Memorial Day

Cari came down Sunday night to spend Memorial Day with us. We had just moved the futon into the girls' room as we're moving things to make room for baby stuff, so the girls were happy to have her sleep in their room with them. Monday morning waking up turned into a tickle fest.

 We had decided to head up the mountain to escape the heat a little, so we got ready--Jacob snapped some hair-doing pictures.

 Even Ryan insisted on having his hair done, so he got some gel and was very pleased with how it turned "spiky!"

 We went up Mt. Lemmon just until the pine trees started, then stopped at a picnic area. We went exploring a little, which the kids always love.

 Then it was back to the picnic table for lunch.

 We headed back down after lunch so Ryan could take a nap and rest up for more fun that afternoon. Justin and Marie and Peyton and McKenzie came over for a BBQ and the kids tried out our new pool that they all loved.

 There was much water being thrown around and getting mostly just Uncle Justin and Aunt Cari wet. Fun times were had by all. Those kiddos know how to entertain.

Afterwards Rachel got her robe on and came out to read in the sun. She is really good at blocking out everything that is happening around her and is totally oblivious to the rest of the world when she's reading.

We topped off the day with a quick Family Home Evening, then everyone went their separate ways and slept really well after a full day with the sun sucking all the energy out of us. We're glad to have family close by to spend time with on holidays (or just whenever, really).

Kindergarten Graduation

Last Wednesday Rachel had her kindergarten graduation. She was in the very back row, third from the right for the songs they performed.

They sang a few songs, then the kids all got their diplomas. Here's Rachel with her teacher, Miss Kirby, receiving her diploma.

After getting their diplomas they sang one more song.
Then we all headed over to her classroom for a "reception" that included cookies and juice and pictures with Miss Kirby and with friends.

Rachel's current BFF, Alora. When Rachel tells you about Alora, however, she'll often say something like, "Yeah, she's my BFF. But I'm trying not to be too much because she's kind of bossy."

Ryan enjoyed the GF oreos I brought, anticipating that there would be treats he couldn't eat. He's good at the cookie goatee.

Rachel and Isabella, another one of her good friends.

Rachel, Alora, Isabella, and Isabel have been the four buddies that hang out together the most this year. But I've been happy to hear from Rachel when she's made sure to invite other kids to play with them, or when Alora just wanted to play with Rachel and no one else, Rachel stood up to her to say that other kids could play, too.

She's done great academically this year. On their report card they get a grade 1-4 on each standard, 1=falling far below, 2=approaching, 3=meets the standard, 4=exceeding the standard. She's gotten 4s on everything all year, except a few standards where they apparently didn't have time to test beyond the standard and just made sure that she could meet the standard. For instance, after the first quarter there was parent/teacher conferences and her teacher told me that she got a 3 on counting by 1s, 5s, and 10s up to 100, which was a standard they should be meeting by the end of the year, and Rachel was already meeting that standard, so she got a 3. Miss Kirby said, "I bet she can count by 2s, too and should probably have a 4, but with 20+ kids to test I didn't have time to check that."
Rachel's been reading like crazy all year, too. She started the year already reading chapter books, and was able to participate (after some pushing on my part) in the Accelerated Reading program to encourage her to push herself a bit. She started at the 2.8 reading level (equivalent of the 8th month of second grade). She loves reading and can spend hours reading after we visit the library. When we came home from kindergarten graduation she opened her bag of stuff she brought home from school for the year (a memory book, writing journal, etc.) and spent an hour looking through her stuff, then reading a book we'd gotten at the library recently.

The next day we went out for dinner to celebrate Rachel's kindergarten graduation and Grandma Knight's retirement from teaching.

It was great year and we're all happy to have it over and be enjoying summer now.  Six more weeks and Rachel will be back at school starting first grade. In the meantime, we've got swim lessons and lots of free time to enjoy.

May at our house

This picture pretty well describes May at our house.

