First Day of School

I can't believe I have a Kindergartener!! Here's my little Abby on her first day of school.

Doesn't she look so cute! She picked out her own outfit and loves her new shoes - they totally light up! What she really wants is some Sketcher Twinkle Toes. You know what I'm talking about. The sneakers with jewels on the toes that "twinkle". Her shoes are just plain old Sketcher Lights. But they were on sale. And so much cuter than the other ones!

Here's my whole crew. The little guy just gets thrown around. Don't worry. He likes it. And if he doesn't he lets us know. Loudly.

Brooklyn has been dreading this day every since she figured out what a whole day of school was. All summer long if we even mentioned Abby and kindergarten she got the saddest look on her little face. So this morning she did everything with Abby and got ready to go to "school" too.

Here's Abby officially at school and officially on time!!

Since I'm new at dropping off a kindergartener I didn't know what to do when I got to the school. I pulled up where everyone else was dropping off their kids and a teacher came up and was ready to get Abby out when I mentioned I wanted to take a picture. She told me to pull up further and I could park. So I did. I left Brooklyn and Jace in the car, jumped out, and took some pictures.

Then Abby was ready to go into the school and I didn't know what to do. Jace and Brook were in the car and Abby was heading into the school - by herself!!!!

.

So I let her go (sniff, sniff). And I didn't even walk her in on her first day of school. What a terrible mother! (Although I'm pretty sure I would have been a more terrible mother had I left my babies in the car unattended.) It all happened so fast. But I did have time to take a picture. Just one last glimpse. Of a cute pink backpack. And she was gone. I guess the apron strings are cut. And not by me.

So I did the next best thing and jumped back in my car (which was good since the principal was banging on my window and informing me that I was in fact in NO PARKING ZONE!!!) and pulled around the corner to wait for Abby to emerge on the playground. Which she did (thank goodness!).

Here's the photo I took of Abby on the playground even though the playground teachers were eyeing me from afar with that "we're keeping a close eye on you because why are you taking pictures of our kids on the playground" look. And what I wanted to shout at them was - well, never mind. I was still on an emotional roller coaster so I was thinking crazy thoughts.

I was sure Abby had seen me when I took this picture (did I mention I took more than one playground picture - which might be why I was getting the looks I was getting?). Anyway I knew she was heading my way to say hello and a part of me knew that I was the crazy mom that just needed to leave. But I was still feeling guilty for letting her go in by herself so I stayed.

What really happened was Abby began running straight for us and I began waving. Then Abby stopped at a group of kids, looked at them and began running again. To another group of kids. She was looking for her friends and had no idea that her delusional mom was still hanging around.

.

So to sum things up, Abby survived her first day of school. We did get a call from the school nurse letting us know Abby had fallen on the rocks and had some bad scrapes and a hole in her new shirt. But she didn't cry.

I guess that means my baby is growing up!

Alpine Slide

While in Utah we decided to try out the Alpine Slide in Park City. Darren and I have only been once before (our 2nd Anniversary) and had a great time.

This is us just going up. Abby was excited to get to go so high!

Here we are - the whole family (minus Jace - poor little guy gets to have no fun!)

In front of us were the crazies we went up with! I'm not sure but I think Ryan is throwing some sort of gang sign......

The girls LOVED playing together and got along really well. This is our walk to the top of the slide. It didn't take long to get there.

What cutie - petuties!

This is some strange animal that lives under the slide and pops up to watch any slider goers. Look at him - he's totally waiting for some one to slide down! Apparently there are quite a few of them and Darren tried to grab one as he went down. Talk about animal rights being invaded!

And here is THE SLIDE (and some toes)!



Darren and Abby prepping for their race (which was strictly prohibited by the way. I know. What rebels!)

Brookie and me. We were way EXCITED!

This is my brother Travis. We went with my other brother Daniel and my other sister Breanna (the newly wed - wedding pictures still to come) and my parents. But this picture struck me because of the girl in the background. Go ahead. Take a look.

Let's get a little closer. (Little does Travis know of the darts being thrown his way!)

Alright fine. Just a bit closer.

Yikes!! Apparently she is not in awe of Travis's good looks!



If anyone knows this girl please tell her that my brother IS a good catch!!

Actually, probably one of the main reasons this caught my attention is that I too have been accused of throwing dirty looks. Looks I have no idea I am throwing. This coming from my husband (and a few others...).Hey, I've said it a hundred times but I'll say it again. That is my natural expression people. I don't throw evil looks (unless you're my husband:).

Anyway back to the point. I'm sure this girl could care less about Travis (gasp!) and is probably wondering about her cat at home or something. I guess we'll never know!

Boating in Utah

Last week we returned from our 3 week vacation. What? you're probably thinking. Three weeks?

Yes. Three weeks. It was quite long and filled with lots of fun activities! So in case you haven't picked up Mockingjay yet (what!? you don't know what I'm talking about? I'm apalled! )I'll be happy to provide you with great reading material right here!

