Winding Down & Gearing Up

Well, earlier this month, we registered Cash for Kindergarten. Can't beleive it! He is certainly ready and proved this by passing the school's little tests with flying colors (scoring a 36 out of 39). They were surprised he could skip so well and commented on how well he writes his letters (nice, small size). This fall will certainly prove bitter-sweet for me as Cash will start Kindergarten and Vanna will start pre-school (which she is so thrilled about). I'm excited for the kids, of course, but I'm also a bit sad - as you can imagine - to see my babies growing so fast and 'leaving the nest' in a small way :). I think what helps with the sadness, is the excitement I have over being able to spend one on one time with Rosie for a couple hours several times a week while the 'big kids' are at school. It will be so nice, just me and the baby, awww.

Cash finished up his last week at pre-school this past week and it was a fun filled week at that. They had a field trip to the fire-station that was such a blast - Vanna even joined the group and got to enjoy the field trip too. Fireman Bob did such a great job at keeping the kids engaged as he taught them what to do in case of a fire (funny that of all the kids, Vanna was the one to answer most of his questions though). Then he piled all the class into the fire engine and took them all on a short ride around the block while showing of it's lights and sirens. After their adventurous ride, the kids practiced squirting water from miniature fire hoses onto a 'burning house'.

Cash's teacher also celebrated all the kids' summer birthdays this week which was exciting for him.

And to finish up the week, we watched Cash and his class perform their pre-school program. It was entitled Preschool Through the Year. Each kid has a part describing a particular time of year and then what they were learning about at pre-school at that time. Cash had his part down pat and the entire group just did such a cute job!

With all that accomplished, we are now gearing up for a fun summer of T-ball, swimming lessons, story time, family trips and reunions, camping, etc. Whew!

Double The Fun!

CASH & VANNA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Both the kids wanted birthday parties this year and since we hadn't done one with friends for a couple years, I decided to grant their wish :).  Although, since their birthdays are somewhat close together, they wanted to invite all the same friends, and because I only had the energy to do one party - we combined them.  Vanna's birthday is in April, Cash's in June, so we threw a party smack in the middle, in May.  It was a carnival theme so we decorated as such (which I forgot to get a picture of darn it - it really did turn out pretty cute), played a couple carnival-type games (bean bag toss and potato sack races, pinata, etc.) and had carnival food (hot dogs, chips, pop, popcorn and cupcakes for dessert). 

The kids' race.

And the big kids' race :).

Cash was first at bat for the pinata and broke it open.  He is a slugger but gosh we were hoping the pinata would last longer than that.  We actually ended up duct taping it back together (not al the candy had fallen out yet) for everyone else to have a turn at the fun.

Candy!

So many of our good friends were able to attend and we just had such a great time playing and visiting with them! The kids were so wound up that night, going through their gifts and treats over and over again and talking about it all so excitedly to one another - they had a hard time finally falling asleep and slept with much of their new treasures :).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDS!!!

Rosie Posie

Our baby girl is four and a half months already! At her four month appointment she was 24 inches tall and weighed in at 12 lbs. 5 oz.

I was messing around the other day and put ponies all over in Rosie's hair for the first time. Doesn't she look funny? I was cracking up. I suppose it's just because I'm used to her hair down, but I think I like it down better for now :).

-Rosie has really started talking and blowing bubbles with her slobber

-still loves to chew on her hands and/or burp rags

-she is so smiley and often laughs (it's a one hard sigh type laugh or chuckle rather than a continuous laugh - we're still working on getting that out of her :)

-rubs her eyes when she starts getting tired

-while nursing, Rosie will pull away and look up to me to give me a big, beautiful smile - then get back down to business and start eating - another "stop to smell the roses" type of girl :), she also plays with her hair (even pulling it to what I'd consider a painfull point) to soothe herself and help put herself to sleep

-loves to get her diaper changed - I think Rosie just likes getting 'freshened up'

-has rolled from back to tummy (first baby to roll this way first, which is strange because she doesn't even like being on her tummy) and tummy to back but doesn't do it very often

-Rosie has seemed to want solid foods so badly so I started giving her rice cereal and she has loved it. I've never started my babies on cereral so soon but she would just watch my every move when I was eating and would seem to get so excited when she thought food was coming her way. A couple weeks ago, we had pizza for dinner and she would watch it go to and from me mouth and almost lurch towards it (I was holding her while I ate). Finally I decided it couldn't hurt if I just put it up to her mouth for her to kind of naw on it or get a little taste of it. I was surprised though by the way she just seemed to attack it - it was then I decided I'd start her on cereal. I was also surprised by how well she did with the cereal when I first gave it to her - she slicked down her little bowl full and has seemed to love it ever since. Now we're starting to introduce fruits and veggies with it too.

Trip to Rigby (last week of April)

TRIP TO RIGBY (LAST WEEK OF APRIL)

We went to Ty's family's home in Rigby this past month (I'm really getting behind on blogging can you tell?) and had such a good time! It's always nice to get away and boy do our kids enjoy the farm. Cash is just right at home there - he absolutely loves helping Grandpa and Uncle Nick on the dairy. He wants to stay out there with them the whole time regardless of how cold it might be. Nick is just the coolest in their eyes and they love playing with him and his dogs - especially with Mac who is excellent at fetching/catching a ball.

