May through September

Because I was so out of it for most of the summer I thought it was time to do a catch up. Yes, most of the summer was spent with me in bed and the girls at friend's houses in the neighborhood, but we did take some pictures and by August I was able to do a lot more so here it goes: from the end of May through September. (We'll post our Halloweeny stuff in a bit)

This was the last day of school for me teaching. I know I look silly. This wasn't my regular teaching attire. The last day is a whirlwind because we celebrate "Circus Days". Every class spends 8-10 minutes in each room with different circus activities and the teachers dress up like clowns. It was a really rough day for me with the emotions of saying goodbye and running out of the room to throw up every few minutes. The second picture is of me snacking all day trying to keep it together. :)

Two days later was Kendyl's dance performance. She was so cute on stage. It was her first recital and she did fantastic. I think her favorite part was wearing sparkly blue eye shadow and bright lipstick. We had to miss Adam's baptism (a cousin- my brother's oldest) because it was at the same time, but they had a swimming party afterwards at their hotel that we were able to join them.

Here's some pics of the swimming party. Kendyl spent all of her time near the stairs feeling safe and Makenzie and Adam were two peas in a pod sticking together. Kendyl actually put her head under the water a few times. That was a first. We were very proud. :) This picture was taken a few days later. If you look close enough you can see an i.v. going into my wrist from being in the hospital. I had been checked in with a blood clot, but had to stay a few days because of dehydration. When I got home I was hooked up to the iv for a while more and basically the whole time I was down our little kitty was taking care of me by sitting right on my leg or pelvis or stomach where my blood clot was- bless her heart. Needless to say I grew very attached to her- my little protector. Speaking of Princess Tigerlily (our kitty- her name changed from Princess Buttercup to Princess Tigerlily because the girls discovered her wild nature and thought she needed a tiger in her name but still wanted her to be a princess). She use to sleep a lot in this little plant when we first got her and a few days ago she tried to climb up into it again and didn't fit so well. She looked extremely put out, but was stubborn enough to fall asleep in that position. It's fun (and a little sad) to see how much growth she's done in 6 months.Along with all the help from sweet neighbors my parents also came for a week. It was so nice having them here. My dad spent almost all of his time playing with the kids or in the kitchen and my mom washed and folded about 12 loads of laundry and cooked tons of meals. It was so so nice. Here's a picture of my dad and Seth "being helpful" that one of the kids took.While my parents were here it was Kendyl's birthday. I'm so glad they could be here during that so Kendyl could feel like she wasn't shoved aside on such a special day. She woke up to breakfast in bed and family presents- as is tradition. She was most excited about her Barbie Mariposa as you can see. She picked two friends to celebrate with during the day- Halle and Megan. They are our little neighbors and are the cutest twins. We went to Artic Circle for lunch and played in the play land and then went to see Walle. Afterwards we had cake and ice cream. Halle and Megan's mom made this beautiful cake. Kendyl is really sad because we had just sang to her and then Halle and Megan blew out the candles while Kendyl was trying to think of a wish. We hurried and lit them again so she could make a wish and blow them out herself, but it took a minute to calm down- darn it. Finally she got the tears under control and that wish out. :)Some other visitors we had this summer were; my old roommate from Ricks- Sarah and her son Ethan, Seth's brother- Lyle and his family, and one of my buddies from LA- Nanette and her daughter Elle. Here's the picture of Sarah and I and our kids. It was so fun to sit and visit for a few hours. We were laughing and talking as if no time had passed in the last 10 years. I love those kind of friendships. She is due in just a few days. Good luck Sare-Bear.Here's a picture from the visit with Lyle and his family. Lyle is taking the picture so he's not in it. Hilly and the girls and Seth's parent's came for the visit as well and brought us dinner. (All summer they brought dinner Sunday night- so sweet) Please ignore how nasty sick I look. Here's the visit with Elle and Nanette. The girls spent most of the time under the trampoline having picnics and pretending. It was so fun to be with their old buddy. In the picture on the right Elle and Kenz are sad and petting our Tigerlily kitty because she had just run into a rose bush and her eye was bleeding- poor thing. Seth's sister- Hanna came and picked us up to take her to the vet because I couldn't drive yet. Our visit was cut a little short. :( Tigerlily can see pretty good out of that eye now, but does have a scar on her cornea. We nicknamed her One-Eyed-Willy and bought Goonies after that.Here's a picture of how pretty our yard looked on 4th of July. All