1st Day of Pre-School

Practically a month ago, Alayna had her first day of official pre-school.  She was excited and nervous, but I would say she was more excited than nervous.  Once she was inside and saw all the other kids, (especially her friend, Chloe), she was right at ease and ready to go.

I just can't believe this girl is old enough to be in Pre-school. 

You know when you have an idea that seems really awesome in your head, but then it just doesn't happen in real life?  Yeah, that basically sums up this picture.  If you click on the picture, it says "Pre-school".  

It's the thought that counts, right?

Backyard upgrade

Our backyard was less than stellar when we moved in.  Basically, it was dirt and weeds.  (Apparently the tenants before us didn't see a need to water the lawn for several YEARS.  Hence, the dirt and weeds.)   

Meanwhile, we just dealt with the fruits of their (lack of) labor.  I thought the kids would just get used to it and get over the fact that there was no grass, but that didn't seem to happen.  Alayna pretty much didn't step foot in the backyard for several months (due to snow causing mud).  

But this summer our backyard improved when a family in the ward ordered too much sod and were giving away the extra.  We rushed over, completely loaded up the back of our truck, and got to work.

I forgot to take a picture before we started laying the sod, but these pictures should give you the gist.

And after.  (We have recently been blessed with a lot of rain.  So our grass is pretty green.)  The grass has been SO great!  Our girls love to play outside and now we can even invite friends over to play in the backyard.  :)

 Then towards the end of the summer we noticed a townhouse down the road that had a huge pile of sand in their driveway with a sign that said "Free".  It didn't take me long to convince Dan that the girls needed a nice big sand box.  

Several bucket loads of sand later, we had a nice large sandbox as well as our turtle sandbox filled to the brim.  One trip to Home Depot later, we had ourselves a pretty awesome sandbox!  And the girls seem to enjoy it quite a bit.  Don't you think?

I'd say our backyard is pretty nice considering we just paid for the cost of wood.  That's my kind of price.  :)

Family Fun

This year my family had our very first reunion.  Now that we live closer, it is was a bit easier to sort out all the details.  

Our destination? Denver.  Close enough, but far enough away to be considered a vacation.  

Our first stop.  The zoo.  When you have 6 grandkids ages 5 and under, I would say the zoo is a must.  The kids had a blast, and I think the adults had a good time as well.

Here's Brylen hanging out in the stoller.  Don't let this picture fool you, I think she spent more time out of the stroller than in.

Layna and Kendree looking at some animal.  They were intently looking.

Two of my favorite people.  Love them!

Grandpa pretty much being the best grandpa ever.  (Devynee is saying "cheese!" while Brylen is just trying to figure out what is going on.)

We had to stop and take a break for a minute and this picture was a result of that.

This cute little guy is going to one soon.  Seriously so cute!

Theses cousins just love each other.  

Jordan was playing a game with Brylen while she was eating some pretzels for a snack.  She thought it was SO funny!  She loves her Uncle Jordy.

Victory!  She got the pretzel!

Why, what big ears you have, Alayna!

Todd loved these stuffed animals that they were selling.

He just wanted to snuggle right up and take a nap.

Look at that cute family!

And this family!  (It's tricky getting all the kids looking and smiling at the camera!)

Layna loves her Aunt Sarah!  SO cute!

This little girl just. couldn't. stay. awake. any. longer.  (Good thing Daddy was more than happy to snuggle with her.)

And believe it or not (gasp!), we actually got a family picture!  

While I did so fantastic at taking pictures at the beginning of our trip, I failed miserably for the rest of our trip!  

After the zoo, we checked into our hotel, swam in the pool, and went to the Rockies game.  Adam, Alicia and I went to the temple the next morning (the new session is AMAZING!), then we all met for lunch, went to Boondocks and finished our trip off at Cold Stone (of course!).  

We had such a great time with family and can't wait for our next reunion!

Kid's day

While preparing for our Father's Day festivities, Alayna asked why we don't celebrate "Kid's Day".  After some thought, we decided a Kid's Day was in order.  We had Alayna plan some fun activities and request a summer toy that she would like.  (Since neither of our kids have a summer birthday, we were noticing our selection of outdoor summer toys was mediocre at best.  So Kid's Day was the perfect excuse to expand our selection a bit.)

