August/ September 2015

Wow I was almost all caught up for a while and now all of the sudden I am way behind again!  

AUGUST:

We knew we had to fit in a few things before summer ended.  One of them was a festival at the park next to our main library.  We didn't really know what to expect because it was all advertisement for these companies but we actually had a blast!  They were giving away a lot of free things and they had all kinds of activities for the girls.  They got their hair colored and played games, and then they each got giant balloon animals, balls, a treasure box, flowers, candy, etc.  They were in heaven!

My favorite thing we did this year was finally go to Hocking Hills, which is about an hour from our house.  It made me sad that we have wasted the last four years NOT going!  It was GORGEOUS and made me realize how much I miss the mountains and hiking.  The girls did so much better than I thought and didn't complain once and kept asking if we could go further. They really came alive in the woods! Of course Brooklyn was the perfect angel and didn't seem to be bothered being in the carrier all day for the first time.  It was the perfect day and we were all happily exhausted when we got home. 

In August McKenna started preschool at Little Footsteps Preschool. The teacher is Kyla Schurtz from our ward and she is amazing!  We have loved having McKenna there and she absolutely loves going and wishes it was every day, especially with Kaylee being in school full-time now.  

Kaylee joined a soccer team this year, which made her mom very proud :)  She has done great and I love seeing how fearless she is.  Unlike a lot of little girls who play, she gets right in there and is especially good at defense.  She loves seeing how far she can kick the ball away when someone is bringing it down the field.  I guess she does have a lot of her mom in her after all!  Richard signed up to be an assistant coach but the real coach has had to be gone a lot so Richard ended up doing most of it anyway.  It's fun to see this new side of him!

SEPTEMBER:

I was SO nervous about Kaylee starting full day Kindergarten.  It was more because I didn't want to be away from her that long than thinking she wouldn't be able to handle it. She looked so tiny to me climbing up those big bus steps the first day!  I think she was more nervous about taking the bus than anything about school (and I'll admit, me too!)

She is exhausted at the end of each day and I definitely don't think she enjoys it as much as preschool but she loves school and probably always will so she doesn't complain about it and tells me she loves it anyway.  

Somehow we made it through the whole summer without going to a splash pad once!  I guess that's what happens when you mix a new baby and a paranoid mother!  We had planned on trying out a new one but it happened to be closed for repairs the day we went so we ended up back at the good ol' Bunny Fountains.  Brooklyn loves water and I thought she was love this too but she did NOT want to be touched by the water.  She was perfectly content to watch from afar though!  The girls had more fun than I think they ever have here, especially McKenna who used to take a while to warm up to the idea of the water splashing up in her face.  It was fun to see them run around crazy with the other kids instead of staying huddled by me the whole time.  

Richard turned 32 this year and unfortunately his celebrations were not anything to brag about.  He had to coach Kaylee's practice that night so we only had a short time to celebrate when he got home. We tried a new restaurant that we all loved called Melt. All the entrees are cooked inside a grilled cheese sandwich!  Richard had the Philly Cheese Steak and I had Chicken and Waffles and even though I felt like I was having a mini heart attack after, it was worth every bite :)

Probably one of Richard's favorite things this year was taking the girls to their first OSU football game. Our friends, the Kings, got extra tickets and were nice enough to give them to us and I couldn't tell who was more excited, Richard or the girls.  Kaylee has been to baseball games and I think a high school football game before but I wasn't sure how Kenna would do.  When I asked her what her favorite part was she said the cheerleaders so I don't think Richard will turn her into a football fan anytime soon!  But she said she loved being there so I was glad they had so much fun with their awesome dad.