Hair-do's

I have been doing Paige's hair since she was just little and I could barely get littl pigtails in on top of her head. Some days she is really good about letting me do her hair, and some days not so much. I have tried several differnt style on her, but decided to do something new the other day. It wasn't anything special just parted down the middle with 3 elastics goin back on each side into a pigtail. I told he I tried something different and when she looked in the mirrow at it she said, "mom, your really getting good a doing my hair!" it was so funny, that this particular style got such a reaction from her. She even had to come back in the bathroom a few minutes later to look at it again. And the next day she asked me to do the same style as yesterday. Who knew such a simple thing could make her so happy. I am glad I am finally "getting the hang of it" after 4 years!

Parker's New Teacher

I cannot wait until school start!!! Parker will be in school all day and I can hardly wait. He is mu busy child and I am tired of telling him to settle down, stop teasing her, leave him alone. So I can't wait for the daily break from a little of that. He is pretty darn excited to be in 1st grade as well. We are even more thrilled with the fact the ne got Mrs. Hunt for a teacher. I have heard from several people that she is an absolutely wonderful teacher and that Parker will just love her. I am have also heard that she is excellent with helping kids that have a harder time learning to get caught up with the rest of the class and has way of teaching that makes the kids so excited to be learning. I really wanted someone like that for Parker, that could help him really get excited about learning and that has the ablility to help him when he is struggling. So I am thrilled that he got her. We went to registration last week and dropped off his supplies and he was able to find his classroom and meet his teacher. There are several people that I know that have kids in his class, so I am glad to know that he will make some good friends there this year as well. School starts on the 5th of September and Parker will be riding the bus. Hopefully we don't have another miscommunication with the busses this year. Another awesome thing in that Parker qualifies for free school BREAKFAST & LUNCH!! I guess that is one perk to being poor, he will get free lunches. Yay for not having to pack a lunch everyday and double yay for not have to spend a forture for my kid to eat hot lunch!!! We are hoping for a wonderful year!!

Family Fun Day

With Matt's current schedule at the State Hospital he has every Saturday off. I have to say that I am enjoying him being home with us and not at work. Although he does have to work on Sundays and that I don't really like. But we have taken advantage of having him home on Saturdays and try to get some things done around the house as well as spending time together as a family doing something fun. A few Saturdays ago we took the kids to Pocatello to Outer Limits and played a round of miniature golf and then let the kids play in the play zone. It was a pretty fun time. We started out the afternoon with a trip to Costo. The kids love it when we go to Costco, they love getting the samples and seeing all the fun new toys that they have displayed. We also love getting a "big hot dog" (as Paige calls them) and a drink. We decided to do lunch there and we can feed our whole family for about $8!! Can you beat that any where else?? So we walked around the store for a while and picked up a few things. Then we went to the shoe store to find Parker some church shoes, he was in desperate need of them and I would always forget that he needed new shoes, until Sunday morning. So we finally got him some wearable shoes. Then we went to Outer limits for our afternoon of fun. The kids had a blast and are plannign our next trip there. We love it when we get to spend the day together as a family and love it even more when we get to do something fun.

The Swing

Paxten has loved having a swing set in the back yard, in fact all the kids love having a swin set and it was definitely a good investment. Although I am not sure how many more years it will last! Anyways.. Paxten loves to swing and I often find him bent over the swing swaying back and forth. He can't quite get on the regular swings himself, but can lay over one and swing gently back and forth. He loves it when I puch him and as he is swinging toward me I move out of the way, like he is trying to get me and a just barely miss getting hit. He usually laughs and smiles and thinks it is the greatest thing ever! I love his little laugh and his cute little smile. I don't want him to grow up!!

Paige's Swim Lessons

Paige was in Level 2 during the second session, and it was difficult for her to touch the bottom of the pool in most of the area. So the teachers had a hard time teaching her it seemed like. They ended up moving to she shallow baby area and having her do some of the lessons there. She only had 3 kids in her class and I felt like she could have learned more because there were 2 teachers for the 3 kids. I felt like the teachers she had didn't know exactly what they were supposed to be teaching, and they seemd to goof off alot and just let the kids play. The exit skills she needed to do to advance to level 3 were: 1. Float independently on front and back for 10 seconds each side. 2. Perform front glide for 3 bodt lengths then swim front crawl for 15 feet. 3. Perform back glide for 3 body lengths then swim back crawl for 15 feet. 4. Perform 10 continuous bob while blowing bubble out of nose. Paige was able to do the 1st and 4th skills well, but need work on the actual swimming part. She too had fun and loved to go off the diving board and off the slides. At least the both had fun right!

