The Second Day of School and Some Free Time!

Today was the second day of school for both Hailey and Zach. They were both so excited, almost as much as they were on their first days of school. The outfit selection was much easier this time around for Hailey, mostly because Aunt Kylie called last night and happened to mention to Hailey that she was wearing her purple shirt today, so Hailey decided that was what she was wearing too. She had already been thinking about that shirt, but hearing Aunt Kylie was wearing hers helped her decide for sure on it.

Since Zach leaves for school at 8:50am and Hailey has preschool at 9am, we all walk out the door together. We got Tate in his stroller and grabbed a quick picture with all 3 of them - sorry it's dark, we had to be in the garage to keep the sun out of Tate's eyes.


Here are the two school kids ready to go.


Zach headed off first.


We followed behind, but not too close - he's a big boy now! But I did catch this picture of him and the 3 neighbor kids he walks with crossing the street.


At the corner where we turned, I got him to turn around and give us one last wave before he continued on. I still can't believe he's old enough to walk to school without me!


Hailey didn't let me stand there long as she was excited to get to preschool. She talked all the way down the road and was so excited when we got to the right house, that she ran right up there and I had to get her to stop for a second for a quick picture before she knocked on the door.


Before I could snag any more, she knocked and in she went for another fun morning. She was all smiles and it was fun to see her so happy and excited.


Tate and I then headed home for 3 hours by ourselves! I came in the door wondering what on earth I should do with 3 hours of free time? Well, not technically free with Tate here, but enough that I could technically classify it as such. I'd like to tell you I got a whole bunch done, but today we just sat and enjoyed the quiet - a priceless commodity around our house. Between two feedings and a diaper blowout, there wasn't much spare time anyway. Regardless, it's going to be nice to have some time twice a week to have some quiet.

When it was time, we headed down to pick up Hailey. Again she was happy and excited - preschool was SO FUN she said. She came home with another painting and a letter page she did.

Once I heard all about her fun day, we had some lunch. This is our usual lunch set-up. Tate likes to be where he can see us, so we usually make him a little bed on the counter where he can see us and we can see him while we eat.


It works well right now, but won't when he starts rolling. Hopefully by then he'll be a little more content in his car seat, bouncy chair, or swing. But for now, we're going with it. Luckily he's never out of arm's reach, so even if he does move a bit too far, I'm always right there.

It's going to take us a few days to adjust to this new schedule, but it shouldn't be too long. It looks like both kids are loving school! I hate to have to realize that they are growing up, luckily I have Tate to be here with me when they're both gone. Yep, they are growing us so fast, but I am just so proud of both of them for who they are! Love you guys!

Zach's First Day of 2nd Grade

Yesterday was Zach's first day of second grade. I don't believe that he's that old already, he's just getting so big. We found out that his teacher is Mr. Rocque (pronounced Rock) and that he's in one of the portable classrooms behind the school. Zach was thrilled with both of these things and couldn't wait until the first day of school. He was up bright and early, ate breakfast and was dressed before 8am. Part of that was due to the fact that I has a work telephone call from 8-9am, but most of it was because he was so excited!


He decided to wear his bug shirt - it was a lot quicker decision than his sister's the day before!


We got his backpack all set with everything he needed.


I remember when this backpack was almost bigger than he was, now he's grown so much it fits him just right.


A 8:50am, we sent him out the door to walk to school - he decided he didn't want me to take him the first day this year - my little boy is growing up! I was really proud of him for being so independent and wanting to do it all on his own, but I have to admit it made me just a little bit sad!

We definitely missed him while he was gone all day - Hailey kept askimg when he would be home and I missed my big helper. While I was working on the computer, I laid Tate on the floor by me to stretch out and kick, I heard Hailey taking to him and when I finished typing, I looked down to see this:


Hailey decided to read Tate a story or two and he loved every minute of it.
it was so cute, so I had to grab a few pictures!


A few minutes before 4:00, Zach walked in the door with a big smile on his face. He spent the next 20 minutes telling us all about his fun day at school, he loved it already and couldn't wait to go back!

Hailey's First Day of Preschool

After watching her brother go to school for 3 years while she had to stay home, it was finally Hailey's first day of preschool! Needless to say she was so excited! All morning she was bouncing off the walls and asking me every 5 minutes if it was time yet. Yes, it was a LONG two hours of telling her, not yet!

Finally the time arrived and we got her all ready to go. She's such a little diva - it took her at least 5 minutes to decide what to wear her first day! This is what she decided on and I thought she looked darling!


Think she's just the least bit excited?


