My Life has Changed FOREVER - Kimball's 1st Day of School

Every year on the Sunday night before school started, my dad would walk around the house half singing/half chanting "It's a school night, it's a school night" and make sure all of us kids knew how excited he was that we were going back to school.  For the first time, I got to sing that song.  I kept saying this is the beginning of the rest of my life.  Here are a few pictures to document Kimball's first day.

She was excited to pick out an Angry Bird shirt for her first day.

And then her cute Hello Kitty backpack, which she liked more than the Disney Princess one. I was shocked.

For her, the kids meet at the little playground area, then line up and their teacher comes out and gets them.  As she was lining up, she saw other parents giving goodbye kisses, and she promptly yelled "Mom, I need my kiss."  Can I love this girl any more?

I was trying to not be a complete stalker, but I really wanted to get pictures of Kimball in her classroom, so I conveniently offered to help bring in some of the bags of supplies.  I beat the kids to the classroom, so I caught this cute shot of them walking in their line, into the room. 

And one last one on the carpet. Yep, welcome to the rest of my life. I didn't cry (which is a miracle for me). Kimball was too excited and I didn't want to do anything to take away from that. I hope she'll be just as excited next year for all-day school. I'm so glad they break us first time parents w/ half day kindergarten.

She came home very content and said she liked it.  She did say that some girls cut in line and she cried, but the teacher told her to be in the back of the line to make sure everyone stayed in line.  Nothing like giving a little bit of authority to cheer her up.  Woo hoo for Mrs.Orr and looking out for my little girl.

Summer Activities

 Summer Activites have included....

Brotherly bonding.

One morning while I was teaching swimming lessons, I came home and found this. Kimball converted the Danny's room/guest room into her room. She didn't forget a single detail from moving her book shelf, bringing every pink blanket and neatly putting all of her stuff animals on a chair.

 Jason's work got group tickets to one of the baseball games, so we packed up the kids and had an adventure. We thought it would be fun for them to see a real game.  Needless to say, they were more interested in the snowcones and their free hats.

And, the grassy area by the outfield where they could run around.

A friend from our ward was very generous with her pool this summer and let me teach swimming lesson there, and let us come over and swim as a family on occasion.

Danny discovered the joy of a floaty.  He was so content to sit in this ring and kick around. Don't worry, he was fully supervised.

Swimming Fish - Videos

As an old swim instructor, teaching my kids how to swim has been very important to me.  Here's how the effort has worked out so far.

Danny and Tod getting used to the water.  Tod (2 1/2 years) just adopted the "no fear" mentality of his big brother and sister, which means we have to watch him very closely.

Danny (13 mos) is a champ, and isn't afraid either.  Of course, he was born under water so there's no excuses for him.

Kimball (5 yrs) coming down off of the water slide. She isn't afraid of much, which has made it easy to teach her.

Jack (3 yrs) is ever following Kimball everywhere, even down the water slide.  I love how hard he will work to keep up with her.  He is such an amazing little boy.

Kimball Turns 5!

Yes, Kimball had a birthday!  I can't believe how fast this little girl is growing up. She is such a joy, and so pleasant.  Right now, she loves swimming, and princesses and all things pink and purple.  She loves to play with her brothers, and loves making new friends.

 Birthday morning, she had a table of presents and balloons.

 The crown went on immediately.

As did her new dress.

 Jack decided dressing up was fun too, and decided to join Kimball by putting underwear on his head, then his pirate hat, complete w/ socks for gloves.

Kimball asked for a princess castle cake, and this is as good as it got.

Blowing out all 5 candles at family dinner.

Happy Birthday Kimball Anne!  We love you so much!

July 24th - Pioneer Day and the Eternal Perspective

 The Green Valley Stake puts on a fantastic Pioneer Day at the stake center and the park across the street every year.  We decided to brave the hot temperatures and have as much fun as we could. These are just a few of the things we manage to capture on camera.

 Those pioneers look familiar.

 

 Kimball was very serious fan of the face painting. 

