Finishing August and on to Sept.!

In August, we enjoyed the Saline County Fair and then headed to the combine derby for entertainment on Saturday night.  Caden's friend Isak just turned 5 and so we took him with us for his birthday present!  It is always entertaining to watch those big machines smash into each other but I forgot how long it is in between rounds and trying to keep 3 kiddos 5 and under entertained proved to be lots of snacks and lots of walking breaks, but it was beautiful weather and for the most part enjoyed by all!

Head phones on and ready to go!

August 17th, marked the birthday of Hayden Sage Allen---Brynn and I went to visit her in the hospital--one adorable little girl and we also kind of like her family as well!  Brynn was more interested in eating Mindy's pickles off her hamburger, but at least she gave me a few minutes to love on Hayden before she lost patience!

She even opened those beautiful eyes for us right at the end!

We have not had a ton of rain this year and so when we were home this day and it started pouring the kids begged to go out--Layne put them in our raincoats, found them some boats and they were set!  I bet they were outside in this for over 30 minutes loving every second--Layne and I watched from the window!  We are great parents!

September 2nd marked the birthday of our cousin Avery Joy Ohlde!  So excited to have them in KS to help celebrate her birth!  Caden took these pictures on the ipad--she is almost smiling in this one!

Brynn is pretty excited to have another girl in the family and so are we!

We had a balloon launch at church to celebrate the start of Sunday School this year--my kids were so excited--plus there were cookies and punch--can't get much better than that!  It was a great way to get families involved and the kids wrote religious messages tied to the balloons--it was fun to hear their ideas!

Once again, this girl makes me laugh every day!  This was her second haircut and Brynn ventured out a little more.  She let Kim wash her hair in the BIG sink--with BIG eyes, and then while Kim was cutting her hair, talked a mile per minute from questions about her haircut, to the bottles on the counter, to Southeast of Saline football, to her brother, to popcorn, to "do you have suckers here!"  Kim is so patient and kind--even put some smelly gel in her hair and let her sit under the hair dryer that Brynn got to chose!  My stomach hurt from laughing so hard and I think next time I will bring all my Salina friends with me for the entertainment--or the video camera!

SES Staff and Family Social

For the past 3 years in a row, I have helped organize a Southeast of Saline social for staff and families.  We have found the perfect location at Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch--room to eat and room for the kids to run and play.  We have this event in August and everyone brings their two favorite dishes for a potluck--we eat a lot, talk a lot, monitor all the kids, and take a kid picture!  It is a great way to start off the school year and the kids go home tired!

Above--a couple tables of very good food!

Below--Caden enjoying PB and J--one smart family made cut out sandwiches for the kids and people who eat like kids--they were a big hit!

A table full of cuties!

"Take my picture Mommy!"  OK :)

Our K-12 staff has quite a few kiddos in it--here are some of them--we did have a few tears and a few run aways, but you take what you can get!

We also tried a fun slide picture--it was a bit more work than I thought it might be, but they sure are cute!

You know it has been a good party when less than 5 minutes after leaving your daughter falls asleep--with sunglasses on and after eating her cake!

We have some great friends and teachers out at SES--proud and happy to teach there!

The baby!

We have decided to add some more fun and excitement to our house in January!

Baby # 3 appears healthy on the sonogram and looks like another little girl is headed our way!

The above sono picture is at 9 1/2 weeks and the below sono is close to 18 weeks--she changed a lot in 9 weeks!

The hand above and the foot below are two of my favorite pictures of her so far--love how we can see every bone and all her little fingers!  Layne and I went to the sono by ourselves but had fun showing Caden and Brynn the pictures afterwards!

And here is the baby bump at 24 weeks--growing, growing, growing!

Summary of pregnancy so far:

Sickness-- nauseous--at times--more so in the evenings this time--had to eat about every 2 hours to feel better--only puked once, which is about what happened with Caden and Brynn.  The last 2 months I have felt pretty good, a little tired and grumpy in the evenings but that comes with teaching 1st graders all day and coming home to more fun at our house!

Cravings--cereal, baked potatoes, baked beans, anything with sour cream, fruit,ice tea and peanut butter
Food I want NO part of--BBQ--the smell is not for this prego gal!

Fun fact--had a gender reveal party at school on Fun Friday--the staff voted for boy or girl during the week and then I brought pink cake and pink candy on Friday to celebrate a GIRL--the vote was close at school but girl did win by about 5 votes!

Working on--getting Brynn and Caden prepared to share a room--painted pink and blue squares on the wall as that was their choice of colors, reorganized the closet to fit both sets of clothes and some toys inside, moved a lot of the toys downstairs to a toy area--now just waiting to find the perfect bunk bed.  Started making lesson plan notes for school and have met a few times with my long term sub--so slowly but surely we are getting ready.

Favorite moment so far--Brynn got to feel the baby kick--she smiled really big and said, "I think the baby likes me!"  Then she smiled again, and leaned over and gave me a big raspberry on my belly and said, "I just stuck my tongue out at that baby!"  I couldn't help but laugh, but told her that was not very nice. (but she is funny!)

Caden's name for baby girl--Georgia--he is stuck on that name and has asked several times if we can please name the baby that--with big eyes.... (NO!)

Brynn---has a whole list from Valerie and Braxton (daycare) to Kristi and Caleb (aunt and uncle) to window, menu, pink leaf, or flower to Craig (Grandpa)

Layne and I--we are thinking an A name so we have C, B, A--but nothing set in stone yet!

Caden's 1st day of Kindergarten!

Over a month into school, means time to post 1st day of school pictures!

Caden headed to kindergarten on August 16, 2012 at Southeast of Saline.

He is in Mrs. Wiles's kindergarten class that has 20 kiddos in it--that is a lot of kindergarteners--thank goodness they have some good aides, a para, and some great parent volunteers!

Here is our kindergartener in all his glory!

Still loves Lightning McQueen--and this Target 9 dollar backpack is going on its 2nd year--so this mom was impressed!  He also chose a McQueen lunch box. He is my picky eater so he is fine having a peanut butter sandwich and veggie sticks for lunch, but Layne and I make him pick at least once a week to eat at school and so far he has found several school meals that work for him!

Good friend Ali--they are in different classes but still hang out some!

Love this boy!  Caden and mom on his first day!

Welcome to Mrs. Wiles's kindergarten classroom--Rosetta is also the high school cheerleading coach and has really improved our cheerleading program the last few years!  

So what have I learned about Caden and kindergarten in about a month......
---the 1st day after school when he came to my room he asked a million and a half questions about my room and I got nothing done--since then, mommy has brought movies and the ipad for him to help entertain himself so I can get my teacher work done!  There are also a lot of other teacher kids at SES so sometimes we rotate kids around and that works pretty well!
---Caden's 2 best friends are Ian and Tate
---Free choice center time is usually train table and legos although he has tried writing center a few times as well.
--Recess is a favorite--apparently Caden and "his boys" chase girls at recess--Layne and I were so proud!
--the 1st week of kindergarten he liked it but told us he still liked preschool better and then after the 1st week he got to go shopping on Friday at the Kindergarten Store and that sealed the deal for this child--kindergarten now wins!
--By Thursday the all day kindergarten day has worn him out pretty good and he starts making bad choices at home, so we have learned that Thursday bedtime comes a little bit earlier so we can all have a good night!
--I love listening to him practice his sight words and he has started reading sight word books--so glad he is starting to take an interest in reading!
--The other night, Caden got out his trio blocks and sticks and the directions and started following the directions and making cool items by himself--that was a first--usually he is begging Daddy to build it all for him--so proud of this accomplishment!