticence and deliberating, was the waterslide just above this waterfall....

and after a definitive "no" turned to a "maybe" and then "I'll try it" and then...