Ryder starts Kindergarten!

Well, my boy started Kindgergarten. I knew this day would eventually come and it did! He has only had one day there, but will have his second day tomorrow. He is going on Tuesday and Thursdays all day. I really struggled with deciding to let him do all day for two days a week or to go everyday for half day. If I did the every day for half day I'd have to either take him to school everyday or go pick him up everyday. The bus would only bus one way. It then quickly became common sense to just let him do all day for two days a week so I wasn't using that much gas to go drive into town every day. Besides, I felt like he would barely get there and I'd have to go pick him up. I just felt like he needed more class time per day. I of course was very worried because it's such a long day for him, but I figured he'd have to get use to it because for 1st grade he wouldn't have an option and would be there all day every day.
I put him on that big yellow bus at 7:10 that morning. He was so excited and got up with no problems at all! He was dressed quickly and ready to roll with hardly any "hurry up" comments from me. I tried to stay cool and collect for him, but it was really actually tearing me up inside. I sent him on the bus and as that big yellow thing swallowed him up and drove off my heart sank. (Yep, I'm a whimp!)
Now just let me explain myself a little here so you don't think I'm off my rocker or something! I have had my kids home with me 7 days a week and we start every day from 7:30 usually to about 9PM together. There may be a time here and there I have been gone an hour or so for certain things without them, but they are usually right there with me. SO, to just have Ryder gone really was making me worry. A little churn in my stomach. I have never worked because I find it ever so important to raise my own kids and if that means we struggle and have tight budgets so be it. I know some families have to have both parents work, but I have found to "make do" and not work.
Okay, now back to the subject.... I sent him on the bus then loaded myself up and drove to the school to wait for him. I went over and waited where the buses unload and then walked with him to class. I put him in his classroom, gave him a kiss and left. I could feel some tears coming and hurried to bail before he saw. His teacher gave me a smile as if she knew and off I went. I had to stop at the office to pay lunch money and it was one of those moments that if you talk you are going to loose it and the tears are gonna come. So I asked just what I had to, paid, and off I went in like five minutes. Boy let me tell you how hard it was for me to drive away from that school! I cried. Yep, like a little kid I cried. :)
Nils decided his work was rather slow that day so we went up later and had lunch together to help get my mind off things. Which was neat; I love my husband! All day though I found myself looking at the clock to see what time it was; if it was time for him to be home yet. Man time seemed to move slow that day. Each time I looked at the clock I found myself asking "wonder what he's doing right now." Then the worries flooded my mind. I started wondering about all the little nonsense things like, will he find friends at recess, will he know where to go after, will he eat the lunch they have, will he get to missing me, and on and on....
Well, finally about 4:15 hit and Brook and I went to sit outside and wait for him. Then about 4:30 we saw the bus coming down the hill for us. I couldn't help but smile! Brooklyn was jumping up and down yelling "I see him, he's coming" while I just smiled. LOL
When Ryder came in the house he was tired. He was hot and sweaty and pooped right out. He got him a snack and watched some TV while I decided to get dinner started. He then came out and asked if he could go in and take a nap. Nope, no way man. He ate and was to bed early again.
So now that I wrote a book, I'm sorry to all who had to sit and read. I enjoy blogging though because really this is my scrabook/journal in a way. I have my life on this computer and blogging is a way of marking down the eventful days of my life.
Good luck to my Ryder and here is to hoping for the best for him. PLEASE don't let him become a victim of teasing; I just worry and pray every day he doesn't have to deal with that.
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Gavin's Birthday

Wowzers, my baby turned 1 on July 28th! Really, it doesn't seem quite fair that they grow up so stinkin fast. I have really enjoyed him though and am amazed he's already a year.
His birthday actually fell at quite a busy time this year. We had a ton going on. We had the rodeo activities we'd made plans for then I was running hectic trying to finish up things for girls camp. His birthday fell on the Thursday, the first night for the famous preston night rodeo things. So we went to the parade with the kids. After we stopped and got some icecream cones and came home and just hung out together watching a movie. (and of course I sat and held him!) :)
We then had his little birthday bash on Sunday. We just had the grandparents come over for a light dinner then cake and icecream. Gotta love the 1st birthdays when they dig into their very own cake!! That was the best part of the night to watch.
As he was eating his cake he'd start out by taking little tiny pinches of frosting between his fingers, lick it, then wipe the rest down his chest. He then decided that no one was getting after him and it was pretty good so he started going to town on it.
Short and sweet for his birthday and yet fun! That little stinker is growing up on me and makes me laugh everyday. He does the strangest things and/or gives the funniest looks all the time and I can't help but giggle. I love him to death!!! I have really enjoyed every day with him! I love you Gavin, happy birthday buddy!!

