August recap at last!

An entire month has gone by and this was so far the busiest month I had ever experienced. I was about to pull my hairs out at the end of each day but I guess I survived.

August 1st.

Josh started his swimming lesson; Preschool level 1. So how did he do? Amazing. Josh may seem tough but he is a very reserved boy. That is until he gains confidence on what he is doing and by then of course no one can stop him. Swimming lessons went down just like that.

1st day: “I don’t like the water is too cold” Clearfield’s aquatic center pool has heated water
2nd day: I don’t like my swimming shirt
3rd day: I want my swimming shirt
4th to 8th day: I love swimming mommy
Josh can jump from the side of the pool, can hold his breath under water and can float on his back. He keeps asking for swimming lessons that’s how much he enjoyed them.

I am so proud of this little boy. He conquered his fear of water and worked so hard to do a good job. He was the youngest and smallest in his class. Can’t wait for Preschool aquatic level II!

August 8

We had a girl’s date with grandma. We went to the salt lake Parade oh homes. This year they were featuring the “Up House”. This was such a darling replica of Mr. Frederickson’s house. We were even met by actors dressed like them. The details of the house were incredible. From the painting of Paradise Falls above the mantel and the family pictures on the stairway wall to the hose on the front porch to even the cute mailbox with their name.

This was certainly or best stop through the parade but I was able to gather some really good ideas for my basement.

Julia love the little girl’s room, she insisted I take a picture of her favorites. This is one of them

August 9

Salt Lake City. We needed a way to officially finish our summer and what a better way to do this than by going on a train ride to Salt Lake City to play on the water fountains.

Josh was so excited to ride on the train. Julia and he got to sit all by themselves while I shared a seat with Andrew. They loved sight-seeing until we got to Salt Lake. 

They were so well behaved holding hands and listening to me the entire time that I never had to panic about crossing streets to get to the water fountains.

We shared our last summer day trip with friends and had lots of fun. 

August 15

This was the first day of school for a kindergartener. 

We rose bright and shine to go meet Mrs. Adams at Bluffridge elementary school.  Julia had the best 2 hours of school she’s ever had. She got to be a super reader.  She loved how her teacher dressed up on her super reader costume to call them into the classroom from recess.  She loved the teacher’s made up songs about the alphabet, she loved the way story time went about and discovering that her teacher’s favorite books were some of her favorite’s too. There they were on the shelf: If you give a moose a muffin and llama, llama red pajama.

The class was divided into color groups and Julia loved the fact that out four different colors that she could be she was yellow, just about her favorite color. Her name, folders and cubical were yellow.

You can’t imagine how exciting this day was. To celebrate we decided to have lunch at Arctic Circle. The food is O.K but what the kids really love is their playground, especially Andrew.  He loves the slides. He can climb them and slide them down with his eyes close.  This is pretty amazing considering that he is only 14 months old.

August 15….3:00 pm

You are not going to believe what happened. After an extraordinary first day of school I received a phone call from North Davis Preparatory Academy which a school that teaches kids a second language. We had applied early in the year to their lottery to gain admission into the school but we didn’t get in. As I learned there were about 3000 kids applying to enter kindergarten and only a handful of spots left.

That afternoon we get a call letting us know that there’s been a last minute opening and Julia’s name had been pulled out and she was admitted into the school.

First thing I asked was: When does she start? TOMORROW. Classes actually started today and if you want in you have to come in and register her within an hour.

I was extremely happy. I imagine this will be the kind of feeling I’d have if someone told me that I had just won a million dollars, but I was also concerned. After all Julia was ready to have Mrs. ADAMS. That cool awesome teacher that dresses up like the cartoon from her favorite T.V show.

I had to call Spencer and see what he thought, we started making some phone calls with friends who have kids in this school already and decided that indeed this was an opportunity that we could pass.

Later that night came the most painful thing I had to do this far as a parent. Breaking the news to Julia that she couldn’t go to Mrs. Adams class anymore because she was going to attend a different school.

My poor sweetheart hogged me so tight and broke into tears. It’s amazing the kind of impression that a great teacher can leave in a child after only 2 hours.

After talking to her and making her realize what an opportunity this was for her and explaining all the good things that she could do like sleep in every morning and be the helper in Josh’s Joy school she finally stopped crying and went to bed.

