Student of the Week & Best Friends

In the middle of November, Kelsey was chosen by her teacher to be the Student of the Week. She was so proud to bring her poster home and fill it out. Each day she got to bring things in to tell her class about herself and she was only the second person in her class to get it! Way to go Kelsey.

Monday - her poster with facts all about her. She filled this out all on her own and I even found out some things about her I didn't know. Like for example, she doesn't like waffles but she eats them because she knows we will make her. She also loves Taylor Swift, Pink, Carrie Underwood and almost all music. She also wants to become a photographer, thanks to Alyson that occassionally lets her use her camera to take a few photos.

Tuesday - a handful of pictures of family, vacations, etc. She picked her first day of 1st grade, a few pictures with her sisters that Alyson took, some from Halloween, riding her motorcycle over the summer, and the deer her dad shot. All on her own.

Wednesday - a favorite book. She chose Green Eggs and Ham because she has it practically memorized and was able to read it to the class. She likes to show off

Thursday - her favorite clothes/outfit. A pink shirt and her favorite pair of jeans. Yes, she has a favorite already.

Friday - a favorite toy. She picked her dog and purse that she got for Christmas last year to sit on her desk. The trick was it had to be something that could fit in her backpack so she was limited to what she could take.

Kelsey, we are so proud of who you are becoming and that you are doing so well in school. Keep up the great work. Love, Mom and Dad

Also in the same week, she came home from school with a "BEST FRIENDS" necklace around her neck from her friend Courtney. I knew they were friends and it's kind of ironic because they sat at the same table in kindergarten and I used to visit teach her mom when Kelsey was just born. They aren't active in our ward, but Kelsey is doing her best missionary work to get her to come to the primary and ward activities.

Annual Pumpkin Patch

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch one day after Kelsey was done with school. We decided not to wait for Dave because by the time he gets home, it's dark. So we got all dressed up and then the weather turned cold, windy and nasty. So we tried to get some pictures and went home. Not the best smiles but at least she wasn't crying (in the pictures).

Addison's 1 year pictures

Back in September I took the girls to get their pictures taken. I needed to get Addison's first year and updates of the other girls. I had it all planned out, down to the naps and even coordinating outfits. Well, the pictures turned out to be a complete bust. The photographer made Addison cry in the 2nd pose she tried to make her do, and it went downhill from there. I didn't even think she caught Kelsey and Katelyn's best smiles either. So after looking at them and hearing the shocking news of the amount they wanted to charge me for purchasing the CD with only 16 pictures, I gathered up my girls and left. I was a little bit frustrated and frazzled with how it went so needless to say no pictures were purchased.

Score: Addison 1, Pictures 0

So when I came home and retold the story to Dave he jumped to the next solution. We were already headed down to California for this huge motorcycle blowout sale over Conference weekend and since we would be halfway there, we decided to go all the way to my parents house and stay for the weekend so Alyson could take pictures of the girls. Sounds perfect, right? That's what I thought too.

We showed up at the studio after Alyson's last client for the day and we started shooting. She took some of Kelsey and Katelyn together and then some of each separately to warm Addison up to the idea. Addison is definitely not new to the camera being in her face. In fact, it's the complete opposite since she has become Kelsey subject for photographing and is to the point where she is closing her eyes before the picture is taken in anticipation of the flash going off. So I thought this would be a piece of cake. The pictures she got of Kelsey and Katelyn are darling to the point where there are too many to choose from to get printed. Here are a few of my favorites.

Kelsey loves her pictures with her teeth missing. And her favorites are those in the white shirt and jeans. Little Miss Attitude coming through all the way.

And Katelyn is just so angelic but to capture her true smile is nearly impossible. But Alyson did it and again, too many to choose from.

So then we tried throwing Addison into the mix. Alyson was able to get a few pictures of her before she went postal. I say that because by the end of the night I could laugh at it and then going through them it became quite comical like one of those old animation flip books. The faster we clicked through the pictures the funnier it became and it told the story of how traumatic this really was for Addison, not to mention Alyson who felt terrible that she wasn't able to get any good ones.