I thought the strange and somewhat loud sounds at the barn might startle Rosie but she just seemed so interested in what was going on and never did get upset.

We often go bowling when we visit Ty's family and this trip was no exception. We always enjoy ourselves there. Usually my goal is simply to break 100 and I'm happy (I'm not a wonderful bowler :) but this time I got a score of of 146 - thanks I'm sure to the help of bumpers which I used on occasion :).

Rosie's first day at Grandma and Grandpa's was rough. As soon as we got there and handed her off to Grandma she started pouting (sticking out her bottom lip as far as possible - I still have to get a picture of this - so sad but so cute too:) and crying at every turn. I think she was overwhelmed with her fatigue, new faces and new surroundings. As soon as we got home, I laid her on the floor while we unloaded the van and she was so happy and content all the sudden. First night home, she slept for 7 1/2 hours, woke up once to eat and slept for another 3 hours - this is more of her normal but at Grandma and Grandpa's she didn't sleep too well. We had one night where she was up pretty much every 45 minutes - ahhh! I guess she's a little home-body, the sweet thing.

You Had A "Burpday" Shout Hooray!

Vanna's Fourth Birthday

Vanna turned four a couple weeks ago and thinks she is just so grown up now.  She had a great day.  Daddy had the day off work so we spent all day celebrating together as a family - it was perfect!  The day started out with opening her present - she got the Lady & the Tramp DVD.  Vanna loves animals, in particular, puppies and kitties.  Ever since she was a baby, she couldn't let a dog or cat go unnoticed when she spotted one - so we thought she'd love the movie - and she does! 

Then we took Cash to preschool and took Vanna to the store where she got bubble gum (an all time favorite with Vanna) and she got to pick out her own "big girl bike".  

And she's off!

She also took her money that she got with Grandma and Grandpa Mendenhall's card and picked out this little stuffed pony that came with a carry along-type purse.  She toted it around that entire day and still does.  I guess it was a good choice.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

While we were at the store we picked up Vanna's birthday cake from the bakery that she had picked out a couple days before.  I was surprised by the cake she picked out.  We looked through the bakery's book of cake options and I thought for sure she'd pick one with a theme like Tinkerbell or something but instead she insisted on picking out this "beach cake".  I think it was because they had one already made up and on display and she couldn't get the one that was right in front of her face out of her mind. :)  So...a beach cake she got!

After leaving the store, we picked up Cash from preschool and headed to Carl's Jr. for lunch.  This is the kids' favorite place to eat because of their large indoor play area.  BUT we found out it was closed for cleaning when we pulled up.  Luckily it was a really nice day so we went to McDonalds instead, where they have an outdoor play area that the kids enjoyed.

Yay for Happy Meals!

Beautiful birthday girl!

Mom - the sun is in my eyes!

For dessert we went to Kiwi Loco - a new ice cream shop in the area.  You pick from a variety of frozen yogurt flavors and then get to load on the toppings.  Because of Vanna's love for sweets, we thought she'd go nuts and pile on the candy toppings.  Again, she surprised us though by only choosing a couple things to put on her ice cream. 

Can you tell I love the vingette picture enhancement? :)

Then off to the movie theater we went.  Weeks prior to her birthday, when asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, Vanna said, "go to the feator (theater :)!"  So...to the theater we went.  All they had playing that we thought appropriate for her age was Mirror Mirror (a re-make of Snow White, with Julia Roberts) and she seemed to like it - especially the dwarfs. :)

After all this playing, we went home for a nap.  We were a bit wiped out.  Later that night we had some of Vanna's cake:

Gotta' love blue frosting!

It was a super all-about-Vanna day!  We sure love you Vanna Baby (can't hardly call her that anymore..sniff..sniff)!!!

Thought I'd just record some things about her at this age for me to remember:

-always tries to be a good little girl and reminds us of her efforts (for example, say Cash isn't listening after my repeated requests to do something - Vanna will say, "Mom, I listening."

-likes to brag about her baby sister - "Her can laugh and her can talk!"

-favorite shoes are her "poople (purple) sparkely ones"  - when she puts on her shoes, she'll place them on the floor in front of me and as she puts one foot in one shoe, asks, "Mom, this one goes on this foot?" to determine which shoe goes on which foot

-loves when I whistle or hum portions of primary songs for her to guess - she's really fast and good at this game too  

-regularly prays that "no bad guys will come to our house" and then informs Heavenly Father where she would hide if they did come to our house, also regularly prays that "our baby can be safe and reverent" and prays for our cat, Hank, as well

-loves watching me dress Rosalie or change her diapers (always asks me if Rosalie just "pee-ed" or "poop-ed" too)

-is a morning person - usually pretty smiley and gabbing or singing away in the mornings but occasionally she'll wake up before I think she's really ready and when she does this, for some reason she only wants to come to me and won't even look at her dad, despite his desperate attempts at making her (he'll say, "oh no Vanna, don't look at me, I don't want you to see this big spot on my face..." or something similar - and no matter what, she'll purposely not look at him

-dances by shaking and twirling her hips and loves twirling with her skirts on to show us how her dress flies

-always wants tucked in at night and gives us bedtime loves by always kissing us on both cheecks