Summer Break- Week One

Nate and I were both pretty sad that school is over. We have really, truly, loved his first grade teacher. She has been absolutely amazing and he has learned so much. I'll do another post about her later. Even so, we were both pretty excited for the summer. I picked him up at the last day of school and we went to the park. Over the weekend they got to play, go to a birthday party, and go on a walk to Grandma and Grandpa's house for ice cream.
I switched my work schedule around, so the first day of the official summer break, I went to work and the kids stayed home. We did something a little different this summer and we made arrangements for two of our friend's daughters to watch the kids. They were pretty excited about that and had a great time. They got to go for a walk, make popsicles, have pizza, play hide and seek, ride bikes, and all sorts of other fun stuff. When I asked Zach that night what he thought, his response was "I actually had fun with them Mom". It made me giggle.
Nate decided to go soccer camp with the city this year, which ran from Monday through Thursday in the morning for a couple of hours. He got to do soccer camp with one of his friends and had a lot of fun with it. Zach chose to go t-ball this year, which was on both Tuesday and Thursday night. He had a great time and really enjoyed t-ball.
Last week, we also went to the swimming pool a couple of times and the kids loved it. When we got there the first time, I told the boys they could take their shirts off and go swimming. They proceeded to do so, and ran into the water. Because the boys took off their shirts, Addi thorugh she should take off her swimming suit as well. It took a bit of convincing that she was supposed to keep hers on. We eventually got it worked out and she had fun in the water.
Nate used to hate getting water on his face, but he's come a long way and is all about the water now. It makes going to the pool so much more enjoyable!
It took me too long to writ this post to try to remember everything now. We did a picnic, rode bikes, played with friends, and all sorts of fun summer activities. I also finally got to do some stuff in the yard, although I still have a long way to go.
Part of our Thursday adventures were to go out to lunch with Dad. The kids had a great time and we headed over to Trafalga to go play. Jeff had to work, so he didn't get to do much with us there, but the kids went miniature golfing and the boys are actually getting pretty good. Nate in particular. They also got to do one of the rides, and the merry go round. When we first got there, Addi say the horses on the merry go round and kept saying "neigh, neigh!". We got in line and she was excited. sh wasn't took sure when it started to move, but I stayed next to her and she handled it ok. However, she wasn't asking about the "neigh's" again for a while. The kids had a great time, we had to cut it short because Addi REALLY needed a nap.
On Saturday I was able to get a load of mulch that was dropped off by my dad and brother. We spent the morning doing yard work and then headed up to my brother's house for their cousin Eden's birthday party. She turned three and had Princess Aurora come to her party. Nate spent most of the time doing a craft where they made their royal crowns. Zach sat with me for a little bit and did ring around the rosie with the princess. However, when she first came and introduced herself, he pointed his light saber at her. Addi really didn't have anything to do with the princess and played on the swing set and in the kids playhouse. I asked her if she wanted to wear a dress and she said "no". I asked her if she wanted to see the princess and she said "no". She did her own thing for the most part and had a great time. We tried to take a picture with the princess and that didn't go over so well either. She had her own opinion and wanted to play, which was just fine.
After the party, we went to see Super Grandma and the kids loved it. They really love her and have a great time whenever they see her. Addi was so excited to show her the fish tank and the bird cage that was in the hallway. She kept going over to the fish tank and wanted to show Grandma all the fish. She is such a sweet lady and my kids absoultely adore her.
Our first week f summer was full of activities and I was exhausted by the end trying to fit in kids, work, housework, yardwork, and family stuff. I hope the kids had a great time.