summer people would sneak over while I was in bed and weed our garden and mow our lawn. It was so sweet. On the 4th the scouts went around and put flags in front of everyone's houses. I felt so patriotic. :) Usually the only flag we fly is our Jolly Roger.The girls had a lot of time on their hands this summer. Our house was completely destroyed many a time and not being able to stand for more than a few minutes at a time made it very difficult to keep up with them- bless their smelly hearts. Makenzie got very creative with cooking and inventions. Here are some pictures of some of them. This top recipe actually turned out pretty good. :)Luckily this wasn't a recipe to eat. It was a science experiment. You mash up an old banana and stick it in a water bottle, stretch a balloon and stick it on top, and wait a few days to see if it will inflate. Ours did a little bit, but mostly it just was stinky. :)This is a special invention for our kitty that Kenzie made up using a pizza box, an empty milk jug, a towel, teddy bear, and bowl. You cut a hole in the back of an opened pizza box and tape the opening of the milk jug through it. Next you put a towel inside the pizza box and put a bowl just under the opening. You can add a teddy or toy that your kitty will like too. This turns into a room for the kitty. She can sleep on the towel. You cut the bottom off the milk jug fill it with food. As the food runs low you can take the bottom you cut off and push more food through the hole into the bowel in the sleeping part. Very clever Kenz. :)Makenzie got a cute hair cut- chopping a good 6 inches off. She's been wanting to do that for a long time now. The last week of summer I was feeling better and could walk for more than 5 minutes, so we did the best we could to live it up. They had a swimming party combined with gobs of neighbors. Hanna and Syd came along too. I love the picture of Sydney guarding the slip and slide. She was a little worn and anti-social by this point so no one got to use it for a bit while she laid at the end of it. Hanna also took us up into the mountains so we could "hike" a little and play in some water. The girls had wanted to go camping so bad all summer and we just couldn't so Hanna was sweet and took up to a beautiful spot to play for the day. That night we set up our tent in the loft area and the girls watched movies and slept there. It was so fun we let them sleep there for the next 3 nights until school started. Unfortunately I couldn't find my camera on Kenzie's first day of school and so my friend Michelle took pictures of her, but hasn't got them to me yet. I'll add them when I get them, but for now here's some pictures of Kendyl on her first day. (Kindergarten starts a week after everyone else). She really wanted to wear that witch hat to school, but I convinced her that we could take pictures and she could just wear that near Halloween. She agreed thank goodness. At the school she found a familiar friend and they were so excited to be in the same class they held hands walking to class. She sits right next to a buddy from church so that was fun for her. The bottom right picture she is hiding her red embarrassed face because I had just kissed her goodbye. :) I think a mom is allowed to do that still in Kindergarten...This is a fun idea Kendyl did a few weeks ago. Remember her Barbie Mariposa? Well she used the wing flapping out tool so much that they don't attach to her barbie anymore. Instead of being bummed she has figured out something new to do with them... tape them to her backpack. That way she is Barbie Mariposa everyday. :) Believe it or not these pictures were taken still in September (the end of it grant you). I got in a fall mood when the air felt crisp one day and thought I'd surprise Seth with a mock "Thanksgiving" dinner. As soon as the wheels started turning and I had turkey cooking and realized I had stuff for mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, sparkling cider, and two pies I got really carried away. I made WAY too much food and so called in the reinforcements (The Willis Family). Since we had some Halloween decorations already out we named it our "Halloween Thanksgiving dinner in September" and feasted. Martha and I are due around the same time so we got a tummy bump picture of us at the top there. We decorated the table with eyeballs and a skull in different glass containers and used vampire, frankenstein, and witch goblets. Very fancy. :) We had a blast.
This last picture is from the end of September with my group practicing the Thriller dance. We started practicing Sept 6th and our talent show is tomorrow. :) We are dressing up like zombies and are pretty excited. I started learning the dance by watching tutorials online in August and then invited everyone in the neighborhood with fliers on their doors to see if they wanted to learn it. We had a pretty big group, but luck isn't on our side. I just got another call this morning of a friend canceling. That's the 3rd this week. :( We are down to 10 of us when originally it was double that. It has been really fun dancing and practicing though and it's kept my energy up through this last part of pregnancy and helped my blood clot to go away quicker so that's good now matter how embarrassing this might all turn out. haha