Gunnar's First Day of Kindergarten

So this post is a few weeks late but here is a re-cap of my first child going to school experience.

Gunnar was so excited to start "Big School" as he refers to it. He is in afternoon kindergarten. He gets to ride the bus (if we were still living in phoenix there is no way I would put him on a bus.) Luckily in little town, USA I feel totally comfortable. Gunnar had his shoes and backpack on 30 min before the bus was suppose to come. The bus stop is right in front of our house. I sent Gunnar outside 10 minutes before pick up time and went to grab the camera. As I walked outside the bus was in front of our house and Gunnar was already on it. So my picture turned out to be just the bus. Shane was outside in the garage and informed me that Gunnar saw the bus, turned to Shane and said "bye dad!" and then ran up the stairs of the bus without ever looking back. At least I got a picture of the bus. Then I decided to drive to the school and get a picture of Gunnar getting off the bus. They have all the kids line up and then walk into their class. Gunnar saw us in the car across the street and gave us his famous (I'm not trying to smile) - Smile -

2nd Day of School I was going to get my picture of Gunnar getting on the bus. I sent Gunnar out 20 minutes before pick up time and went to get the camera and wouldn't you know it. I walked out the door to see Shane waving good -bye to Gunnar on the bus already. Just my luck.

3rd Day of School I got the camera walked out side with Gunnar 30 min before pick up time and 10 minutes later the bus came and I got my picture. Turns out the school gave me the wrong bus stop time and I just got lucky Gunnar didn't miss his bus on the first day of school.

He loves School. Hates the weekend when he doesn't get to go and panics when he fell asleep on the couch after lunch and woke up thinking he missed the bus. I spent 10 min trying to explain what an in-service day was and that there was no school that day.

Izze Fashion

Kids don't come cuter than this! She decided on a miniskirt and I suppose to be modest she added the leg warmers (aka Shane's motorcycle socks.) Somehow she was able to fit her crocs on too. I love it when she dresses herself.

A Tramp blew into our backyard.

The other night we had a little more than just a storm blow in. Our neighbors trampoline (2 houses down from us) caught by a gust of wind, took flight and flew over our 6 foot fence and landed in our backyard right next to our trampoline. Luckily Shane had just moved ours while mowing the lawn so there was space for a 2nd. The next day, contrary to advice received that we should just keep the extra tramp, the men stood around trying to figure out how to evacuate the trespassing tramp:) They decided to just lift it back over the fence. I really really wanted a picture, but unfortunately I was called upon to help lift it. Therefore you are left with only getting a description. 3 of us lifting the tramp overhead and passing it to 2 men on the outside of the fence. When the tramp was halfway across the fence the 3rd man from our side ran around the help the receiving team. I (being the shortest) was left holding 1/4 the tramp by myself and on tippy toes trying to hoist it over the fence. The fence wasn't injured at all but the tramp sadly has seen better days. They tried to bend it back into position and it looks functional. Ah, you gotta love the wind in this town!

Gunnar's Birthday

Gunnar's 5th Birthday Party!! It was suppose to be an outside swim party but the weather wasn't cooperating. At the last minute Shane came up with some relay's inside. We moved all the furniture in the basement and had some races, Indian leg wrestling and a crazy tug-of-war. Aunt Lizzie and Amy came up for the festivities and brought baby Asher (aka lil mike). Gunnar decided on no girls allowed at this party but was willing to share cupcakes with his sisters. Izze devoured hers and left half the chocolate frosting on her face. Shane was most excited for the gifts. He gave Gunnar a fully automatic nerf gun. It's been shot on every wall in the house. The gun slept in Gunnar's bed, had it's own pillow and at 2am this morning I had to threaten to take in away if it was ever fired before the sun comes up again. All-in-all a fun day!!

A saturday of birthday parties

Saturday we had three different birthday parties for the kids. I admit the princess party for the girls was the most fun for me. Aunt Amy was here visiting so she curled Livy's hair and loaded it with hairspray so it would stay. It is still cold outside so I decided to make them wear long sleeves, they were both resistant to this idea but I won in the end with "because I said so." It was fun to see so many little princesses. They played for a while and then out came a Tinkerbell pinata. All these dainty little girls swinging a bat couldn't break it open. Izze was so cute, half her hits were with the proper end of the bat and the rest were with the handle. Livy has a good swing but her aim needs a little help. No one was blindfolded and they pretty much put the pinata right in front of them. Still the girls couldn't break Tinker Bell so big brother came in with a good strong whack! Livy had no idea there was candy inside but started gathering up everything in front of her and making Aunt Amy hold whatever she couldn't. Izze I don't think realized where the candy was coming from, she just saw it appearing on the floor and wanted to eat every piece she found right then and there. Then time for pizza, cake and presents. My girls left with pinata candy, goody bag candy and a serious sugar high. What fun!

At this same time Shane was taking Gunnar to a party at the gymnastic center with many running and jumping boys. There was a huge foam pit to jump in and a coach leading them through an obstacle course that really wore him out. Then he was loaded up with candy, cake and ice cream. All 3 kids came home and crashed on the couch. We had to wake Gunnar up for he 2nd party that afternoon. A spider man party with painting and games.

All in all it was a fun and busy day. I realized I'm probably going to wait a few more years before I start the huge birthday events. For now small family parties seem so easy.

A little bit about Isabel

Isabel is almost 2. She is the happiest little girl ever. She has recently figured out how to climb onto the counters. She loves to pull all the dishes and glasses out of the cupboards and try to stack them on the counter. I thought it was cute at first, when she was using the plastic dishes, but recently she has started pulling out all the real dishes which freaks me out a little. So far nothing has fallen off the counter (including Isabel) but I'm over the cuteness now and would just prefer if she stayed on the ground.

She loves to play hide-n-go seek. She stands right next to Shane and tries to count. Every number sounds like two. Then she follows behind looking for the Hiders. As soon as she sees them she yells "rrrraaaa" as loud as she can. When it's her turn to hide she likes to jump out and try to scare whoever is looking for her (before they actually find her.)

As a side note to all those who knew me growing up: The ponytail on top of her head is in remembrance of the whale spout hairdo I had in junior high:-) Like mother Like daughter.

Sleding Trip

We tried to take the kids sledding since we have so much snow. I thought it would last maybe a half hour since the kids are so young. Gunnar marched right up the hill with Shane, jumped on the sled and took off down the hill. He continued this pattern for over 30 minutes and never did he look were he was going before he got on the sled. For the most part he had a clear path but randomly he would cause a stranger to dive out of the way. Once while Shane was getting him on video he came straight at Shane (good for video, bad for Shane and Isabel standing in front of Shane) At the last second, realizing Isabel was in some danger, Shane grabbed her out of the way and Gunnar slid right under Shane's left leg.

Livy and Isabel turned out not to be big fans of sledding. I waited in the car with them after about 15 minutes when they got cold.