 We have so many tomatoes. The winter never got cold enough to freeze the tomato plants, so our 4 cherry tomato plants are now out of control bushes and we're harvesting 2-3 bowls full every 2 or 3 days. The day I took this picture I set myself a goal to find all the ripe tomatoes. It took me 2 hours, but I did it. And I've tried to keep up with them so I don't have 8 bowls-full to harvest again. Our 2 regular tomato plants that survived the winter are also producing pretty well, getting 1-2 bowl-fulls every few days. I heard that you can freeze tomatoes and when they thaw they just slide right out of their skin to use in sauces, and that sounds a lot easier and more likely to happen than canning them. So we eat or make salsa out of the tomatoes, freeze the extra big ones and give away the extra cherry tomatoes.

Annie fell asleep on the bench while I was making dinner. I woke her up and ended up with a very grumpy kid the rest of the evening. Sometimes a girl just needs her sleep, I guess.

 We've had a dove roosting in the rafters of our porch. She had a couple babies, and within a few days of noticing that they had hatched, they were gone. Less bird poop on the ground beneath their nest now. :)

 The kiddos love wrestling. Even though it inevitably ends with at least one, often more, crying from getting hurt.

Most of May was spent finishing up school for Rachel with all the end of the year fun stuff, and doing swimming lessons with the girls, and hanging out at home. Thankfully May has been rather mild and I actually think April was hotter overall than May has been. The kids have still enjoyed playing in the water outside every chance they get.

 With Ryan's new found freedom from diapers he has become rather fond of removing some or all of his clothing. When he's playing outside I'll often come out and find him naked from the waist down. He'll proudly tell me "Pee on rocks" or "Pee in grass." Way to go. Getting him to get dressed again is quite the battle. And when there's water in the water table it's twice as bad. Then he'll often remove ALL his clothes.

 This day I finally convinced him to put some shorts on telling him they were a swim suit. But as soon as he was done with the water he stripped down and grabbed his towel to go lay on the grass to dry off.

 We really need to get another kiddie pool. Our last one got holes in it, so all the kids have to play with is the water table, which they turn into a pool. They just don't fit that great. :)

Father/Son Campout

Last night was our ward's Father/Son camp out. Jacob took Ryan, but no tent, figuring it would be easier to sleep in the back of the van. It seems his plan was sound and they both slept pretty well.

 Ryan was looking forward to this and kept talking about "Go camping wif Dada!"

 The headlamp is always a hit. Even if it takes up half his face.

 The boys enjoyed some time around the lamp-fire instead of an actual campfire because of the fire restrictions that are up now. Not quite as fun as playing with fire, but better than staying home.

And in the morning they enjoyed some breakfast before heading back to join the girls at home.

 In the meantime, while the boys were out "camping" (if you can call no tent and no fire camping), the girls were at home having a fun girls' night of gluten. Since Ryan was diagnosed with Celiac Disease last summer our occasional takeout pizzas that we would have when Jacob stayed late at work or on the occasional lunch treat were done away with, since he was always with us and had to have gluten-free something to eat. So with the boys gone we indulged and got a pizza to eat in the backyard. (I still don't like to bring it in the house since even a small crumb can hook on to any food Ryan might drop on the ground, then pick up and eat, and a tiny bit is enough to send his tummy into "get rid of gluten as fast as I can" mode--ie. diarrhea.)

We also had a movie night and some peach milkshakes to top off the night of fun.

And this morning the girls got to get up and turn on My Little Ponies and watch as many episodes as they could fit in before I woke up. It was lovely to sleep in. Then we headed out and had one last gluten treat: donuts for breakfast.

It was a fun weekend for both the girls and the boys.