 Jack figured face painting was girls, and decided to go w/ a cook soccer ball on his hand.

There was a giant blow up water slide, which of course my kids went down, over and over.  It was 105 degrees and I was very tempted to join them.

You know those funny picture taken "mid-blink." Yep, Danny's gonna love me for this shot someday. 

It was so exciting, we almost couldn't decide what to do next.

 Jack getting ready to take aim at the dunking booth.  He was happy to throw, but I think he really wanted to be dunked.

It was a very fun, hot day, But we all enjoyed ourselves with the games, shaved ice, balloons, face painting, cotton candy, pop-corn, and being sprayed w/ a fire hose with the Henderson Fire Department came by to cool us down.

So, isn't it amazing how Heavenly Father is consistent in reminding us to be humble and remember that He is always ultimately in charge?  With Danny more than a year old, this was the biggest gap in my kids I'd ever had, so I was starting to get a little anxious about the timing of our next kid. Around 4th of July, I found out that I was pregnant again, and was pretty excited to have a new little spirit join our family.  About 10 days later, I woke up with some pretty sharp pain my my lower abdomen.  It was pretty painful for about 20 mins, but I figured it was my gall bladder because that runs in my family and I know doctors can't do much about it while you're pregnant.  So, I breathed through it,  and it went away, and I went back to sleep.  The next day I was fine, but the day after that (Friday) I had another attack of pain.  Jason was home and was watching me suffer a bit, and decided enough was enough, and called his niece to come baby sit, and took me straight to the hospital.  Sure enough, I was diagnosed w/ an ectopic pregnancy and had surgery that night.  So, after the initial disappointment, I had time to count the many blessing I experienced that weekend.  Here's the list of some of the things that immediately came to mind:

- Having a husband who got me to the hospital even when I was being stubborn, because he remembered the symptoms of a family member who went through the same thing.

- Having just talked to my O.B. and getting set up with her, so I was fresh on her mind when this happened.

- Not having to be transported to another hospital - they let my O.B. operate at the old St. Rose

-For being part mutant (I had an extra piece of tissue that the egg stuck to, instead of going to my uterus) so my OB was able to save my tube (which is a HUGE blessing).

- For amazing family members who took care of my kids and me while I was in the hospital and healing up.

- For a clean bill of health, and the okay to try and have more kids.

- To have a little more time with the 4 AMAZING kids I'm already so blessed to have, before a new baby.

- For an amazing reminder that the Lord knows me and is always with me.

4th of July

For the 4th of July, we headed up to my parents house as is tradition to play with the Ashton cousins and watch the fireworks from the back yard.  Aside from worrying about all the wild fires that were burning all over Utah,  we had a great time.  We had our own Ashton Olympics in the backyard. Here's a recap.

Opening Ceremonies, with the official Olympic music while the kids marched around the yard.

Kimball, Jack and Tod we're done with the marching and wanted to get to the events.

Danny was enjoying cage fighting w/ his cousin Paisley... or just playing on the trampoline.

 First Event - Tug o' War.  I'm pretty sure the Olympics should add this to their line up next time.

 Tod's Event - the wall climb.  He's pretty agile for a 2 year old.

Second Event - the Egg on a Spoon Race.  Look at that focus!

Not as focused, but having a great time!

Was that egg supposed to stay on the spoon?

 Next Event - Backward race.  Notice the 2 that are contemplating the rules as my dad is explaining.

Closing Ceremonies.  My 3 champions!  Danny's cheering them on from his fight cage.

The competitors all enjoys the traditional Flag Rice Crispie Treats.  I don't know what my mom does to those rice crispies, but they are the best, and ever so addictive.

 New happiness for Danny... he's mastered the juice pouch.

 Jack's new best friend, his Aunt Abbey, because she has Angry Birds on her phone.

 A great Daddy/Daughter self portrait.

 Love this kiddo and that flag!

We then enjoyed playing in the backyard until it got dark, and then all enjoyed the fireworks that are shot off the hill behind Tod.  So fun!