Wildflowers

My kids picked some wildflowers for me last night. So sweet.Thomas S. Monson: "My dear brothers and sisters, may the laughter of children gladden our hearts. May the faith of children soothe our souls. May the love of children prompt our deeds. 'Children are an heritage of the Lord.' May our Heavenly Father ever bless these sweet souls, these special friends of the Master.

They are idols of hearts and of household!
They are angels of God in disguise;
The sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,
His glory still gleams in their eyes;
These truants from home and from Heaven,
They have made me more gentle and mild;
And I know now how Jesus could liken
The kingdom of God to a child.
(-Charles Dickens)"

Successful Potty Training

Porter now seems to be fully potty-trained. I got this great idea from my friend, Heather, to have a picture of a fun prize and everytime he went "#2" in the potty he got to put a puzzle piece on the picture. It worked great! He finally earned his prize on Friday and got to open Mack from his favorite movie, Cars. Thanks, Heather, for a great idea for success!

Saturday at the Water Park

It already seems like Fall is in the air. We're trying to enjoy every warm day before the cold weather settles in to stay. (Wow, am I poetic.) Yesterday we took the kids to the water-park. They were a little weary at first to get in the cold water so Dave showed them how to hide under the slide when the big bucket of water splashed over the top. The kids thought it was the best thing ever to be so tricky. Dave and the kids even talked me into trying it. Sure enough we stayed dry (mostly)!Instead of enjoying the water park, Porter's true desire was to ride the merry-go-round. He spent probably half the time watching it, and we didn't have any change or we would have let him ride. But don't worry, he's been on merry-go-rounds this summer. (And he IS part-monkey, in case you were wondering.)Then Dave and I went to see "Bourne Ultimatum" which Dave has been waiting to see. It was a good show and fun to be on a date with just my husband. That is still my favorite thing, to be somewhere, anywhere, with him!

Friday Highlights

A few happenings from Friday:

* I made cookies, had just pulled them out of the oven and set them on the counter when Lexi looked up over the edge to see them and burned her lip on the 350 degree pan. It immediately bubbled up in a big white blister and slid off when she touched it. Ow! She was pretty sad about that all day. (I don't blame her. It looked painful.)

* I went with a few friends to eat lunch and ride up a ski-lift. We got a picture at the top. I survived my fear of heights and actually had a fun time.* We went swimming with 3 other families and their kids, then ate at Pizza Hut. Porter's favorite was the jar of Parmesan cheese sitting on the tables. While we were waiting for the pizza he would shake the cheese into his hand and lick it off. By the time the pizza came he was full of cheese. What a great dinner. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of him.

* When we were getting ready to leave Pizza Hut we looked around for Porter. We found him back in the kitchen with one of the workers trying to shew him out. Ooops!

Ouch!

Porter got pushed into a door (thanks to one of his siblings who shall remain anonymous). Dave is so afraid he's going to end up with brain damage because his head always seems to take the brunt of his accidents. He cried but the cold pack from the freezer seemed to help. He still had his sense of humor enough to make faces at me, so even though he had a red and green goose-egg that stuck out a 1/2 inch off his head, I knew he must be ok.

Golfing

Dave's Young Men had a "date-night" last Wednesday where they hit range-balls at the golf course. I got to be Dave's date (lucky me!) and we took Kyler and had a blast. It was so funny to see high school kids on dates (let me clarify that it was only the Priests who are over 16) and brought back fun memories of high school. I later told Dave I'm so glad we're married and out of the dating-scene. Although they are fun times and I love the Young Men and Young Women. Kyler loved it and felt really grown up to come along. After we got fried ice-cream at a local Mexican restaurant. Fun night.

Bus Update

When Kyler got home from school on Thursday I asked him what it was like to ride the bus? He was so excited and said, "You won't believe this! We don't even have to wear seat-belts!"

Then he said, "And we had FIVE boys in ONE seat! And every time we went around a corner we would fall and BAM into each other!" I thought, Oh dear, and asked, "How did the bus driver like that?" He said, "Well, we had to be seperated."

Yikes! Not on the first day! I had to explain to him how he needs to have good behavior so they don't tell him he can't ride the bus anymore. Things seemed to go ok on the bus on Friday so we'll keep our fingers crossed that things don't get too rowdy as the school year marches onward.

On a lighter note

Here's a picture Lexi took of us waiting for the bus. She still needs some work on her photography skills but it made me laugh. It probably won't make anyone else laugh. But it made me feel better.

Riding the Bus

Ok, I totally had a lump in my throat as Kyler got on the bus and it drove away in a cloud of dust down our dirt road. I thought this Kindergarten-thing would be a breeze. I knew Kyler was ready, he was starting to get bored around the house teasing Lexi and Porter a little too much for my endurance, but these last couple days have been kinda tough on me. I had to wait yesterday after all the kids followed their teachers into the classrooms, just so I could peek in and see how he was doing. And then he was SO excited to ride the bus today and I didn't think it would be a big deal for me until he climbed on and I couldn't even see his head or wave goodbye before it drove down the road. It's just hard to believe he's growing up. I hope he's happy and loves school and loves everything, just loves his life all the way through all his school years. Crazy that this is the beginning of the road that takes us to the end - where he'll grow up and graduate and leave home. Ok, I know this is still 13 years down the road... but crazy that it has started. Sigh... now I'll go blow my nose and get back to getting something done before he gets home... :)

Porter's First Birthday Party

Porter went to his first birthday party this morning for his friend, Wade, who is turning 3. It was so funny because all the little boys were so young. Porter was so excited to go and to take a present. I had to leave early so we didn't miss the bus for Kyler, and Porter didn't quite dare stay by himself, so his first party had an early ending. But it was still cute.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Kyler started Kindergarten this morning. He was a little nervous, but mostly excited. What a fun time! It was cute to see all the Kindergartner's waiting with their moms for their teachers. Everything is all so new for them. All these "firsts" are so fun. He seemed to really like his teacher and to have had a good time when I went to pick him up. Tomorrow he gets to ride the bus to school, which will be another fun adventure!

Lexi and Porter helped me make special school-bus cupcakes to surprise Kyler.

Pet Worm

Kyler had a pet worm for 20 minutes today. He felt so sorry that it's home got flooded from the rain so he put in it a cup.

He said, "We'll have to buy some worm food." I asked him what he thought worms ate. He thought for a minute, "Ummm, maybe grapes?"

So he put 2 grapes in the cup. "Baxter" didn't seem to care much for grapes and tried crawling up the side of the cup so Kyler threw him back into the grass. So much for his first pet.