Here she is with her ladybug backpack on.


I asked her if she wanted to get another backpack for school, but she said no. She told me this was her favorite and she wanted to use it for preschool.


After that, we headed on down the street to preschool. We're lucky to have a lady in our ward that teaches preschool and lives just down the road. It sure makes getting her there and picking her up nice and easy. Mrs Sandra is her teacher and just the sweetest lady ever! We feel very lucky to have Hailey in her preschool.

When it was time, Tate and I headed down to get her. She was all smiles and talked excitedly the whole walk home about all the fun things they did like playing with toys, reading stories, doing art, playing outside on the trampoline, and having a birthday party for a boy in the class. She was so happy, it was just so cute to see. When we got home, she showed us what she made that day. Here's the sign of her name that she was able to glue glitter and such on.


She really was proud of it and we took it up and hung it in her room.


She definitely had a wonderful first day at preschool and can't wait to go back tomorrow!


As a side note, we also finally got her hair cut as well. I was hoping to have it done before the first day, but the lady that does it had a few things going on before, as did we, so we ended up having to do it yesterday afternoon instead.

So here's the before ...


and the after. As you can see, it had grown quite a bit since we last had it cut. I've been meaning to get it cut for months now, but thing after thing kept coming up and then we had the baby which postponed it even more, but we finally got it done and boy does it look cute!


These aren't the cutest pictures - I think she's a little tired of having her picture taken because every time I take more than a couple of pictures, I get the "painful grin" as the smile.


Oh well, at least you can see it - it turned out great and fits her little personality so perfectly! Yesterday was definitely a fun day - and we can't wait for preschool tomorrow!

Hogle Zoo

Last Friday we were able to take our annual trip to Hogle Zoo. The kids look forward to this every year and I was so glad we were able to make it this year. Thanks to coke rewards and some coupons, we were able to get all of us in for a pretty good deal - nothing like finding bargains!

Here we all are (except Nana, who is taking the picture) just as we're getting to the zoo.


Here's little Tate on his first zoo trip - all dressed for a long hot day of seeing the animals. Even though it was sunny, it wasn't too hot, a perfect day for the zoo.


One of the first stops were the elephants, the kids love to watch them play with all their toys!


Of course, baby elephant Zuri was so cute! We got a picture of her playing in the mud - the kids just laughed and laughed.


Here's everyone watching the elephants - such a good looking group!


Once Hailey figured out we were all wearing sunglasses, she decided she had to wear hers as well. Too cute!


Here's Zach in front of the rhinos.


This scale shows how your weight compares to different animals. The four kids didn't even register as the first animal on the chart - we have some skinny kids!


Here are a couple of quick poses by the rhino statue.


And on the rhino statue - first Zach ...


and then Hailey.


The kids were so funny as they would cluster around certain windows - I thought this one was funny since Hailey had her glasses on ... indoors!


The zoo was very smart and put up a carousel with zoo animals for kids to ride - of course it's extra, but we decided that since we got such a great deal on our entrance fees, that we'd let them ride the carousel this year. Hailey of course chose the ladybug.


And Zach chose the leopard (or is that a cheetah?) - I'm not great on my "big cat" identification.


Here's Nana and the kids posing on the tiger statue. Tate really was there, but spent most of his time in the stroller sleeping - he was such a good boy!


We just happened upon the giraffe area as one came right up to the fence. Almost looks like they could have reached out and touched it!


A bunch of monkeys!


I couldn't help but take the annual pictures of the kids in front of the gorilla chart ...


they are both getting so big!


I snapped this one of Aunt Awa (Kylie) without her knowing it - she took quite a bit of convincing to even stand up there. See her cute little pregnant belly? Only 2 months away from little Libby's arrival!


And last, but not least, the ride on the train. Thanks to Aunt Awa for taking this picture and going with the kids on the train while I fed the baby.


Yep, it was a pretty fun day! We all had a great time and can't wait until we visit the animals next year!

The Cool Down

After a long, hot day at the zoo, there's nothing better than going back to Nana and Papa's house and playing in the water to cool down. Nana had a primary activity the next day and had over 100 water balloons to fill up. Thanks to some extras, the kids were able to play with some and had a blast!

Zach tried really hard to keep his from popping ...


while Hailey ran out and popped her first one within 5 seconds.


The kids had fun playing catch with Ashy and Brans.



While we finished filling up the rest of the water balloons for Nana, Papa turned on a sprinkler out back for the kids to play with.



Such a fun day, thanks Nana and Papa for letting us play in your water!