Addison's Daddy

Addison has had her daddy wrapped around her finger, pretty much since the day she was born. He has called her princess since she was a baby and he has loved having a little girl. He thinks she's just adorable, most of the time. He anxiously awaited the time she would say daddy. She said momma before she was one, but she just didn't say daddy. She would call him momma sometimes, but she usually just called him "bub". It drove him crazy, and I had great pleasure in her calling him "bub. It just killed him that his little girl would say momma, but not daddy. She loved her daddy so very much, but just wouldn't call him dad. Finally, when she was about 18 months old, she started calling him daddy instead of "bub". I can't tell you how happy it made him. The first time she called him daddy, his face just beamed.
The other thing that just melts his heart is when he comes home, she'll run to the top of the stairs to wait for him. He just loves it. She'll now say "hi daddy", all the time or "bye-bye daddy" when he's leaving. It still means so much to him.
She'll give kisses sometimes, but she's usually a pretty big stickler with kisses. It's pretty rare she'll give them. Last night, when I was putting her to bed, I asked her if she wanted to give Zach a hug. She promptly gave him a hug, and then a kiss on the cheek. I asked her if she wanted to give Nathan a hug, and she ran full speed to the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth, and she gave him a hug and a kiss. I picked her up to put her in bed, and asked for a kiss too. She told me no. I asked her again for a kiss and she said no again. I never got a kiss.
This morning when Jeff left for work, she actually gave him a couple of kisses as he was leaving for work. All three of our kids have tried to kiss him on the lips at one point and he wants nothing to do with it. He only wants kisses on the cheek from them. When Addi was trying to give him a kiss this morning, she really wanted to kiss him on the lips, and he kept avoiding it until she gave him a kiss on the chin. After she gave him a kiss on the chin, he put her down on the ground. She then asked for a kiss from him, which he gave her on her cheek. It's so fun to watch the two of them together.

Nathan's a runner!

Today was the grade school's fun run race. I was so glad I got to watch. Nathan started out in the middle of the pack, but he really pushed it hard and came in second place! I was so proud of him! He's come to really love running this year. The grade school has had an awesome physical fitness program and have had all of the kids work on getting physically fit. The kids were challenged to run laps around the school. If they ran so many laps, the would earn a foot charm. Nathan worked really hard and earned a lot of feet charms this year. The kids were working towards the Paw Power 5K race, that was on April 30th and served as a fundraiser for the school to earn a music lab. Nathan just HAD to participate in the race, and he wanted to run both the one mile race and the 5K. We finally decided, on the morning of the race, that he would just do the 5K. He and Jeff ran it together and he did so incredibly awesome. They both came in at just over 28 minutes for the 5K, and Nathan was first place for all kids ages 8 and under. We were so very proud of him! He did decide that the 5K is not called the fun run because it's not very much fun to run. Our goal is to run laps this summer so he can continue to be super speedy. Way to go Nathan!

Our new addition

We have a new addition to our family......



(I know it's a tiny picture. I'll have to post a better picture soon)

Well, we've had the Armada for a little while, but the boat is new. We've owned half of a boat with Jeff's sister for a while, but Jeff wanted to break out on his own and upgrade from what we had. It's still used, but Jeff thought it was a find on KSL's classifieds. Before we officially purchased it, we took it out on the lake for a test drive and it was about 300 times better than our old one. It's still small compared to a lot of others out there, but it'll fit our family for right now and should, hopefully, be a lot of fun. The boys are super excited. Now if the weather will only cooperate.....

Dentist

I took the boys to the dentist a week or so ago. They were thrilled to go. Needless to say, this is not the reaction I normally have when I "get" to go to the dentist. They both checked out and didn't have cavities, so it was just a cleaning and they got to watch TV the entire time. At the end, the they both got a little toy, as well as a toothbrush, toothpaste, and even floss. They thought it was awesome. This is the same reaction I've had from them in the past when I've taken them.
The next day, Nathan was at school and Zach was home with me. Zach was trying to think of something to do and was literally begging me to go to the dentist. I'm such a mean mom and didn't take him. I hope they continue to not have cavities to fill because it'll continue to make going to the dentist so much easier. I can tell you, I don't think I've ever begged to go to the dentist.