I guess she saw this as torture since I wasn't holding her and it would've been better if Dave had been there instead of me. After the crying started the pacifier went in and I had to leave the room just for her to calm down. Everytime Kelsey tried to sneak it out, she went postal again.

Here's Addison's single shots with her arms throw up in the air in protest.

This is what happens when the girls are too comfortable with their photographer. They decided how they wanted to pose and what props to use.

Apparently this was just torture for her. So I'm over it. She's going to have a crying 1 year picture on the wall next to her sisters huge smiles. And when she's older and asks why she is the only one crying, I will have these to look back on and show her the nightmare she was on this day!! So here's to next year being a little better than her first

A week of firsts!!

Last week Addison turned 1. I know it's cliche and everyone says it but I really can't believe how fast this year has gone. Since Kelsey was in kindergarten most of Addison's first year, it made it go by even faster. Then the summer came and at least while we were at home it seemed to drag and then it was over. So while it seemed slow, it was over before we even knew it and now we're halfway through September already. Holy cow, where has this year gone?

We take "Birthday Week" to a whole new level. Three of the five members of our family have birthdays in September, all within a week. Addison's is the 12th, Katelyn's is the 14th and Dave's is the 18th. I know it's kinda crazy around here, it's worse than Christmas. To celebrate Addison's first year, since Dave has lots of meetings on Sunday, we did it all in the morning. We started with her favorite breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (she couldn't tell us what she really wanted but she ate 1 1/2 so I don't think she cared what she had), then she opened her presents and has been so happy to play with all of them. The girls were so excited to help her open them and have had fun playing with her as well. It was also our scheduled family dinner and it just happened that we had dessert to bring. We made a chocolate cake with pink frosting and we all sang to Addison and Katelyn. Addison loved us singing to her and smiled the whole time. For Katelyn she doesn't really like cake, except for the frosting so we made homemade chocolate ice cream and peach ice cream too. Addison loved that she got to eat (destroy) her own piece of cake and stayed "way too clean" for someone who had just eaten her very own piece by herself.

The Presents

I love this look on her face

She just loves this ball. She throws it everywhere and chases it.

She also loves books. All kinds of books. Since both her sisters always have a book they are reading, she's picked up on the idea too.

A bag with princesses on it? That must be for me!!

Singing Happy Birthday to both Addison and Katelyn. I love that Katelyn doesn't mind sharing her birthday week with Addison and her dad. She thinks it's that much more special!! And it makes it a little easier on me with the cake situation. Although dad gets his own. I don't think he'd want a pink cake with princesses on it, do you?

Can you tell, Addison loves singing. And the fact that we were singing to her made it even better. Such a beautiful smile.

The eating of the Cake

Starting out, not sure what to do.

It didn't take her long to figure it out.

All finished.
Oops, forgot some. Gotta get every last crumb!!
I must say, she is the cleanest baby I've ever seen after eating her own piece of cake.
And of course Aunt Kaylene had to spoil two of her favorite nieces with clothes for their birthdays as well.

In our next line of firsts: Katelyn started preschool. She has been waiting, well really since Kelsey graduated from Miss Kris' preschool. All summer long we were on countdown. And then finally when the big day came, she said, "But I can't go yet, I'm not 4!" But she was excited to go anyway. She went the week before to orientation and met all her new friends that would be in her class. She is also so excited because she is the first "Leader" and she gets to celebrate her actual birthday in school with her friends too. So much fun.

And last but not least, Kelsey had a first too: She lost her first tooth on Addison's birthday. Her two front bottom teeth have been loose for a little more than a week and while brushing her teeth one of them just popped out. She came down stairs crying because she was scared, but after she rinsed out her mouth a few times, she was very excited. She now talks with a bit of lisp and can't keep her tongue from playing with it. Just waiting for the other one now and then she really won't be able to talk!!

Hooray for a week of milestones.

All in a day's work

Over Labor Day weekend, Dave and Kelsey went down to California to help can tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. They left Friday after school and were back on Sunday morning in time for church. We've never been able to go since it always falls on the same weekend we get our peaches and for 2 of those years, I've been 9 months pregnant, not about to jump in the car to drive 5 hours away from my doctor to do them. I opted out of it again this year since we decided with it being such a fast trip, that we wouldn't put Addison through another long car ride and that Katelyn wouldn't have very much fun either. So I stayed with the 2 youngest and Dave took Kelsey off to work. And work she did.

