'couve trip cont'd

 

I guess I was in too big of a hurry....here are pics. from the 2nd half of our trip.  We met one of my college friends at the park with her 3 children.  Two moms and 6 kids at the park, good times, not many good shots were captured.  Here is Dani and Ainsley.

 And this is her son Carson.  It was a quick visit, but I'm pretty sure neither one of us stopped talking for a solid two hours.  :)

 My monkey girl, on the monkey bars, her hand was literally splitting apart from blisters.

 Slip-n-slide and cousin Leila.

 The birthday boy.  My dad turned 64 while we were there.

 The kids and I also took a trip to the zoo, non-stop fun, I tell ya.

And the highlight of my trip, hanging with my 'Couve girls!  I love you girls, it was such a good night!

Party on Party People

 

Kent's amazing Grandpa turned 90 in August!  Sandy and Uncle Pete threw an unbelievable surprise party for him!   Pretty sure he was blown away!

 

 Grandma Phillips and her angelic grandchildren.  :)

 Uncle Pete, Kelly and Kent.

 Auntie Shelby and Uncle Scott.

Great-Grandpa, and some of his great-grandchildren!  It was a fabulous night for everyone, what a wonderful reason to celebrate!

Summer time

 After a long day in the sun at the water parks, I found Claire Bear dead asleep like this, (she was supposed to be in time out).

 We made a trip to the 'Couve to help my parent's pack up their house and move.  We took a day off and my mom and I headed to Seaside with the kids.

 Carousel fun, but what's a road trip without a massive melt down?

 After we were all cool, calm and collected we headed to Mo's in Cannon Beach for lunch!

It was a perfect Oregon coast day!  Near 80 degrees with no wind, unbelievable!

 While we were at the beach, my Dad sold the couch and kitchen table, it was a long week of sitting and eating on the floor!

Artsy Fartsy

I am going to try to catch up on all my overdue Summer posts, brace yourself.

A few months ago I subscribed to kiwicrate.com   which is a company that sends craft kits to you each month.  It took me over two months to finally open our kits, so I ended up cancelling it, BUT the ones we did do, the kids loved!

The first theme was a castle theme.  Brayden got to make the catapult, it was pretty awesome.

 

 Dani got the princess crown...

 Ellie got the knight's mask.

 We also had a gardening kit that was shipped in the Spring.  We opened it in July, but Brayden was still successful with growing his beans.  We had to throw them away after we got back from vacation, but it was fun while it lasted.

My funny family

I meant to write about this in the last post, but forgot.  Last night after we got home from the open houses, Kent and I were talking about the kids' teachers.  Kent said how he was talking to Mr. McCaslin for a  while and he was kind of offended.  Apparently Mr. McCaslin said to Kent,

"I see you married up."  (totally random)  Kent looked at him, dead serious and replies,

"I don't think I could have done much worse."  Mr. McCaslin just stared at him, dumbfounded.  Kent never did smile or give any indication that he was kidding.  Those of you who know Kent well can totally picture this.

I heard this after we were home, and I started freaking out (after I laughed for a bit).  But all I can think is Mr. McCaslin must think we have a totally dysfunctional marriage and home.....oh well.

Another tidbit about our first day.  I just managed to help both girls with their homework, which is going to be a major feat every week.

An excerpt from their "All about me"  project:  What do you want to be when you grow up?

Dani: "A doctor!"

Ellie:  "A rock star!"

And there you have it, my two very different, twin girls wrapped up in five words!  :)

The time has come.....

I have been thinking about this day, let's face it, wishing for this day for FIVE and a half years.  It has finally come, ALL of my children are in school!  It is way more bittersweet than I ever expected.  We did the whole open house/meet the teachers, the night before school started.  Everyone was excited and nervous, but loved their teachers.  I was overwhelmed, but feeling confidant that they would all do great!

Ms. Jenny (p-school teacher) and Mr. McCaslin (k-teacher) each gave the girls copies of "The  Night Before Kindergarten."  We read it twice.  :)  Everyone was in bed by 8 and sound asleep by 8:30.

 6:30 AM, wide awake and ready for school!  Outfits were on, and breakfast was being prepared.  I rolled out of bed, put my happy face on (those of you who know me well, know this is a HUGE challenge in the morning), and assisted with breakfast duties.

 Danielle raring to head to the bus stop.

 Brayden, the big, experienced 2nd grader.

 Ellie, anxious to get out the door!

 All of my babies, putting up  with me and all of my pics.

 At the bus stop, ready to roll!  (Notice we were the first in line, maybe because we got out there 10  mins. early).

 My babies boarding the bus for the first time.
In Greenacres, we have a funky system.  All the Kindergartners from here and another school go to their own building, the K-center.  The little guys ride the bus up to the elementary school, transfer, then ride to their own school.....this never was an issue for Bradyen, but I had some concerns for my girls, who don't always pay close attention to their surroundings.  I was the first crazy mom at the bus station at K-center.  This is the girls getting off there.

 Super excited to start their days!

 Mr. McCaslin, corralling all of the troops, they did a good job of waiting in line....this is when I started to lose it....I felt the lip trembling, ball in my throat and the ugly face.  I quickly hugged each girl one last time and scurried to the parking lot.   This was somewhat unexpected, I had not shed one tear during all the preparations for this day.  I did not shed one tear when Brayden went to K, I think in part because he turned 6 the day before K started, he was older, ready and very prepared.  Plus, I had two distractions at home to take care of.  But the tears started and they didn't stop.  I pulled into the coffee shop on the way home, saw an acquaintance and could barely tell her what was going on.  I fumbled through my order and continued home, where I had to start work.  I sat in my office and cried.  I tried to pull myself together, then heard a knock on my door, shoot, it wasn't pretty!  I opened the door, and the poor Dad who has been bringing his son to  speech for just 3 weeks, looked at me with his mouth hanging open.  He said, "Are you ok?  Do we need to leave?  Can you handle this?"  I explained to him what was going on and he was very sympathetic, he has an older daughter too, so he had experienced this.  Throughout the session I had sniffles, and I could hear him chuckling at me.

After that session, I had a no show, and then a cancellation.  There you go, my morning completely shot.  I decided to go for a run to relieve some of this silly stress.  When I got home there was a voicemail on my phone.  I saw that it had the school number on it and totally panicked.  Come to find out, Ellie got a bloody nose at school.  The  nurse took great care of her and she came home in a totally different outfit. I asked them what the best part of school was.....you ready for it?

"Riding the bus!!!"

Lots of excitement on this first day!  Tomorrow, I am sure I will be shoving them out the door!  :)