I could tell she was really heartbroken by the news and I am just so glad that I could be there to hug her and comfort her. We had one of the strongest and longest hugs ever that night and I will never forget that experience. She deserved something from making that choice and so mommy and daddy got her a Barbie movie.

Julia I know how much you gave up because we’ve never seen you crying with that much sentiment in the 5 years that you have been around us, but we are so proud that you were so grown up to accept the decision mommy and daddy made for you.

P.S. That night I wanted to transfer Mrs. Adams to the new school.

August 16

First day of kindergarten take two! Julia was off to afternoon kindergarten. She starts class at 12:00 now and gets out at 3:00 pm.

I love the fact that she gets to wear uniforms. It is such a relief not having to figuring out outfits every day.

Her new teacher is Mrs. Hansen and she has a Spanish teacher named Mrs. Jorgez who is from Venezuela.
I stayed in the classroom until she was comfortable. After all is hard to come to a place where you are the new kid.

It is really hard on Julia having this schedule she is not use to it. Afternoons are for relaxing and playing, not for school. She was extremely tired when she came home and if you know Julia that means trouble. She gets really grumpy when she is tired, really grumpy. Hopefully she can get use to the new schedule fast.

August 20

Another first day of school! This time for josh though. Some friends and I decided to do a Joy school for the kids. There are 6 kids his age 3 boys and 3 girls. He is going to have joy school Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the school year.

I can believe the time has come for my little Josh to start preschool already. He just doesn’t seem age appropriate to me. I keep thinking that he is only two.

That morning he was super excited to go to his friend’s house with his Buzz Lightyear backpack on.

His favorite thing about that day was playing with puzzles. He is really good at putting puzzles together and has mastered all the puzzles at home, so needless to say how excited he was about playing with new puzzles.

I am extremely anxious, in two weeks it will be my turn to teach.

August 18

Andrew took his first steps today. we took a video of it. He was really close. He was walking by holding onto things and all of the sudden while practicing his steps with daddy he figures it out. He is 13 months and three weeks. By far our fastest walker.

August 27

AYSO girl’s soccer season started. Julia was so excited about this season………..no more boys!!!!

Only 5 little, delicate, sweet and very polite girls who wait turn and don’t steal the ball from each other. She had a great start. She has been able to score a couple of goals already. By unanimous decision the team’s name is: team Tinker bells.
She has games every Saturday until the end of October and then it starts again in the spring.

That evening we had a block party. We had such a great time with our neighbors. We had great hamburgers, the best white chocolate cup cakes I’ve ever eaten before and for entertainment we had a bouncy house with a slide. The night was awesome. We live in the nest street ever!

August 30

I regret to inform you all that on Tuesday august 19th at 9:16 in the morning tooth #1 fell off Julia’s mouth. It wasn’t that bad I actually had to take her to the dentist so that he can pull the bad boy out. The tooth was hurting her every time she ate and she wouldn’t let anyone close to it to pull it out. 

At the dentist office the dentist asked her if she would let him take a look at it and in two seconds he had pulled the tooth out of her mouth. He didn’t give her a chance to prepare for the pain or anything.

The dentist gave her a cute little treasure chest to put her tooth into and off we were.

That night she was so excited for the tooth fairy to come over. The tooth fairy husband wanted to be really cheap and live 25 cents under her pillow but after he had a discussion with his wife who nicely explained inflation to him Julia woke up to find this under her pillow

Lagoon

We were not planning on going to Lagoon this year. Disneyland was supposed to satisfied our wanting of thrill and adrenaline rush but I guess we just couldn’t take it.

 

Spencer was on vacation and his friend offered us some discount tickets and you just can’t say no to that.

We went on a Tuesday morning right after lunch and the crowds were non-existent.

We got excited checking their web site the day before looking into their height restrictions because their restrictions start at 36" and 46". Josh measured 38" and Julia was 45 1/2.

Josh was just the perfect size, but to make sure Julia could ride the bigger rides what did her mommy do?

She made her a tall hairdo that day and filled the bottom of her shoes with cotton balls.  The result: she was able to go in all the roller coasters including Colossus which has two loops that put you upside down. She loved it.

 



Julia rode Colossus, the Bat, Spider, wooden roller coaster, wild mouse and she rode the Odysea  and the Log Fume seating on her own.

