First Day of School

Today is Kendra's first day of school. Megan wanted to wear a backpack like sissy.

I have an analogy for sending children off to school. I had Kendra with me for five years. During that time I kept her safe and taught her all I could so that when this day came she would be prepared to face the world & the experiences that come with it, good and bad. She couldn't wait to go and probably would have gone last year had she been allowed. Now I hand her over to her teacher and aide and trust they will take care of her for me. Each afternoon I look forward to her running from the bus to tell me all about her day.

In our pre-existence our Father in Heaven taught us all He could before we had to leave to come to earth. We looked forward to this experience, ready to leave and have our own experiences. Each night he wants to hear from us. He put us in families and gave us friends to watch over us while away. And someday, He wants us to come home.

It was a fun day for me. Kendra is ready. And just so you all know, I didn't cry - but I look forward to her coming home, and telling me all about her day.

Karate

We enrolled Kendra in a karate class in June. Here she shows blocking set 1.
I shot this longways and I don't know how to rotate it. Sorry!

Minivan Mom

I vowed never to own a minivan. That is why I drove a Rav4 - a fun sporty car. When I bought the Rav 4 years ago I planned on having it for the rest of its' life. Then we had a 2nd child and were very squished. Megan's rear facing car seat didn't fit unless I pushed the passenger seat all the way forward. I thought for sure that when she went to a forward facing car seat that we wouldn't feel as tight. But we did.

For the past two years I have browsed Toyota Highlanders ( for some reason I only like Toyotas!) I almost bought one but it was sold by the time I called to inquire about it. Our plan was to pay cash and if I bought an older highlander with lots of miles I could trade my Rav in and only owe a few thousand. That I could do. But what I really wanted was a highlander with under 60,000 miles and that I couldn't pay for with cash.

Mark kept asking me to just look at Siennas. And when I finally did I found a 2000 Toyota Sienna ad in the paper and it only had 47,620 miles on it! And we could afford it with cash. So I bought it!! And now Mark gets my fun little Rav4 - so Ravvi gets to stay in the family! The family we bought the Sienna from was so nice - they had two daughters and wanted a family to enjoy the van as much as they had. The dad filled it up with gas for me before I came to pick it up and as I drove away I felt like I was taking someone of their family with me. He just stood outside and waved.

Although I miss my Rav there are some nice things about a minivan. My favorite is the automatic sliding door.

Volcanic Eruption

Earlier today it looked as if a volcano was erupting as the Los Conchas fire became visible in Albuquerque. By the time I took pictures the smoke had already begun to spread and it didn't look as cool.

Here's a link to the cool pics.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A massive smoke plume billowing north of Read more: http://www.koat.com/news/28562932/detail.html#ixzz1SCqc4eUC

Fire

New Mexico is on fire this summer...literally. It's so dry that no one is allowed to start fires - even in a fire ring.

Early in June we had smoke invaid the ABQ metro area. The winds carried it in from the Arizona fires and the fires in NM southwest of ABQ. We can see the Sandia Mountains from our home, but during that week this was our view:

Backpacking Trip

At the end of last year my counselor (1st counselor in YW) and I thought it would be a great idea if we took the Mia Maids on a backpacking trip. This past weekend we took our YW up to a place called San Gregorio Reservoir and spent the night. And here are the highlights.

This is the group at the parking lot before we began our hike.

Daddy/daughter shot. Isn't it so cute? Three of the Priesthood holders were dads to our Mia Maids. It made our trip so fun.

In the morning. And yes, one of our Mia Maids had fractured her wrist the day before we left...and she still came! This picture makes me laugh so I just had to add it to the blog.

Walking across the clearing to do some target practice.

My counselor and I. The trip was really fun because we are such good friends and we just laughed the whole time.

Our Bishop and his daughter. So cute.

Did I do okay?

Burly

The Mia Maid target that is now on our ward bulletin board.

Before we left we had some cleanup duty to do and were the last ones ready to go and we got a hard time for that.

We made it!!

Easter

Here are our Easter eggs. Can you tell which one is Megan's?

Kendra painting her egg while Megan digs to see what's inside.



We bought (a year ago when it was probably 75% off) a tye dye glitter egg kit.

Sand/water table for outside. They have so much fun with this. Megan gets a bath after playing in the sand because she is always so messy.

Our hospital had a renovation and had a carnival as an open house. Everything was free - hot dogs/balloons/face painting...

