At the Ranch

Our friends live on a ranch, and we love visiting them. The day we went down was dress like a pirate day at Krispy Kreme. They live in the middle of nowhere, and don't have Krispy Kreme, so the kids and I all dressed up to get 4 dozen free donuts. It was worth it, they all got eaten.

 

 

 

 

 

They live right by the City of Rocks, a national reserve. Tanner was so mad when Josh climbed up this thing and didn't take him with. 

 

 

 

 

 

She was being a cat. 

 

 

 



Tannerisms

So every morning it's just me and Tanner until he goes down for a nap, and then I get about a half hour to myself before Sidney gets home. So what do we do? Tanner wears shoes. He loves shoes. It doesn't matter whose they are, if he sees any on the floor, they go on his feet.

 

 

Then one day while I was organizing my closet, right after all the shoes were lined up neatly, he would put a shoe on, walk into my room, and kick the shoe off in front of the door. Then he would go back and get another shoe. He made a big pile of about 15 shoes.

 

We've also been going to the zoo a lot. I leave the stroller in the car and let him roam where he wants. It has been so much fun. The lions are very friendly- or hungry. They always paw at him ferociously first thing in the morning. Scary to think if that glass wasn't there.

 

The glass is dirty from him clawing at Tanner.

 

 

He got scared of the dinosaurs, so he would hide behind my legs.

 

 

Another time this blanket was sitting in front of the door. He would run and jump onto it, over and over, and laugh and laugh.

 

 

This is his "mad face," his glare, his "are you still talking?" face.



First Day of School

We moved into our house 5 days before school started. Never again: getting them registered, buying supplies, and unpacking while trying to keep my sanity was next to impossible. This is Jayden's 3rd elementary school. Trying to figure out schedules and policies is not fun, but we are figuring it out. We love the school so far, the teachers and staff are great.

 

Jayden is in 3rd grade. He was nervous about it being harder, but he's finding it's not as bad as he feared.

 

Sidney started Kindergarten! I am still trying to wrap my head around this. She is growing up too fast. She was nervous at first, but she comes home every day and tells me about the new friends she has made. The first few weeks she didn't really meet anyone. It has been slow, but now she has friends, and she loves school. It's only half day, which I don't like, but what can you do?

 

 

 

 

Annual first day of school let's go get ice cream!

 

 



Parks & Picnics Week

While at Kathryn's, the kids wanted to have a lemonade stand. I couldn't for the life of me think of a good theme to go along with it, but being outside drinking lemonade made me think of picnics, so we had a few picnics at a few different parks.

 

Picnics in Kathryn's front yard happened almost daily.

 

Picnic by a river.

 

 

 

Jayden and Sidney worked really hard on the lemonade stand. They made the signs, lemonade, and cookies. It was pretty successful, they made about $30. 

 

 

 

 

This was probably my favorite day. We went to a splash pad in Rexburg. The water was cold, so it didn't last long, but there's a really old carousel that's only open in the summer in the same park, and a huge park. So we spent most of our time there. It was just a pleasantly gorgeous day. 

 

 

 

 

 

It was Tanner's first carousel ride, and he loved it!

I don't know if he was scared, but he grabbed my neck and wouldn't let go. I think I'm the one who looks scared. 

 

 

Cotton candy was the perfect ending to the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More parks. 

 

 

 

On one of our last nights we had a fire and roasted homemade marshmallows, which don't roast very well. Stick with store bought. 

 

 

We told ghost stories. The kid's stories were fantastically hilarious!