Catching up - Halloween

So it has been forever since I've been good about posting much about our crazy life, so here goes my attempt to catch up. In the past I've really gotten in to Halloween and Kiersten and I talk for weeks about costumes and what we're going to do (and of course, how cute she and Tanner will be!). But this past year it just wasn't happening for me . . . I didn't want to do anything that would cost much or require a lot of time. I lucked out with Kiersten - she wanted to be Ro from Barbie's Island Princess, and her dance costume from last year was perfect for that. At first I wasn't going to add anything, but at the last minute I felt guilty (why I'm not really sure!), so I decided to make her some peacock wings to go with the costume which she loved.

(All lined up for the Kindergarten parade at school. It was a LONG parade - there are 10 classes!)

But Tanner . . . I had absolutely no idea what to do for the poor boy. I was trying to decide if it made me a bad mother if I didn't do anything. I was pretty sure at 2 he wouldn't care, but it would hamper my scrapbooking! Then one day it came to me - he is obsessed with plugs and outlets, so why not do something with that. After looking at a few pictures on line of different costumes, I came up with a plan I thought wouldn't cost much money or be too time consuming. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. While Tanner loved it, and loved that we were telling him to carry around a plug, he never really wanted to wear his costume. Thankfully he put it on long enough to get a couple of pictures.

(Here he is, showing off how to "use" his costume!)

So, thankfully my delima pretty much solved itself and both kids loved their costumes (even if Tanner wouldn't wear it he still carries it around when he finds it telling everyone that it is his outlet!), and I have something to scrapbook!

Our First Monsoon of the Season

Last week we had our first monsoon of the season . . . Tanner was outside "helping" Nate cook dinner on the grill when it started raining. Next thing we knew, Tanner was darting out in the rain and then running back to the safety of the covered porch.

Once Kiersten saw what Tanner was doing, she wanted to join him. We had to laugh - Tanner would run out and get completely drenched where as Kiersten would only stick her hands out in the rain, not willing to leave the safety of the covered porch.

Once again, Nate and I wondered why we spend so much money on toys and entertainment when they have just as much fun in a rainstorm! And then I remember, this is Arizona, and even though it is monsoon season we sure can't count on rain!

Splishin' and a'Splashin!

I've been meaning to sign Kiersten up for swimming lessons for the last few years, but never seemed to get around to doing it. This year I finally got her signed up (well, actually my friend got her signed up since we were out of town the day of swim lesson sign ups) - I figured that she's 5 and really ought to know something about swimming! And I figured that I should get Tanner going as well. I was hoping that, if nothing else, having Tanner learn to swim might help encourage Kiersten learn to swim! However, Tanner was so young I had to sign up with him - it was a mommy and me class.

Tanner and I spent the two weeks doing "up-downs" where I would let him go farther and farther in the water each time he went up then down. It would have worked much better if Tanner would have stopped laughing and shut his mouth!

We also spent a lot of time trying to get Tanner to kick. He's quite stubborn and refused to do most of what we asked. Usually when I asked him to do anything he would say, "Tanner all done," and move to get out of the pool. While he didn't really want to kick, he'd walk around all the time saying, "kick, kick, kick," and "splash mommy's nose."

Tanner and I were supposed to work on floating on his back and kicking. He wasn't willing to even try if he didn't have a racket in hand and a ball near his feet that moved with every kick.

I had warned Kiersten's swim teacher (who also happened to be in our ward) that I would be really pleased if, at the end of two weeks, Kiersten would put her face in the water. (I was trying to not set my sights too high!) Kiersten loved "doing the monkey bars" around the pool.

Kiersten and her friend, Macy, were the only two girls in their class, which was nice - almost private lessons! (Thankfully Macy is as timid as Kiersten is, so they were pretty much on the same level!) They had a great time learning to float on their backs and kick their legs.

However, Morgan (her teacher) worked wonders and Kiersten actually put her face in the water, even if it was only for a split second at a time. Now Kiersten thinks she's quite the swimmer!
Neither of my kids passed their levels, so we'll be repeating them next summer! For now, we head to the pool at least once a week and practice the things they learned (even though Kiersten cries and tells me she doesn't want to) so we don't have to start at square one again next year! I am just grateful that it's now only once or twice a week, and not every day!

Easter and The Bunny

So this year Kiersten completely cracked me up. All she could talk about was "The Bunny." And the way she said it, you could practically hear the capital letters as she spoke. She wanted to get a basket of eggs ready to leave for The Bunny (like we left Santa a plate of cookies at Christmas time). It was funny because once she saw The Bunny at an Easter party, she wouldn't even give him a high 5 - she was terrified of The Bunny. Maybe someday I'll have pictures of my children sitting on the Eater Bunny's lap, or even Santa's lap for that matter . . . maybe someday!

We started out our Easter celebration the week before Easter with a primary Easter Egg hunt/activity at the park. My favorite game to watch was when they had the kids put a lemon between their knees and walk a distance and then drop the lemon in a glass without using their hands. If only I had gotten my camera out and gotten into position in time . . . !
I'm not quite sure what Tanner was up to, but it probably involved "Ready, Set, GO!" since he's always about to take off! I don't think he ever learned how to walk - he just runs!

Kiersten did very well at balancing an egg on her spoon - I don't think she dropped it even once!

Kiersten has always loved sack racing, ever since she and I tried it a year ago. Luckily there were lots of other children who wanted to participate so I didn't have to this time! (It just isn't pretty, especially when I'm way too big for the sack and have to lean over just to keep it up!

Tanner was super happy to find just one or two eggs - he didn't get that he was supposed to get all that he could. Oh well, this was one of the times in his life that he was very good about sharing with the other kids!

Then on Sunday I let Kiersten wear her Easter dress since Easter Sunday was General Conference and we weren't going to church. I'll have to post pictures later - like when I take some. (With 8am church it's a mad dash out the door every Sunday and I figure we're doing well to have everyone fully and appropriately clothed and there on time. I can't remember to take pictures too!)

Then Kiersten had all week to look forward to dying Easter eggs once Daddy got home from work on Friday. They had lots of fun, while I did my best to keep Tanner from making a big mess and dying more than just the eggs!

On Saturday, the day before Easter, Kiersten's dance class was asked to perform at the local Easter celebration. They did very well, for having learned the entire dance in just 4 weeks. Some things never change, and Kiersten is still very concerned about making sure she is right on her polk-a-dot.

After the girls danced, I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up with an entire jumping castle to ourselves for 20 minutes or so, so I took Tanner in and let him jump until he was exhausted (which, we learned, was not even enough to satisfy him!). He had a ball, and thought he was pretty big stuff.
Easter Sunday morning Nate and I were woken up to Kiersten running down the hall and telling us that The Bunny had been to our house, and that he'd left Tanner an Easter basket, but he hadn't left her one. I assured her that He didn't forget about her and that if she would just look harder I was sure she would find hers too. Then I rolled over and Nate and I went back to sleep! Eventually she found her basket on the other side of the couch and she was delighted with her Cinderella doll and Tanner LOVES his bubble gun - I think in just 2 days we've managed to go through all the bubble solution that came with the gun - good thing I have gallons more!

I didn't think we'd put that many sweets in their baskets, but Tanner decided he needed to try and eat all of it before breakfast. So it was no surprise when he spit up chocolate only a few hours later. Thankfully he did that on my tile . . . unfortunately he walked through it and on to my just-professionally-cleaned carpets (thanks Jamie - I loved Jim - he did such a good job!) to show me how yucky he was. And the best part is that I've now put away their baskets, with most of their treats still in them (at least what Tanner didn't eat in that first hour or two), and they seem to have forgotten about them!