I made orange cookies with orange frosting for conference. The kids got to eat the beaters. I just love Kendra's face. She is such a ham.

Mark cut his finger with a knife I had put in the sink. It took about two weeks to heal and scab over.

That's the last month in a nutshell!

Random

Kendra loves to have Megan sit on her lap to watch a movie.

Megan is very messy - in this pic she put sour cream in her hair. Reminds me of a picture when I was around that age. Except mine was pudding.

Kendra and Megan coloring at the table.

This is how our kids play. In the dirt and rocks. It was really fun until Megan picked up a handful of dirt and ate it!!! Little stinker!

Here are some random things we are doing:

- Megan now will grab her diaper and say "poopy, I'm poopy" when she wants a diaper change

- Someone in our ward is helping us make a garden

-Mark and I both gave talks today in church - the girls sat with their babysitter and they behaved better for her than they do for us!

Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

A couple of days ago I left Megan, for maybe a minute or two to cut up an apple for a snack. In that small time frame Megan managed to find a marker, color the front room carpet and took off her diaper. Not sure how she managed that one!

Yesterday Megan dropped her sippy filled with apple juice (she must have undid the lid) and it splattered all over the kitchen tile.

Today Kendra dropped her cup of her banana milkshake and not only did it fly across the tile but it went onto the carpet, chair, and entertainment center. Then while drinking apple juice she somehow spit it out.

And now the funniest moment of the day:

It's like 70 degrees outside. The kids played in the rocks while I trimmed a bush (this thing is huge - it's my neighbors - and I've been working on it for weeks - our trashbins can only hold so much!). Kendra yells to me, "mom I found some seeds and I'm planting them, do you want to see my seeds?" "Sure Kendra." She comes closer and holds up her hand I then say, "um, Kendra, that's rabbit poo." I laugh everytime I think of this, because her smile turned to shock. While her eyes were fixated on me she proceeded to take her other hand and brush the pellets onto the ground. I got a good laugh today.

Pics

Megan in her favorite cupboard - I don't know what the fascination is with the syrup!

Megan riding Kendra's horse.


Cute sisters.

Kendra dresses herself...and only lets me minimally do her hair.

Our picture for the online ward directory. The kids had matching pjs for Christmas.

Daily Life

Fun things in my daily life:

Kendra loves the musical 'Wicked' and asks to sing popular whenever we drive somewhere. Megan likes to sing it to but can't quite articulate the words correctly which frustrates Kendra. Kendra tries to teach me how to sing it properly which is just a hoot.

Megan found a bottle of lotion within her reach the other day. Most of it had been spilled by the time I found her. Luckily it was mostly on her and not anything else. Glad she had fun!

Megan talks a lot more now than before. She repeats what we say and will now say something and then point to it. She likes the song loathing from Wicked and says the part from the end, "boo! ahh!"

I am teaching Kendra to read from the SWRL books. She loves them and she's able to sound words out which she couldn't do before.

Whenever I tell Megan "no" she pretends to cry and runs to sister. Kendra then hugs her. Even when Kendra gets mad at Megan she still wants a hug from her. She loves her sister. Although they fight more often now than before because Megan wants everything that sister has and Kendra gets upset because she doesn't want to share. Oh the joy!

Days Like This

There are some Sundays when I wonder why I even bother to come to church. It's not like I get a lot out of the meetings. Today was one of those days. It's stake conference, so in order to sit in the front of the gym we have to arrive 30 minutes early. Due to the fact that our kids woke up way early we were there 40 minutes early...and still sat in the gym. I wonder what time people arrive to sit in the chapel area....

After about 30 minutes into the regional broadcast conference (covering NM, TX, and OK) Kendra had to go to the bathroom. I was closer to the end of the row so I took her. Ten minutes after we returned she sneezed, and there was snot, and I didn't have a kleenex. So once again we went to the bathroom. Ten minutes later Megan pooped so I took her out to change her (and by the way, the mother's lounge is the place to be if you want to listen to conference, thoroughly enjoyed my time in there) but another mom was waiting so I had to hurry. Ten minutes later Megan is crying so I handed her to Mark and said, "it's your turn!" I just wanted to listen to at least one speaker. Ten minutes later Kendra says, "I'm thirsty." "Too bad" was my reply. Oh the joy of it.

On regular Sundays my goal is to appear as if I'm listening while really I'm just trying to keep the kids entertained enough (mostly Megan) so that we can stay in the chapel.