We couldn’t have planned this better. Spencer and I took turns with the kids going on the rides.  I used to be able to do it all but times have change I guess. Oh, and I have motion sickness so no swings for me. Spencer did most of the rides that just go on circles and we took turns with Julia to go on the roller coasters. By the end of the night neither of us was exhausted and the kids just loved cheering up for each other and telling each other what a great job they were doing and how brave they were. It was so cute!

Josh was also able to go on his very second roller coaster ride, the new Bambora ride which is really smooth and easy roller coaster. The first roller coaster he rode was in Disneyland. He also tried Puffed the Fire Dragon with Julia only. It was great watching the kids being independent together. Julia took Josh to the line and made sure they got good seats

We didn’t pay for Andrew because he was too little and wouldn’t have enjoyed it or remember anything about this trip anyways. Besides, Julia and Josh had to wait until they were 3 to start going on the rides. A.D. was such a good boy.  He enjoyed just hanging around on his stroller and eating all the treats with us. I couldn’t be prouder of my little man

It was such a perfect day, one of those really rare peaceful times where there are no tears or tantrums or winning or screaming. It was just glorious.

The funniest moment of the day was watching Josh drive on those electric cars. He couldn’t figure it out how to turn the wheel, so he ended up driving in a big circle on the same spot during the entire ride. His face was comical. He is on the green car at the very back

As we were attempting to go on the Ferris wheel a huge storm hit us, but by then it was 8:00pm anyways and we happily agreed it was time to go home.

July part 2

Swimming lessons Second round

Julia really loved her swimming lessons this year but because I wanted to try Surf n’ Swim she got to have swimming lessons a second time around.

I put Julia on level 4. When the teachers were calling their roll and were introducing themselves I noticed a bunch of 10 and 12 year olds being called to her class. She was at the end of the roll and a half a body shorter than everyone else.

While I was trying to find the supervisor to have her transferred from that class I noticed her walking with her class and going to the pool with the big kids. Without complaining she got into the deep water and was beginning to do front crawl like everybody else. She couldn’t even touch the bottom of the pool!

I was very proud of her for trying something as hard without doubting herself. I did however, had here transferred into level 3 which was still mainly for 8 year olds. She did awesome. She swims now. Not only that, she can jump out of the diving board.  We couldn’t be prouder of her.  Thank you Grandma for coming to see her, she really likes showing off

Another First

We usually learn new things and grow a lot during summer time and this year wasn’t the exception for Julia. She wears size S in cloths, size 12 shoes and hates soxs.

She can swim, she can do a running cart wheel, a back bend and is really close to doing a back flip all by herself, but the thing that she is most proud of just happened this month. We got to say goodbye to two good friends of ours. They are left and right training wheels.

Yeap, on July 8th at 6:47 pm, Julia rode her bike like a big girl. I can’t remember how many attempts it took me to learn this skill but it took this girl I’ll say about 4 tries and 3 minutes.

She loves feeling all grown up

Pee Wee sports
I feel bad that we have Julia in swimming lesson, tumbling and pretty soon soccer again. I had to find something for Josh to do. After researching a lot I found a program at the Clearfield aquatic center where they teach kids 3-5 how to play 3 different kind of sports; baseball, football and soccer.

 Josh was one of the smallest kids on his group but I was so proud of him for trying his very best. Of course there were moments when it was better to pay attention to the craw flying nearby or that plane zooming by than the coach but all and all Josh had an awesome time.

 

The best part was that his coach made it necessary for parents to interact with the kids. I think Josh really  enjoyed having all that attention to himself.

July part 1

INDEPENDENCE DAY

We had a great 4th of July. Sometimes you take for granted all the sacrifices that people are doing overseas to keep the liberties in this country that we enjoy so much.
We went to the Layton fair. It was super crowded but we loved seeing the kiddos go on and on the bouncy houses they had available. This time Josh actually climbed in and went through their obstacle course. We picked up a couple of bags of cotton candy and headed to grandma’s Smith house.

The kids swam with all the cousins and had a blast. Even this little munchkin got all wet.

 

You can’t celebrate the 4th without hamburgers and good ol’ corn. Yum!

Spencer had bought fireworks for the kids and we had the family come over to our home to watch them together.

Can you guess who was scared and who wasn’t?....

Josh ran to the background and watched from the safety of the door steps. He takes after me. Believe it or not I was scared to death of fireworks when I was little.

 Julia was very brave, but I kept seeing her chair slowly move further and further back and away from the fireworks.

