Harper's Big Day

This morning was Harper's first day of pre-school.  As expected, she was not nervous at all...hardly glanced backward as she walked in to the play (free choice) area of her school.  I ran to Costco and Hobby Lobby and did some laundry until it was time to get her.  The first thing she said when she got in the car was that there are "no tweats" allowed.  She ate her M and M treat from her lunch bag on the way home.  She also said she painted and made a new friend, but didn't know her name.  School wore her out, she napped this afternoon.  A great day for this big girl and her mama too.

I made four lunches this morning...a first of many for me. 

  Rylan was being so sweet this morning...packed her lunch in her bag and was showing Harper how to work the zipper on her backpack.  

Big Girl ready for her day...

Waiting in the car...

Walking in with Dad...

I don't think she knew what all the fuss was about.  She hung her backpack and was ready to head in.  I had to ask her to stand for one last picture. 

Just for a moment I thought I'd go back in time. 

Logan, Presley, and Ry on their first days of pre-school.  

Back to School: September 3, 2013

Summer is all wrapped up and it was back to that darn alarm...BLECH!!

The kids woke up and were very excited this morning.  Presley came in my bathroom and was going potty and said, "it seems like yesterday I was going to kindergarten".  They had already picked out their outfits for the day and the boys took showers, got dressed, put shoes on, backpacks packed, and breakfast eaten.  We were taking pictures and loading up in the car by 7:40.

Logan had told us last night that he didn't think he wanted us to walk him in, but he wasn't 100% sure.  I offered to walk him in as we were driving up, but he said no, he was alright.  

This new 6th grader on his way to Foothills Middle School

I was praying in the car that he'd find a friend right when he walked through the doors.  And I really wanted to yell out "I Love You".

Then we made our way to Sunnyslope Elementary to drop off our first and fourth graders.  They were super thrilled about going to school.

We took Ry to his class first.  He was all business--backpack away, quick kiss on the cheek, and he remembered from Root Beer Social Night exactly where his seat was and he sat down.

Presley held my hand all the way to her fourth grade class.  She told me she felt nervous, but got her backpack in her locker right away and then she seemed embarassed her Dad and mom were with her.  She gets giggly and smiles really big when she's nervous.

When we loaded back up into the car Harper said to me, "NOW we are alone."  It's her turn tomorrow.

Labor Day Week-End

We didn't have much planned for Labor Day.  I knew that it was the last hurrah before school started and wanted to have a laid back, no fuss type of week-end.  I think we were pretty successful at that.

On Thursday night, Presley was invited to stay the night at her best friend Taylor's house.  I dropped her off about 6.  I love getting texts like this...

We have promised Presley all summer long that we would take her to the new One Direction 3D movie that came out on Friday.  Dave wasn't busy this Friday, so I took Presley and Taylor to the 1:00 showing while he stayed home with Logan, Ry, and Harper.  It was packed full of crazy and loud teenage girls.  Presley loved, loved, loved it though and I was glad to get to be with her.

And then this happened on Saturday....

Rylan saw his bike in the garage and decided he'd like to give it a try without his training wheels.  At first we raised up the training wheels so they weren't really touching the ground and I told him if he could make two big circles without touching, I'd take off the wheels.  Five minutes later, they were off.   I have not once got the bikes out this summer, and I don't even have an excuse for that.  But just like that, we've got ourselves another biker, and he loves it.  I probably could have done this back in June.  He did so awesome and was so brave.  He rode around in the circle area for the rest of the week-end every chance he got.  And we did a lot of watching from the garage...

Saturday night we celebrated Patty's birthday party at the Gillin's house.  There was music and dancing and dinner.  The kids and I danced to Ride, Sally, Ride (I don't know if this is the official name of the song).  All the kids went into the middle of the circle and showed off their dance skills.  Ry showed off his impressive Gangham Style moves.  It was such a fun time.

On Sunday night, Dave and Logan had a fantasy football draft in the Tri-Cities.  I decided not to go and instead took the others to the Lake Chelan Waterslides.  I don't have any pictures because I actually went down the slides this time.  The kids discovered the lazy river so we went around and around on that.  It was 93 degrees out but that didn't stop them from wanting to spend a lot of time in the hot tub.

Monday was the kids' last official day of summer break.  They decided they wanted to spend the day at Lake Chelan with the inner tubes.  So we took a few hours and played in the water and the sand.  I was secretly trying to wear them out so they'd sleep well for school tomorrow.

Presley and I have been planning a Back to School dinner this week.  She wanted to help cook spaghetti, corn on the cob, watermelon, mozzarella bites, and taquitos (this one was totally her idea).  She helped me cook, set the table, got the drinks ready, and helped clean up.

I took a couple of fun pictures as the kids were heading up for reading time.   

What a great way to end a great summer.  First day of school tomorrow!!

As I was typing this Logan came down to tell me he felt nervous about being at a new and bigger school.  Dave and I took a few minutes to talk to him.  I think he's good now.  

Lake Chelan Week-end

We spent the week-end of August 17th-19th in Lake Chelan.  Logan was invited to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament with a couple of the Eastmont boys.   These are boys that Logan would have went to school with had we not moved to the Tri-Cities.  There were several teachers that had boys the same year Logan was born that worked with Dave when he taught those few years at Eastmont.  Anyways, it was a very nice invite.  Logan played well with these Eastmont kids.

On Friday, I took Presley, Rylan, and Harper to the waterslides.  Presley unexpectedly met up with a couple friends there and spent the day going down slides with them so I don't have any pictures of her.