We're at Jordanelle Lake and Abby and Brooklyn are watching their cousin Lexi on the kneeboard. And for a first timer she did great! (Don't mind Abby's expression - it's hard to be cute all the time!)


And here's Abby!! Whoooohoooo! She just learned this summer how to actually get on her knees on the kneeboard and she loves it!



Here are all the girls! Brooklyn, Kendri, Lexi and Abby. For any of you having twin confusion right now Brooklyn and Abby belong to me! Lexi and Kendri are Heathers. Jace and Kyson stayed at the lodge with Pa.



Well, I guess I'm out of pictures to post. The only one's I have left are a few very unflattering ones of Darren (let's just remember a picture is just a picture and not always an acurate description of how we really look:) and some of my sister wakeboarding (again a picture is just a picture!). I would post those but Ryan beat me to it and they're on his facebook page. When Heather saw those she a blew a gasket and put restraining order on all the rest of her pictures. Sorry - the fun at Jordanelle ends here!!

Guess Who's 1?

Jace had his first birthday on Monday and we were more than happy to party with him! We celebrated on Sunday and now Brooklyn thinks everyone has a birthday for 2 days:)


Here's Abby and Brooklyn giving him his birthday loves. They were more than willing to show the little guy what a birthday is all about!



Look at those long, colorful ribbons!!



It is fun to have a birthday!



And guess what else? Jace can stand!! And walk!!




Well ok, he's still learning but he can take 4,5 sometimes 10 steps! We're so proud of our little guy! Go Jace!

And here he is with his caterpillar cake. I also gave him a caterpillar bath towel - get it? We had theme!




He really loved it. I mean who wouldn't? Brightly colored, furry little balls. That fit just perfectly in his small hands. And, yes, he did make a grab for them. And, yes, Grandma Suzette was quick enough to stop too much damage. That's when he decided a foot in the cake was just as good and gave it a good kick! It left just a small heel imprint so we gave that piece to Dad!

Yummy!



Here are a few other things that Jace has been up to:

-He learned how go down stairs. He's been going up the stairs for a few months.
-He never stops eating! And if I think he's done when he's not he'll let me hear about it.
-He climbs everything - chairs, tables, toys, furniture. And then panic when he can't get down.
-He loves to get into my tupperware drawer and throw everything out.
-If he hears the shower turn on he races to the bathroom and bangs until someone lets him in.
And then gets upset if he's not getting a bath.
-He's loud. Very loud. Especially in church.
-He's finally sleeping through the night. Bedtime between 8 and 8:30 and wake-up between 6:30 and 7:30.
-He loves to bang on my new, expensive lamp. He'll use any hard object he can find. And if nothing is around he'll use his hands. The lamp is metal so it makes a nice loud ring for him. Every single time.
-He's got two teeth on bottom and 4 teeth on top. More than either of my girls had at this time.
(In fact, I don't think Abby had any teeth for her 1st birthday!)
-He loves his sisters but gets so excited when he sees other little boys.
-I love his little crawl. It's so cute. We have hardwood floors and when he was first learning how
to crawl he couldn't get a good grip and his legs kept slipping. So he started pulling one leg
underneath him and getting a grip with his toes. Sorry, hard to explain...
-We've had just a few days of whole milk and he's not taking to it - at all!
-I love his big, blue eyes and his cute little cackle!

Really I just love everything about this little guy and can't believe we've had him here for year already! Happy Birthday Jace!
P.S. Brooklyn was not in the mood for a picture!

Annie

The other day I could hear Abby and Brooklyn singing "It's a Hard Knock Life". You know, from little orphan Annie. Anyway, I was just thinking how well they were playing together and sat back to enjoy the music. I was in my blissful state for about 10 minutes (yes, they really do sing for that long) when my brain turned on and I started wondering what they were really up to.

So I quietly tiptoed to the bedroom to peak in on them (I didn't want to interrupt anything - they weren't crying, or complaining, or asking for snacks...) when I discovered they were not in their bedroom.

Hmmm.....

So I moved on to the bathroom. And I found them. With a spray bottle and a dozen of my once clean towels. They were "scrubbing"the bathroom floor. Just like Annie.

And they were singing "It's a Hard Knock Life". Just like Annie.

They were the little orphans.

I looked more closely. Nothing had been untouched. The floor was soaking wet. The mirror dripped with water. The door glistened with its new shine. My towels layed in a sopping heap. I wanted to cry. But then I looked at two little girls faces. They were lost in an imaginative world. They beamed up at me. Why? Because they had helped me out by scrubbing the bathroom!

I just laughed. What can you say to those cute little faces? Sometimes it's hard to remember that they'll only be little once! And after all, my bathroom was "clean"! Who could ask for more?

Calling All Halls!

This should be reminiscent for most of my family. Every Fourth of July we made a trip to Two Buttes to climb the mountain, have a picnic, shoot off fireworks and swim in the Black Hole. Our cousins always visited at that time and we made a big gathering of it. We haven't kept up that tradition since we've moved back but this year we decided to take the kids and make a day of it.