Parker Swim Lessons

The kids really enjoyed taking swim lessons. I do have to say that the pool did improve on the second session we were in verses the first. Parker advanced from the first session to level 3 and there were 10 kids in his class. So it was a large class, but the teacher seemed to handle the kids well and had a helper most of the time. Parker did not pass level 3 so he will be repeating it the next time we take lessons. Which is okay. The Exit skills he needed to pass were: 1. Jump into deep water from the side, swim front crawl for 15 yards, maintain position by treading or floating for 30 seconds, and swimm elementary backstroke for 15 yards. 2. Swim sidestroke for 15 yards. 3. Demonstrate proper breathing motions for 30 seconds. Parker could only do the sidestroked, and I wasn't quite sure he could really do that. I think the were being generous. The thing that Parker could really do well was go off the diving board. He seemed to do that more than any other kid in his class. At least by the end of the week he was able to swim (doggie paddle)to the side without the teacher giving him a push. I think for the most part he had fun and was able to get a little more comforatble in the water. It will be good for him to practice what he has learned and hopefully be able to pass level 3 the next time we take lessons.

If He Survives His Brother

I sure hope that Paxten survies hiss brother. I always wanted an older brother when I was growing up, you know the older sibling to look out for you at school and the one with all the cute friends that you could date. Well now that I have kids of my own and I see how mean an older brother can be, I am thinking it was probably a good thing I didn't have one. Parker can be the best older brother and is protective to a point with both Paxten and Paige. He is also a great big tease and sometimes he is relentless. To a point that I get frustrated with him. He also seems to blame things on the younger two, and usually I am smart enough to know better. Well a few weeks ago after we got home from swim lessons, the kids were playing outside while I made them lunch. It took me all of 10 minutes. Before I knew it Paige came in and said that Parker shot Paxten with his BB gun. It was a good thing Matt happened to be homw right at that moment, because I would have lost it on Parker for shooting my baby!! There was a significant welt on Paxten's belly and it was obvious that he shot him point blank. Parker says that Paxten walked in front of him, but the welt says otherwise. So Parker got his gun taken away for a few years, until he can be better at following the rules and obeying gun saftey. I had no idea he was outside using his gun! That was rule number one, not to use the gun unless a parent it helping you. Rule number two was to wear saftey glasses, which he did not have on. And rule number 3 was to watch out for people around you so you don't hit them. So he disobeyed all of the rules!! The little stinker!! He is lucky that he dad was around and handled the situation or he might have had a welt on his behind!! I am glad that it was just an airsoft BB gun and that it didn't hit him in the face. I sure hope Paxten survives his older brother!!

My Little Wandering Child

As many of you know my little girl has a bad habit of wandering away from me and getting herself lost. She is an independant soul and sometimes that is not a good thing. 2 Christmas's ago, she got lost in Walmart and we had to do a "code Adam" and have the associates help me find her. That time I was more worried than she was and she didn't even shed a tear, although I was close to it. Also 2 years ago at our family reunion at Heise she wandered away from the camp ground and I was mortified I would find her floating in the river, luckily a good man heard us calling for her and noticed her wandering and brought her back to us! (there are still good people in this world, thank goodness!). And this summer she has wandered off to the nighbors a couple of times without telling me, each time I get panicked and of course think the worst! Well that little stinker has done it once again!! I think I am going to have to get a leash for her and attach her to me when we go out in public, would I get in trouble for that??? We went to Walmart yesterday and once again she wasn't right behind me like I thought she was, I went back to where we had been to get her and she was no where to be seen. I looked up and down the aisles next to where we had been and no sight of her. Great! So I went to customer service and once again they had to do "code Adam". I gave the description of her and what she was wearing, luckily I paid attention that morning! After a few minutes they had an associate on the other end say that he had found her and they were bringing her to the front of the store. She must have started running through the store when she lost sight of me because they found her clear on the opposite end of the store, no where near where I had been. Luckily she was found safe and sound and this time she had been crying and was scared about the whole situation. Maybe that is what it will take to get her to learn to stay right beside me in the store! I really wanted to spank her bum for wandering off, but I didn't. I just held her and told her it would be alright. It took her most of the day before she would tell me where she went and what happened. I guess she lost sight of me and started heading toward the other end of the store. She saw a little girl with her mommy and the lady happened to ask if she was lost and Paige said that she couldn't find me and she told the lady my name and the lady said she would help her find me. Then the walmart emplyoee found her and brought her to the front. Thank Goodness!! Things like that get me freaked out and worried, she has given me more grey hairs than I can count, and I am sure this is just the beginning. I am just glad it ended well and that I have my little girl home with me safe and sound...for now anyways!