First Day of School

The day finally came. On September 4th Mckinley, Kyan, and I all had our first days of school. Mckinley to preschool (ahh!), Kyan to daycare (ahh! ahhh!), and me to work (3rd grade!). It was such a scary day in general. I was SO nervous to put my kids into childcare and I was probably just as scared to start my first year as a teacher. I had no idea what to expect or how it would go.

The morning was CRAZY. In spite of the fact that I had prepped lunches, gotten outfits together, blankets ready, diapers and wipes for Kyan and lessons prepared for myself, the morning was hectic to say the least. Kevin and I both took the kids to each of their respective schools to see them off for their first day. Then I went to start my day and worry all day about how they were doing.

Mckinley had been so excited about school and when the day finally came she did great! We had talked and talked about preschool, so it was pretty built up to her. She was excited about her new lunch box, excited about new friends, and excited to learn. That morning I thought she might be a little sad, but she wasn't even that. It was so awesome!

Kyan on the other hand was a different story. He was a screaming mess. He did not want us to go and had to be clawed away from me. It was awful. I knew it would get better as the day went on but that didn't change how hard it was to say good-bye.

My first day went great, so that was one less thing concerning me. I have a great group of kids and I really like the people I work with. Two pluses there! I was still so anxious to see the kids however. The funnies/worst part of the day however was probably when I went to pick up Mckinley. I was SOOOO excited to get to her and see how her day had gone. The second I walked onto her playground at school to pick her up I noticed her dumping a shovel full of sand onto a little girls head. Our reunion was a little tainted by that moment...even more so when I was signing her out and I hear a little voice behind me say, "mommy, her name is Mckinley and she put sand in my boots!!". What??!?! I whipped my head around to immediately apologize for my daughter's actions!! I was so embarrassed! Needless to say our conversations that night were focused on the sandbox and where to put, and not put, sand!

Kyan and my reunion went much more as I had planned it in my head! :) As soon as he saw me, he ran opened arms into my arms! It was pure sweetness! Each pick-up has been the same since then too! He runs full speed with his arms outstretched. It is so fun to pick him up that way!

Since the start of daycare we have definitely had our ups and downs. What I thought would have been difficult has been flip-flopped. Kyan had done amazing. The first couple weeks it was hard for him in the morning, but he calmed down by the time I was out in the hall (listening intently for him to stop crying!). He has loved his teacher and is extremely happy when I come to get him--still arms streched out, running for me though. Mckinley on the other had has had a very rough transition. Some mornings have been almost too much for me to take. She pleads for me to not leave her! I truly think it has been made worse because she was sick for the first two weeks of school and she gets WAY less sleep going to school than she did when she was home. She is tired. Period. This makes for a very cranky girl in the morning and at night. This past week she did a lot better. Some morning she was even ok. I think we have turned the corner, but man was it hard! I was so nervous for her each day.

Overall, the start of school and daycare was as to be expected. We have had good days and bad days. However, as I write this now it has been almost two months since we started school (I am a little behind in blogworld), and the kids are doing fantastic! They both love their respective schools/teachers/classes. It is so nice to drop them off and know they will do fine.

To wrap up this post that has been dragging for months, here are the few pictures we were able to capture from the morning of the first day!

 

Yes this is literally the "best" picture I could get of the two of them! :)

Ocean Trip #2

A couple weeks ago we went down to Oregon to spend 5 days camping at the ocean. Lucky for us Grandma B and Grandpa D put us up in their new camping trailer at the amazing Beverly Beach State Park. While we camped at the park, grandma and grandpa stayed at their house and came to visit each day and night. The trip was filled to the brim with fun!

First and foremost, this campground is literally steps from the ocean! The park is incredibly beautiful with lots of old, knotty trees. We went for walks on the beach, had ocean dining, went beachfront shopping, did aquarium wandering, and enjoyed lots of opportunities for s'mores!

It was a wonderful way to wrap up our traveling for the summer. Now Kevin is in a busy season for work and we don't have the opportunity to get away. It was so wonderful that Kevin's parents opened up the B&D Camping B&B for us! :)

I know that Mckinley and Kyan enjoyed the trip just as much as Kevin and I did! We are so looking forward to many, MANY more opportunities for camping with these kiddos!


Get ready for picture overload!

Look what happened to Ky's face--face plants onto the pavement don't feel very good! 

Fun in the Sun Birthday Party

So this is WAY overdue, but I wanted post about Mckinley's third birthday party. The weekend before she turned three we had a Fun in the Sun party for her. Unfortunately, the sun didn't actually appear though (we also were missing several key extended family members!!!). In spite of that, we still had tons of fun, and Mckinley loved getting such special attention from all her family!

We had just spent the previous 5 days in Spokane, so it was a bit of a rush trying to pull it all together the night before. I was up late decorating and up early early baking! It is all worth it though to see Mckinley become so happy at the sight of all the attention just for her!

Here are some pics of the day...although, sadly again, I didn't get many! I actually took many more than this, but somehow I erased them from my camera before loading them onto my computer. Sad! So these are the best of what I got! :(

Here are a few pictures of her big girl bed that she got too. Her crib converted into a toddler bed that she had outgrown, but it also converted into a full. So now she has a real big girl bed!



4th of July in Chelan

During the week of 4th of July we spent a really fun week in the sun with my family in Chelan! My mom and Steve were wonderful enough to rent a house right on the lake that we all stayed at together. It was a week filled with warm weather, cousin playtime, water parks, jet skis, swimming in the lake and baby ducks*!

We headed over on the Friday before the 4th-which happened to be Mckinley's birthday (I also had an interview that morning-more on that later). It was a very busy day, and I kind of feel bad that it took away from Mckinley's birthday, but I think she still had a great day and she didn't know the difference. The trip went really well except for when Mckinley threw Kyan's beloved stuffed elephant out the window at 60 mph! Let's just say that little moment ended with Kevin saying, "I will always remember this day now." And yes, we turned around to try and find it, but no, we did not. :( We got into Chelan just in time to have a birthday dinner overlooking the lake. I even brought a candle to have the waiter put in a piece of cake (my funny daughter though didn't like the cake, ha!). Then we were off to the house to start our fun week---after we stopped at Walmart to try and find a replacement elephant with no luck though!

The week was incredibly fun. Mckinley and Kyan both had a blast all week spending time with family and getting in lots of play time. Mckinley LOVED the water. Whether it was flying down a water slide, playing on the shore of the lake, or being thrown into the lake by her daddy she was in heaven! Kyan on the other hand pretty much hated being actually in the water. He eventually let us put him in a floaty on the lake, but wouldn't spend time in the water without screaming! (he did fall out of the floaty once under dad's watchful eye and completely go under however!)

As usual, it was wonderful to spend such a long amount of time with my family. I wish I could bottle the entire trip in my mind like a movie so I could revisit it whenever I wanted. I want to remember every little detail of my kids and Kevin-even how crazy I felt when Kinley threw that elephant out the window!

I can't believe the summer is half over!!

*These baby ducks hatched a couple days after we got there. Their nest was literally steps from our house. We found this one lost from the mama duck one morning. The neighbors got a net and reunited them though! It got SO close to Mckinley (and by so close, I mean she picked it up by the head on a couple of occasions!).

 (In this picture, Mckinley is singing "You are my Sunshine" to the baby duck because we told her it was lost from its mommy. She said it must be sad, so she would sing to it.)

Unfortunately, I hardly took my camera out! I did get a couple shots though and my sis-in-law also sent me some! Here is the small collection that I do have!

                 (yes, Mckinley was riding her bike in her PJs--don't judge, we were on vacation!)