Potty time

Lots of potty talk here. Feel free to skip it as I'm documenting the down and dirty for posterity. :)

A week ago Monday (so almost two weeks now) Ryan called to me from the bathroom saying, "Go potty, Mama!" I went in and helped him take off his diaper, and sure enough he sat down and went pee. He's been using the potty off and on when the whim hits him or when we change his diaper and suggest he tries sitting on the potty for a minute, and almost every time he's sat on the potty he has been able to pee. But this was the first time he requested it with his diaper on and actually obviously needed to pee. I left his diaper off and in the next half hour he ran into the bathroom saying "I'm poopin'!" and sat on the potty 3 or 4 times before he actually did go poo. In the potty.

I started potty training Rachel too early and it felt like we were potty training FOREVER. But she was pretty well potty trained by the time she was 22 months. With Annie I vowed to wait longer. And I did, but when she turned 2 she had already had two different episodes of a full week where I didn't have to change any poopy diapers because she would come tell me beforehand that she had to poo, then she'd sit on the potty and do her business. I had planned on waiting until Christmas break when Jake would be home to help with Ryan while I focused on potty training Annie. But after the second week of no poopy diapers to change I thought I'd better at least try it just so I could feel good about waiting another couple months. We started Monday and by Wednesday she was doing pretty darn good, and by the end of the week she was mostly potty trained. At 24 months old.

I had heard that boys generally potty trained later than girls and were harder, so I wasn't in any rush. I thought I'd wait until we were settled in with the new baby, then take care of potty training when Ryan was 2 1/2 or older. Until that fateful Monday. I figured that the signs were there and I might as well try, but our week was pretty full, so I waited until Friday when we could be home the whole day to have our official potty day. During the week I let Ryan go diaper-less for a few hours at a time when we were home and he was really good at not having accidents, especially when he was bare-bottomed. Then Friday we watched potty movies, drank lots of juice and used the potty a lot with one nakey accident, and one accident with undies on. Not bad. He of course still sleeps in his "sleep diaper" but for the last week he's only had a handful of accidents and is really pretty amazing. The girls had to have really loose shorts or skirts with no undies on for them to remember to pee for the first month or two, but Ryan wears his undies all the time now and rarely has accidents--like less than one a day.

There are a couple of bonuses to this potty training business. Ryan makes me laugh every time he has to pee. He gasps then yells "I'm poopin'!" So I tell him to hurry to the potty and he says "Okaaaay!" with a big smile on his face and runs to the bathroom. He doesn't quite get the difference between pee and poo. Jake mentioned the other day that this probably will lead to a great sacrament meeting story for us one of these weeks. Can't wait. I'm not sure anything can top Annie's yelling right during the quiet part of the sacrament, "No, I can't wait! I have to go diarrhea NOW!" But I look forward to having Ryan announce for everyone to hear, "I'm poopin'!"

The other thing I'm loving is seeing his cute little bum waddling around in his undies. It's just really cute. I've lost count of how many times I've had to grab some shorts and run after him down the sidewalk as he runs away from me in his undies. He thinks he's hilarious. And he is. I just commented yesterday how lucky I am that at least he has his undies on and isn't streaking in front of our neighbors. Then I came outside today when we were unloading the car from the Father/Son campout they went on last night to find Ryan with his pants and undies around his ankles as he looked at me and proudly announced, "I go pee!" Right in our driveway for the whole world to see. :) Maybe I shouldn't have taught him that it was okay to pee on the rocks at the park the other day when there was no bathroom nearby....

Last weekend

Last Friday Rachel's school had a community fair with lots of inflatable toys (jumping castles, obstacle course, slide, etc.), games where they could earn points towards prizes, and food. We went and the kids had a blast eating Eegees and visiting the different games/attractions.

 There was a hair coloring station where they could choose what color they wanted sprayed in their hair. Rachel got green on one side, orange on the other, Ryan got a skunk stripe of orange, and Annie got orange around the crown of her head. Unfortunately our kids' hair is super fine and super blond and absorbs hair coloring really well. Annie has had her hair shampooed and shampooed and a week later the back is still as orange as ever and likely will be until it grows out. At least the top came out okay. Ryan's scalp has a couple orange spots, but those should be gone sooner than Annie's hair since skin regenerates faster.