Apparently it was colder than anticipated and we forgot a jacket for her. Just waiting to go in and start picking.

Up to her elbows in tomatoes

What kind of tomato is this?

So proud of you Kelsey for wanting and asking to go down to help with the tomatoes. Love you sweetheart.

First Day of School: First Grade

Today Kelsey started First Grade. She's been in the pool everyday, except for 2 weeks out of the long summer break and she's realizing that now she will be going all day. We got school shopping done early, and it's probably a good thing since August came and went so fast and we had some things come up that weren't planned. Last week we got the last minute things that always seem to pop up and with her school outfit picked, she seemed ready enough. She's been staring at her clothes for over 2 months now and was so excited.





The big day finally came.


Pictures with her sisters. Addison didn't exactly wanna hold still long enough to do much of anything. For the past year (almost) she's woken up to her sisters and she's going to have quite the adjustment to make when she sees that Kelsey isn't home all the time now.



Walking to the classroom.

Lining up ready to learn.

I am so excited for her to go off to school, but will quietly miss her happy smile and contagious laughter while she is gone. She is such a huge help and will miss her taking care of her little sisters. We are so excited for you to come home and tell us all about your day and the exciting new things you will do. Have fun!! Love mom

6 going on 16

This is what Kelsey chose to wear to church a week or so ago. She asked for her hair curly and to not have to wear socks. She looks all grown up and not a little girl anymore. Dad better watch out! I think those gun cleaning days are coming faster than he'd like.

Silver Mesa

It seems like this was so long ago that we went here. At the beginning of the month a bunch of us friends, Amber, Leslie, Stephanie, and Keli, got together and planned a day at the Silver Mesa activity pool. We packed our lunch in and stayed for a few hours and had such a great time. They have a huge water slide and a smaller one in the kids play area. Kelsey went on the big one first and there was no turning back and getting her off it. Katelyn on the other hand was a little more cautious and wouldn't go on it till I could wait at the bottom and catch her, although she can swim better than half the people there.

Kelsey coming down.Katelyn coming down once I convinced her it was fun.

Even Addison played in the little fountains and tried to walk all over the pool. It was only up to her chest and she stayed in it just as long as the big kids. Lucky for us it was close enough to home that the kids didn't fall asleep in the car but they were all so tired and warn out from a day at the pool. Thanks ladies for such a fun day.

The end of summer

As summer is drawing to a close, very rapidly, I might add, our vacations are too. Or so we thought. We headed up to Pine Valley (again) this past weekend for one last short trip. They were having carpet laid so we went up to help and get out of the heat. A few of my cousins were coming too, so the girls would have someone to play with.The new carpet. We love it so much and makes it really feel like it's done!! Can't wait to be able to spend some more time up here, maybe in the winter now.
Addison had so much fun being down and once Amelia showed up she actually had someone her size to play with.We left Addison asleep for about a half hour so we could take the girls shooting. We came back to this. This poor girl's been left or taken so many times this summer by so many different people I think she's just learned to deal with whomever she's got. That is, until I show back up and then she thinks she's been picked on and abandoned!!
Kelsey, Maddie, Katelyn, and Becca hanging out on the porch.

Going on a nature walk.
Just goofin' off.Even though they'd ridden the bikes all day, they didn't get enough of the motorcycles. Guess that's not a bad thing, right?

Even Addison had her turn this time. And she wasn't scared at all. He warmed her up to the idea by starting the motorcylces so this was a piece of cake. I love her arm resting on his leg, as if she totally trusts him to keep her safe. Such a sweetheart.

Katelyn.

Kelsey

And this trip the girls officially rode all by themselves. Kelsey even bailed on the motorcycle trying to race Dave and had him beat for a minute too. She didn't think her battle wound meant something good like everyone was trying to convince her of.

I love this picture because after riding on her own, she ran into his arms and she was so proud of herself. Nothing like a dad's love for his daughters!

Playing follow the leader. This right before she fell, but had to gas it to beat her dad. Such competition, those two.