Spencer lighting the fireworks, although he had a great deal of help from little Luke who was extremely excited about the fireworks. 

I don’t think Andrew even blinked while the fireworks were going on. He was perfectly snuggled on his grandpa’s legs

The kids loved it. After our show was over we walked to the end of our street and were able to watch dozens of fireworks being launched everywhere around us

Andrew 1 year

 Yes it was a month ago that my little monkey turned 1 year old but would you believe how busy my summer has been.

Andrew at 1 year:

His Stats:

Weight: 23.38 lbs

Length: 30 inches

 Can crawl and is very close to walk. He actually took 5 steps the other day towards his daddy. He just won’t walk towards me. He looks at me, growls like saying yeah right mom, be serious and goes right onto crawling.

He has 8 teeth; 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

He is a very picky eater. He eats according to his moods. Some days he loves chicken, other days he can’t stand it, but so far macaroni and cheese and rice have never failed. The sad thing is that when something is not of his like he grabs it and throws it to the floor, pretty bad. Let’s hope this stage gets over with quickly because I do not like it a bit

Wears size 4 shoe and hates socks

He loves to play peek-a-boo with Julia and Josh

He loves to share. He will get his bottle out of his mouth and try to feed me. He gets a kick when I pretend to drink out of it.

He loves babies but like any other one year old he just can’t be gentle

He is a TROUBLE maker. Sometimes he cries intentionally to get Josh in trouble

Trivia question:

Did you know that little boys have drama? If you didn’t I invite you to watch A.D. and you’ll discover in 10 minutes how true this is.

His very favorite words are: mama, mas (more), buk (book), baby and that’s about it

He loves music. He stops to listen to it and if he likes the tune enough he even hums.

He is a snuggler BIG time. At night time he goes to the floor and plays until he gets tired, then he climbs right up to the couch and snuggles next to either Spencer or me.

He is strong. Julia tried to take a toy away from him and she couldn’t. He’s got a firm grip

He loves to read. He goes to Julia’s room and sits in front of her bookshelf with a book and pretends to read, funny thing is that he makes noises and flips the pages and even points to the pictures like he knows what the story is about.

Andrew loves to watch movies. So far the one he loves the most is Mosters INC.

He is one smart little cookie. Sometimes I had hidden my IPod or the controller between the couch cushions. He waits until I am gone and crawls straight for it and digs until he finds what he was looking for.

Loves to climb up and down the couches, bed toys you name it.

His favorite relaxing spot is under the dining table. He is usually joined by Julia and Josh.

He loves being outside.  Watching his siblings or just scavenging for those potato bugs. His eyes don’t move once he has found one until he has reached for it.

 



His favorite time of the day is Bath time, especially because he gets to share it with Josh. This is not a good combo. I usually have to clean a gallon of water off the bathroom floor, not to mention the many times that I’ve discovered a bathtub full of bubbles and an empty bottle of shampoo that I forgot to put away.

When he is sleepy, he is sleepy. These are pictures of the many times that he fell asleep on his bouncy chair

He got his first hair cut the day after his birthday…handsome boy

He has the most expressive eyes that I’ve seen. I could easily guess what he is thinking just by looking at his face

" I love you mommy..wait a second you got that camera again don't you, don't you"

He can climb up and down the stairs, but he is such a dare devil that he would turn around and start bouncing on the steps so he is forbidden to go downstairs.

Andrew is quite the character. He is definitely my artist. He loves to draw sadly his favorite spots are the couches. He has a very strong character and it is very determined. He never gives up even if it takes him an hour to climb up through the stack of chairs that are holding him captive inside the living room.

He thinks he is part of my baking supplies because I always find him putting himself away in the oven drawer. He opens it up and can sit there forever if he wanted to.

He is so tender hearted; he is always petting the cat even when he doesn’t want to be pet.

The thing I love the most about my Andrew is his laugh. He laughs about the silliest things and when he does it is so contagious.

I love my boy, his kisses, his smiles, and his drama. He makes it so worth it to wake up in the middle of the night when Josh is being too loud while going to the bathroom. I really don’t mind sharing my side of the bed on nights when he can’t fall asleep and I love the way he hugs me and cuddles his head right against my arm and holds on to my finger to make sure he is staying on bed with me.

I love the feeling that I get when I see him with Julia and Josh and I see him fitting so perfectly in our family.

This first year has being a blessing, I am excited to see what new things he will learn to do in the next couple of months