Family Photos with Daddy

y Dad wanted to get some pics with Meggy and I and the munchkins. I found Trevor through a friend of mine. Trev was awesome with kids, even though the morning of our pictures, it was the HOTTEST, MOST HUMID day of the year! Holy crap! We were all sweating like pigs! We had a lot of fun though and I was super happy with the pictures! And I got to keep all of them! I never get that! :) Yeah!

Update on sleepy Karsten . . .

y little man is trashed from all this school stuff! He went to bed at 8 last night and woke up close to 7 am this morning. He just passed out on the couch at 7 tonight! Poor baby! I'm hoping his little body gets used to this new schedule soon! I miss hanging out with my guy!

Nap Time in Kindergarten? I thought they got rid of that . . .

When Mark picked Karsten up from Kindergarten class today, Mrs. Kearney informed Mark that Karsten fell asleep in class! She said this is the second time this has happened. We are not clear on if he fell asleep twice today or if this is the second time over the course of the last week. Karsten does not stay up late by any means, and is usually one of the first ones up in the morning, but up until Kindergarten started, he always had a nap in the afternoon, and has never had a full day school. So it's completely understandable that his little body and mind needs more sleep during the night now, than before. We are moving his bedtime up one hour and taking away the video and computer games indefinitely. We probably should have done this right when school started . . . oh well, live and learn. In celebration of this momentous day here are some pictures of Karsten sleeping through the years . . .

August 10, 2009

olly Smokes! Do you know what this day means? I have a child who is now eligible to be part of our public school system! Wow! I was really anxious and nervous for days leading up to the big morning. Karsten, on the other hand, couldn't have cared. Every time someone asked him if he was excited, he said "um, yeah, I guess". I'm glad that he wasn't nervous or scared though, that would have made it even harder for me!



As I've mentioned before, I have fabulous neighbors and two of them have kids going to Kindergarten at Carol Rae. Taylor actually ended up in Karsten's class and Chandler's room is right across the hall from Karsten and Taylor. The three families decided to drive up together to take the kids to school.







We were late; I'm never late, I can't believe we were late! We walked Karsten to to his room and his teacher was showing each child where they needed to sit. All the parents, were just standing at the front of the room; I could see the heartbreak in each mother's eyes as they stared at their little babies, just sitting there, in big kid chairs . . .



We were excused by his teacher, and Karsten's little mouth started to tremble and his eyes got watery, and just then, Marky went right to him, told him a quick joke in his ear, gave him a hug and kiss, and a smile started to spread across Karsten's face. Thank goodness for my husband!



It wasn't until I was in the car that I started crying . . . and by the time we got home, I was sobbing. It wasn't the class of Kindergarten, it's the responsibility and challenges of the grade that had me so choked up. I knew there wasn't someone going to be with him, every second of the day, doing things for him, he will now have to be responsible for doing things himself. It's a lot for one mama to process.

Karsten had so much fun and I think we are going to have a great year. It's a new chapter in our lives, a big transition. We are lucky to have two great families to share all this with, it has been such a blessing going through this with them. Now I just have to to come to terms that I am a mother who has a school aged kid! :)

Nana and Papa's Cabin 2009

The weekend before Kar went to school, we headed up to Nana and Papa's cabin in Pinetop. I try to go up at least once during the summer. I spent so much time in Payson at their old cabin or at my other grandparents' cabin; I have fantastic memories of playing in the pines! My cousin, Shauna and her family came also. The kids had so much fun - I think the highlights for them were playing at the high school playground and painting rocks. Painting rocks is putting water in old tin cans, taking paint brushes and "painting" the trees and rocks with water in the back of the cabin. They can spend HOURS doing this! The weather was beautiful and I love spending time with my g-parents. Happy hour always starts early and the laughs and stories are fabulous! Love you Nana and Papa!




We went to a Bluegrass Festival and the sun was beating down on us so I bought the kids a cheap hat - this is the one Ella picked out. Her republican Uncle Brandon was happy. Needless to say, I have hidden the hat since we've been home!

Three Free, First Sunday of the Month

id you know the first Sunday of the month, all three museums in Mesa are free?! FREE! It's cool, it's fun, it wears your kids out so they take a nap! :)
I've known about the three free for a while now, but with our crazy summer travel schedule, we haven't been able to go until now. And you know what's even better, my Mama was still here in town, so she got to go with us! We had a really fun time. The theme at the Arizona Youth Museum was Monsters! Kar was in heaven!





















After we went through the Monster display, we went to Artville. Artville is a place where the kids can pretend, pretend, pretend! They have a TV studio, a garden, an art center, a kitchen, a house, a doll house, a slide - it's endless! Aunt Mimi and Ava came to meet us at Artville, where the fun continued . . .



















Hopefully you can check it out for yourself! And if you go, call me, we want to go again!