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Preston Rodeo Time

So we just had our Famous Preston Night Rodeo weekend. It's a crazy time to go to Preston, but still a fun time. On Thursday night we went to the parade with Kory, Jen and their kids, and being me I forgot my camera. Friday night we went with the Blake's to the rodeo. It was just the adults and the kids stayed home. It was a great night of laughter and fun! Again though, I didn't take any pictures of the rodeo. On Saturday night we went with Brooks and Robin to the parade then to eat, then to the carnival. It was wonderful seeing them finally and letting the kids all goof around together. I did remember my camera for the parade, but left it behind when we went over the carnival. I got a few pictures of their son Jaxson goofing around with Ryder waiting for the parade to start. Brooklyn was in the parade Saturday night and looked pretty. Thanks for all of you who hung out and made it such a fun weekend for us. Gotta love that Famous Preston Night Rodeo!

Here are a couple pictures of Jaxson and Ryder while they waited for the parade to start. The first one Jaxson is being silly w/ Ryder's toy and making himself look a bit mischevious when I asked for a picture. The other one Jaxson looked over at his mom for a picture and did some crazy look that I just had to get a picture of! LOL It ended up blury though because I was in a hurry to snap a good picture of him. Jaxson is hillarious and was just a ball of fun that night and the kids all got along so well!!


Here is the picture I got of Brooklyn riding in the parade again. She was just so cute! She said she had a lot of fun riding in the parade. It took her a bit to find us, but when she spotted us she quickly threw us some candy. :)

Lewiston Parade

Brooklyn got to ride in the Lewiston 4th of July parade this year. She rode with the pagent girls from that little Miss Idaho Days she did. When I dropped her off and put her on the float she was a tad bit nervous and sort of gave me a sad lip. The lady there helping talked her though and Brook was fine in no time. She was so stickin cute when she passed us. She caught site of us and started waving (her princess wave she says) and then was blowing kisses. So cute!
She will now ride this weekend in the Famous Preston Night Rodeo and she is so excited.
I just was able to snap one picture. I had one of her before when I dropped her off, but who only knows how it was deleted from the camera. ;)

Brooklyn turns 4!

Brooklyn turned 4 on June 27th!! (Yes, I'm slow on doing the post!)
We had a short birthday party for Brooklyn this year because she started out that day not feeling well. She sort of just sat around. Finally later that week I decided I better take her to get looked at. I figured she just had the stupid cough and cold that was going around so I didn't bother wasting the dr. bill on it. However, later that week she got worse and worse. I finally took her in and she had asmatic bronchitis. She was on meds and they made her throw up a TON, so then they lowered her dose and gave her nausea meds. Poor little girl. Let's just say the 4th of July weekend for us (mainly her) was not real fun! She did ride in the parade though in Lewiston on the 4th cuz she said she felt better. However, when she was done and we walked to the car she asked me to pack her and she just laid on me. I could tell she was still trying to get better and not up to herself yet.
She had wanted to do a Princess party and I had cute things in mind, but when she was sick I decided we were cutting it down. We just had the grandparents all come over and did a dinner then cake and icecream. We then had her open presents. She was fine with it. She loved it all and that night when I tucked her in for bed, she looked at me as she gave me a hug and said "thanks for the birthday mom. I loved the princess cake and my present!" Awww..melt my heart. I thought it was boring but to her she totally loved it!! (sick and all)
Here are just a few pics from her birthday.....












I of course had to snap and share a cute picture of little Gavin making a little cheeser smile. What a cutie!! :)












It was fun, but so sad that the kids grow up so fast! She may be the hardest kid for me and give me the most work, but she is still a sweetheart to beat and I love her to death!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKLYN!!!

Brooklyn's Pageant!

A few weeks back a few friends of mine had suggested I put my little Brooklyn into the pageant that they were having for little girls during the annual Idaho Days over here in Franklin. I sat and stewed around about it then finally decided Brook would totally love it so why not.
The pageant was held Saturday over in the park on a stage that they had put up. She was so excited when she showed up because the stage decor was in PINK! (Brooklyn is the biggest fan of pink!) As I gave her a kiss and left her up behind stage with one of the ladies in charge she started to tear up and her bottom lip stuck out all sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "There are a lot of people mom." WOW. I couldn't believe she was getting nervous. She is so brave and does whatever; she literally has no fear at home! I talked to her for a bit, showed her where we'd be sitting and told her she'd do great. After just a minute or so she realized it was okay and stood by a friend she had made there, Lacey.
Here is her group lining up getting ready to start.