The morning started off with some present opening.  Even Brylen has got the opening down now.  (She was pretty excited about the bubble gun inside...once we got the bubbles going.)

Alayna didn't have to "open" this baby.  But I don't think she cared one bit.  This scooter has gotten some major use this summer.  I think we nailed it with this gift.

There was one small present for Alayna to open.

A new swimming suit.  We were at the splash park/swimming pool so much this summer, an extra suit was needed.  

And what would Kid's Day be without donuts?  Every little kid (and mom) needs a sprinkled donut every now and again!

The rest of our day consisted of checking off all the fun things on Alayna's list.  Namely, a picnic at the park followed by riding her scooter (of course).  (I am glad they are so easy to please.)

Hooray for Kid's Day!

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy did indeed make a stop at our house.  

Despite the fact that we checked out every book about the tooth fairy available at the library and prepping her on what to expect, Alayna still went to bed nervous.  She wasn't so sure she wanted the Tooth Fairy to come.  (It has been the same for Santa and the Easter bunny.)  She likes the idea of them, but is scared that she might actually see them.  Silly girl.  

Once we convinced her that she wouldn't even know the Tooth Fairy had been there, she finally settled down to go to sleep.  

But you better believe that all her worries vanished, when she reached under her pillow to find these:

A letter from the Tooth Fairy and a sparkly (although, you can't tell here) dollar.  She was thrilled, to say the least!

The teeny letter from the tooth fairy was a favorite.  Alayna kept telling people that the Tooth Fairy left her an "elvelope"(instead of an envelope) with a letter.  

This dollar bill was burning a hole in her pocket.  A trip to the dollar store was a must.

After searching the entire store, Alayna settled on a set of earrings, hair clip and hand held mirror.  Yep, she's a girl through and through.

Later that night, she "claimed" she had another loose tooth.

And wouldn't you know it....she really does!

No rest for this Tooth Fairy!

Loose tooth

Last Friday I noticed something "slightly off" with Alayna's bottom right middle tooth.  The spacing looked kind of weird.  So I took a closer look and realized that she had a loose tooth.  

After the shock wore off that my FOUR year old, who might I add, is not even in school yet (she's two weeks away from going to PRE-school) had a loose tooth, I asked her if she got hit in the mouth.  I mean, this couldn't be that she really just had a loose tooth, right?  My little girl is not that big.  But she insisted that she didn't get bumped, knocked, hit or anything of the sort. 

After holding back the tears for a second (I mean, seriously, how did we get to the point of loosing teeth already!), we all exclaimed how exciting it was to have a loose tooth!

Well, this little girl wiggled that tooth like crazy....

and with the help of an anxious daddy (he just couldn't stand how loose that tooth became and it STILL wasn't falling out), that tooth fell out (or rather was slightly pulled out by daddy)!

After some tears, (This girl doesn't like change.  I think she would have kept that loose tooth forever.) we convinced her to look in the mirror.  And then she became excited.  She can't stop checking it out in the mirror!  She has already been discovering all the exciting perks that come along with a gap in your smile, like drinking through a straw.  :)

Look at that smile!  I can't believe how big she looks!

Now, let's see if that tooth fairy does a good job!

Brylen

Oh boy, where do I start with this little girl? She has really started to have SO much personality and sass.  She is an independent, determined little girl that knows what she wants and she won't stop until she gets it.  (It would just be nice if she could communicate what it is that she wants.)

She takes after her sister and loves being outside and "riding her bike."

Trying on Daddy's hat.

Playing a little jingle on the piano.

A girl can never have too many necklaces.

"See how pretty I am, Mom!"

Zoned in to Baby Signing Time.  (I love that she will sit still for something.)

A mischievous little grin.

Uh-oh.  Here's trouble.  Look who thinks they need to stand on the dishwasher to unload it.

As you can tell, this girl has mastered walking.  She is has been walking for a few months now.  She is quite a petite girl (Like 15 lbs. 8 oz.), so we get many comments because she looks so small.