Annie's favorite was the obstacle course. After several times through I finally convinced her we should go join the rest of the family at the playground where Ryan had been playing for 15ish minutes and Rachel for a little less.

 We didn't get pictures doing anything else at the school fair, but a fun time was had by all.

Sunday Cari drove down to join us for dinner and stay over night. She recently moved to Mesa to start a job with Anasazi. We (especially the kids) are excited to have her close by. 2 hours is way better than 18 hours away in Rexburg.

 The kids did some coloring and cutting with Cari.

 Then when it was time for bed they wanted to sleep next to her. When Ryan saw Annie and Rachel laying on the ground in the playroom, he went and found a pillow and his blanky and planted himself between the girls. We let them lay there for a little while, then put Ryan in his crib to sleep and let the girls attempt to sleep on the floor. After a good long while Annie finally fell asleep, but Rachel never could and ended up sleeping in her own bed with the promise that next time Cari would sleep on a mattress in the girls room so they could sleep close to her. Apparently it's important to be close to one of your favorite people when you're unconscious.

The next morning Cari stuck around until after Rachel got home from kindergarten so we could all eat lunch together before heading back up to Mesa. That was probably the easiest parting from Cari that we've had ever--no tears at all because they know they'll see her again soon since she lives close by now.

And the last bit of excitement from last week is that our lawn is finally coming in thick enough and tall enough to require mowing. I've done spot weed whacking up until now as needed, but the whole lawn was in need and I finally remembered to fill up the gas can a few weeks ago, so Jake whipped out the lawn mower and went to work. Ryan loves the vacuum and anything that sounds like it, so he was in heaven watching the lawn mower at work.

Ever since then he asks if Dad can mow the lawn every time he sees the lawn mower in the garage, and just whenever it crosses his mind. At least 3 times a day. The lawn had come in nice and green when we originally planted it last August/September, but then the heat killed it and we replanted in October/November. It came in slowly the second time, then in January/February we started watering a little more and the temperatures were ideal for this type of grass to grow, so it started coming in nicely. It's supposed to be able to survive hot temps once it's well established, and is made to be green all the way down to the 20s or 30s, so ideally we'll have a green lawn year round. And in the fall when it cools down a bit again we'll over seed the spots that are looking a little sparse at the moment. But for now we're enjoying our lovely back yard. Especially watching Daddy mow the lawn.

Air Show

(Posted by Jacob, hijacking Colette's account)
Two weeks ago we went to the Air Show on a Saturday. It comes to Tucson every other year (alternating with Phoenix).  We got to go inside a C-130.  In the picture below Annie and Ryan are hanging out under the C-130's wing.

Here we all are right before we went inside.

Here we are in the cockpit.  Rachel is the pilot and Ryan and I are handling co-pilot duties.

Here's a shot of all of us inside the cockpit of the C-130.

In this picture, Annie and I are standing behind a Predator Drone.  This is an unmanned aircraft that drops bombs and shoots missiles at terrorists.  We weren't allowed to touch it.

The next aircraft we got to climb into was an HH-60G Pave Hawk.  This is a rescue helicopter. Here's a shot of Annie manning the machine gun.

The kiddos in the cockpit of the HH-60

Here's Ryan checking his instruments.

Here's a look at the HH-60 from the front.  It's a big helicopter.

Here's a shot of Rachel trying on the pilot's helmet.

The kiddos also got to climb around in some kind of ATV.

The last aircraft that we got to climb around in was a Black Hawk helicopter used by the Border Patrol.

The Thunderbirds were scheduled to perform at 2pm.  So we bought the kids some frozen lemonade and headed back to our van to watch the show and then make a quick getaway.  On the way to the van I had Colette take a picture of me in front of the B-52.

And in front of the B-1.

We waited by the van for about 40 minutes, but we didn't see the Thunderbirds and decided to call it a day.  We later learned that the performance was canceled due to excessive wind.

All in all it was a fun Saturday for everyone.