At first they had the 3-4 yr olds and the 5-6 yr olds come out on stage together to do their opening dance number. She did some of the right moves, but of course didn't remember 1/2 of them so she sort of did her own dance. She was cute!
Here are a few shots of the dance number I got.




Then they went off and one by one the girls were brought out on stage to do their walk. They had one of the gals from the Idaho Days pagent help them. While they walked the mc introduced them with a short intro I wrote up for her.




When she got to the microphone I just had it wrote that she would say, "I'm Brooklyn Olsen. I'm three years old and I love to dance!" Then she would do a little twirl. However, she just rambled a few things at the beginning; I was afraid I'd have to go up there and stop her from talking. LOL Then she was asked a few questions.
They asked her:
1.What's your favorite animal.
2.Who's your favorite person and why?
3.Why do you want to be a princess?
As Brooklyn answered them, she said:
1."a kitty"
2."My mom because she loves me and plays with me."
3."because they are special and pretty."
She answered them without being shy at all and was so cute up there.




Then she went over and recieved the award she earned earlier that week at day camp. She earned the "most easy going" award and got a small crown and award.
Here she is getting the little crown and a little flower from them for the award.



Finally it came to the end of the group and they were announcing the winners. She ended up getting the 1st attendant and we were so happy!! She did such a great job without getting too shy up there or anything!!
Here are pictures of her getting the sash and crown put on. Then there are some of her up there after. As you can tell by the time my camera was there she was done smiling for people. LOL :)






After it all she kept reaching up touching the crown saying "I'm a princess mom!" LOL She was so stickin excited!! (okay, and so was I of course!)

Here is my little princess all crowned....and tired of smiling! :)



I am very proud of my girl and the hard work it took for her to get up there in front of all those people like a big kid and do her thing!! Now they told us to be prepared to be on a float in the local parades which I think she'll find neat.
Way to go Brooklyn!!! I love you.

Swimming Time

I decided I wanted Ryder to get into swimming lessons this summer. My friend called me and said they had an open spot in the class with her son if I wanted to get in. I decided I better so I did it. I then went to tell Ryder and he was not so thrilled. He asked me if he could take his arm floats with him and I told him he couldn't and boy did he get mad!
**Just a side note so you know......Ryder is NOT a water boy!! He hates getting his head/face wet and will NOT put it under water. If you shower him, he hurries and brushes water out of his face and turns if he can so it's not in his face. We have taken him swimming a few times and it takes us FOREVER to get him to just get in the water where he can touch. (like on the step) Once we get him in he does a death grip around your neck to make sure you won't let go. This is even if he has floats on!**
Anyhow, I finally decided to drop it and not talk about it for a bit. I then had my older sister talk to him because she's building a pool at her house and Ryder said he wanted to go stay with her. SO, she told him he had to learn how to swim before he could come down and then they talked about how fun it was for her when she took swimming lessons. That night Ryder asked Nils and I a few questions about swim lessons and then then told me, "Mom, I guess I will do it. I want you to stay there and watch me though and not leave okay?." Of course I would if it got him to do it. :)
So low and behold Ryder ventured out for swim lessons. He started them on June 6th. He would go Monday-Thursday for two weeks. Not bad I thought. He did the 8AM class though and that ended up being a struggle to get three kids together and ready that early. I talked to my mom and had her keep Brook and Gavin most mornings so I could get him there and stay to watch him. He did pretty good. The first few days he did get in and kneeled in the water, but still did NOT let water get over his head at all. FINALLY, the teacher was able to get him to relax and get more comfy in the water and he would dive down for little animals that she'd throw in there. As time went on, he'd get a little more braver and little more "in" the water messing around.
Well.....by the time he finished I was VERY PLEASED! Ryder was putting his whole body down in the water doing his "turtle" paddles and moving in the water. He floats on his back and on his tummy! He does an "alligator" paddle, he does super man glides, and some thing they were working with that was 'monkey, airplane, rocket' to help him get swimming a little. It was so fun to see him just lay on the water and float!! His head to his ears were in the water and he'd just lounge and he loved it. I was VERY suprised to see him get his face into the water to sit and float on his stomach.
I decided by the time we were done with them that I wanted Brooklyn in there too. So I went out and signed her up too. :) She will start her lessons the middle of July and she is very excited. Nothing scares that girl!
Hope the little slideshow thing works. It's amazing and fun to see Ryder came so far and got so comfy with just 8 lessons!! Can't wait until next year for him to do them again and hopefully advance a little more on things.

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