Logan's team played 3 games on Saturday and one on Sunday.  They had 2 wins and 2 losses so they didn't place this time.  Lance Noell is one of the boys' dad and he coached them this time.  He is the new principal at Eastmont High School.  He was having a fun time teasing our Wenatchee boy.

In between games we let the kids play in the park and swim in the Lake.  Presley had such a fun time swimming way out to this floating cube and jumping off of it.  Logan and the boys pushed each other off of it.  Ry and Harper had a good time playing in the sand.  It was a hot week-end and we were thankful to be so close to the water.

After the Sunday game we headed home over the Beebe Bridge and stopped for milkshakes.  I got a text from Amy asking us to Face Time them for Alyson's purity ceremony.  Here we are finally connected via FaceTime...we're definitely no techies, but this was kind of fun to get to see even though we weren't right there.  My mom held their IPad during the ceremony so sometimes we were watching her legs when she'd set it in her lap.  I was happy to be a part of it from afar.

For Harper on your 4th birthday

My Darling Harper,

Our Fourth baby turned four!!  I'm not very sorry to see the age of 3 be gone forever from our home.  You knew it all at 3---how to work my phone, what times you should sleep, if you need a nap, how to pour (cereal, milk, water, juice),  what makes a nutritious meal, what you should wear,  how to do your hair, etc. etc. etc.  You knew a lot when you were 3.

But now you're FOUR.  You're a growing girl and I'm sure this year will give us lots of challenges too, but I hope we have a better way of communicating this year.  The kicking, hitting, screaming, and whining fits didn't work out too well for us in that 3rd year.

You have been my little shadow this year, perfectly content to be in my company.  You often say to me, "you're my best friend mom".  On school mornings you loved to drive with me to drop off the kids, and we'd stop sometimes for coffee for me and hot cocoa for you.  On the mornings Dad was home he would bribe you to stay with him by promising to let you watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Sometimes you'd be crying as we walked out the door.

You absolutely burst with personality--some sassy, and lots of sweet.  You still love your blankie, Kee Kee (its never far from us), and you still suck your thumb, especially when you're tired. You're a fashionista, often changing your clothes about 482 times a day, breaking many, many hangers as you pull dresses, shirts, and pants down to create some unique outfit.  You do not like shorts, preferring dresses and leggings even in the summer. You like your hair down but will put it up for gymnastics.  You like to accessorize and usually have an armful of bracelets going up your arm.  You love dancing in your sparkly white high heel princess shoes and your princess dresses.  We've had many dance parties this summer to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry songs and Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines.  You do play well with your siblings, but will scold them by calling them a "cheater-cat" or a "meanie-peanie" when something does not go your way.  You like to play house with all of them and will only be the baby or the pet tiger. This summer, the kids and I have tricked you into taking your afternoon nap by telling you they were all laying down for a rest. Your favorite places to eat are Nicdonald's (McDonald's) and Wocky J's (Teriyaki J's).  This is now the way all of us pronounce the names of these places.  Your favorite movie is still Tangled, which surprises us because you ask us to take you to get a haircut about once a week.  You refer to my mom as "little Grandpa" and it always makes us laugh.  You are a climber and can get up on the kitchen cabinets, often for gum and cups.  You can write your full first name now, and refer to the letter "H" as a "Harper Jeanie".  When we pass your pre-school you'll say, "that's where Miss Becky is" and at your birthday dinner you counted backwards from 9-0.  We didn't know you could do that.  You like the game where something is in our hands behind our back and you pick a hand.  Daddy teases you and you never win.  Sometimes you'll play the game and tell us which hand to pick so we won't win.  You say funny and sassy things like "Awkward" and "Whatever", usually at completely inappropriate times.    You've learned to scooter very well this summer and seem to like gymnastics class much better than dance class.    You loved swimming lessons and swimming this summer.  You love going with me to Logan and Ry's soccer practices, especially if there is a play area nearby.   You are looking forward to seeing Samee's baby and being a flower girl for Tricia's wedding.  If I buy something for you that you don't like, you'll say "lets keep that for Samee's baby." We got your flower girl dress in the mail and you loved trying it on and twirling around in it.

You are all things wonderful Harper--we love you!!

August 22nd, about 11:00...

The last 3 year old picture of Harper. 

This polka dot dress has been one of Harper's favorites.

(It used to belong to Presley)

Mommy and Harper

Waiting patiently for Papa and Grandma

A little evening play time. 

With Grandma and Papa Nelson

Logan's VERY close to passing Grandma

Harper wanted a pink, sparkly cake.

This was after presents and she had changed into her name gymnastics leotard.

Special Day for a Special Girl!!

Ry's Half Birthday

Halfway to SEVEN today...so HALF of a root beer float from Owl's Soda Fountain to celebrate.

 Love you so so much!!

Harper is 4...Our Interview

What is your favorite food?  Chicken
What is your favorite game to play?  The Tiger Game
What is your tiger name?  Diamond
What is your favorite color?  Pink
What makes you feel happy?  To color
Where in the world would you like to go?  To visit grandpa
What did you like about being 3?  Going to mom's group and swim lessons
What are you scared of?  Monsters
What is your favorite thing to do?  Go underwater
What is your favorite sport?  Soccer, like Logan
What do you like about our family?  Food (I think she meant that we eat together)
What do you want to do when you grow up?  Make flowers

(Presley is standing next to me and suggested I try to make the words pink because that is Harper's favorite color)