This is Two Buttes. Isn't that crazy. The land is completly flat all around and then you get to this! No explanation for it. A natural phenomenon.


The girls did really well with the hike. Abby and Pa went ahead and blazed the way for the rest of us. She told me later that she wanted to stay with Pa because he was so strong and would be able to catch her if she fell......and what am I? Chopped liver? So I casually mentioned to Abby that had she stayed back with me I was certain I would have been strong enough to catch her if she slipped and fell. She just stared at me. Even with my prodding. Apparently she hasn't noticed my new workout routine.

This is the way Jace made it up Two Buttes. He's never been in a back carrier (we borrowed this one) and I think he was less than thrilled - but he made it!



We're to the top! As my Grandpa Sim would say "Land as far as the eye can see. You won't ever see a view like this anywhere else in the world!" That's according to Grandpa Sim who loves Lamar more than life itself.

Here's the whole Robbins family + Pa. You can see his back. I think he was looking for grasshoppers.

This boy never stops eating. I'm not kidding. I think he ate more than I did for lunch. All that hiking must have worn him out!

Here's where we had our picnic - the back of Pa's truck. Usually we would have started a fire and grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. This time we just packed a lunch and tried to stay out of the sun.

This is also the place where we would shoot off illegal fireworks.......well, mostly the boys (I'll clarify just in case someone goes to jail for this!) You can find many a gord in those weeds. Perfect for putting cherry bombs in, lighting and throwing!

It's also the place where uncle Kirk got slap happy with the fireworks and threw a lit pack of Black Cats on my sisters back. Oh the memories. But all's well that ends well.

Just up from our picnic site are more rocks and more exploring to do. We found some cool looking bugs to take pictures of and Abby found a tunnel she wanted explore. I said no. Too many snakes and unknown animals.

This is the Black the Hole. It's nasty. I swim in it.

It has actually had signs posted warning of "Itching Disease" in years past. We lucked out this year and no sign was around! Besides, I grew up swimming in this hole. I'm sure I'm immune:) But Darren's probably not!

These are the rocks that we could be found jumping off of. We mostly stuck to the rock that is in the middle of the picture. It juts out and is right above the boys heads. Those boys (who I don't know) are standing on the rock in the middle of the water hole that you can rest on. You can't touch the bottom anywhere - it's too deep. There are rumors that scuba divers have actually gone down to find the bottom and can't........it's a never ending hole!

This is us relaxing in the filth.

This picture was taken right before I was nibbled on. By a fish. That's right. A fish bit me. At least that's I think it was. I don't know what else is growing in there. At any rate, that was all the reminiscing I needed. I shot out of there and didn't go back. I even had a red mark to prove it. It was kind of like two half moons, one on top and one on bottom. In a perfect circle. A perfect fishy lip circle.

Go ahead and let me know if you've ever been bit by a fish. I bet the answer's a big, fat, no. Just thinking about it gives me the heebie jeebies. I was fish bait. How disgusting!

And that was the end of our little jaunt. Abby and Brooklyn both said their favorite thing was hiking up the mountain. I have to say I quite enjoyed....everything!

Swimming Lessons

Friday marked the final day of Brooklyn's two week long bout of swimming lessons. Which means it was a PARTY DAY!!

This is the "Willow Creek Swirl" here in Lamar - named by a girl I used to babysit (just in case anyone was interested:).



This is Brooklyn having a great time at her party! She went down this slide as many times as she could get in before time was up.



A few weeks ago we went as a family night swimming and went with Brooklyn every time she wanted to go on the slide. Eventually she decided she wanted to go by herself and ran up the stairs ahead of me. I called to her to wait for me and hurried to catch up. As soon as I rounded the last bend of stairs she was gone. And she had no life jacket on. And she hadn't started her swimming lessons yet. So I had to first give the life guard on duty an evil eye for letting her go down on her own without question, and then yell to the life guard below to jump in and catch the little girl who was coming down.

A little embarrassing to say the least.

As I watched Brooklyn come down, I noticed she was now going head first on her back with a scared look on her face and I was hoping she learned her lesson. You can't ignore your mom and get away with it. But as soon as she popped up out of the water she smiled and yelled, "I did it by myself!" Yes, she did. And she also gave her mother a heart attack.

And this was where you could find Abby. Cooling her feet off in the pool. Luckily no one cared that she was borrowing the pool! I found her also splashing her arms and face with the nice cool water. Hey, if you're hot, you're hot.



Jace and I mostly stayed under the tiny amount of shade that could be found. It was actually rather hard to keep him occupied and happy for the 30 minute time slot. He mostly wanted to crawl around on the concrete which I just couldn't allow. This concrete is "slip proof" and tears up your barefeet as is. I can't imagine what it would do to my little baby's knees. So by the end of the half hour we both were ready to come home!


Well to answer the big question - No, Brooklyn cannot swim. But she did have a great time bobbing around! Maybe next year.....