1st Day of School

Wow, I can't believe summer is over and school has already begun. Drew is so excited to be in 1st grade this year. He has a great teacher that we are hoping helps him become an even better student this year. Reading is not his favorite thing right now.

Kylee started preschool a few days after the boys, and boy was she so excited. She has been waiting all summer for this day. She chose last year to go to a different preschool and goes 2 days a week for 2 hours. Her preschool is with a lady and her daughter in our stake. We are hoping to sign her up for some dance classes on one of her off days.

Bryce started preschool over at Playa in the GPS preschool program. We love the preschool teacher there, and so grateful he was able to go there. We can't wait for his speech to improve in leaps and bounds this year. He goes to school Monday thru Thursday for 2 1/2 hours a day. He looks forward to riding the bus everyday.

Bryce Turns 3!

On August 4th, Bryce turned 3. He doesn't quite understand what the meaning of a birthday, but he was quite excited to blow out candles and open presents. Bryce has made lots of improvements this year. His speech is coming a long and just starting to use more phrases, rather than singles words. He can count to 10 now with a stumble usually on 7, and he know most of his basic shapes. His colors are a hit and miss, but I am sure he will have those down by the end of the year. He graduated from his speech therapist and is now in the preschool program at our neighborhood school. He looks forward to riding the bus each day. Bryce still loves trains but getting more into trucks, motorcycles, and airplanes. Of course he is my early riser, 6 AM lately, but I make him sit on the couch and find something to play with while the rest of the house sleeps. I love listening to him sing or make noises for his trucks. Bryce has definitely been our most challenging child, but we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Stats:

33.6 lbs (70%)

39 1/4 in (88%)

July 2013

For the 4th of July, we went to the DeCampos house to celebrate. We had a BBQ and swam. Afterwards, we went and saw fireworks at our favorite spot in south Gilbert. Our kids just aren't into fireworks. We might not go again until they can sit and be quiet during the whole thing. It doesn't help that it is hot. The middle of July we said goodbye to the Hansen family. They went back to North Carolina. We had so much fun hanging out with them this summer.

We went to the cabin up in Forest Lakes the end of June. The kids had so much fun and had been begging us all month to go again so we went once more the end of July. The kids loved going on rides with Dad and drawing/writing in the notebooks I got them for entertainment. June was pretty hot but July was absolutely gorgeous. We are so lucky to have family that has a cabin that we can go and get away from the heat and hustle and bustle of life.

And then to end summer, the kids had their last class of Creepy Crawler. Their teacher had a guy come in with all kinds of reptiles. They loved seeing the snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. This is Bryce petting the huge snake that weighed 160 lbs and took the length of 2 big tables. We were so sad to end this class, but so happy to start school the next week!

June 2013

The summer started off with a bang with swim lessons. We decided to do classes through the City of Chandler because I was not impressed with Gilbert. I am so glad we did because both kids had awesome teachers and did great. We are hoping next year Drew can be swimming and Kylee getting close. I didn't take any pictures except for Bryce playing in the kiddie area during lessons. He had fun once he got over his fear of the play area.

 Just after swim lessons, Drew and Kylee started a class called Creepy Crawlers. They absolutely loved going each week and learning about different reptiles and bugs. It lasted all through summer and was a great break for them. Then the Hansen cousins came into town. We hung out with them and the other cousins a lot.

Ryan and I celebrated anniversary #11. We just went out to dinner and saw a movie. Nothing big. Ryan got me these beautiful flowers, and our gift to each other was a new driver side mirror for our van. It broke and I got mad at it one day and cracked it. :) So it needed to be replaced but man, those things are expensive. To justify spending the money, we said it was our anniversary gift.

We also saw Monster's University and Despicable Me 2. My kids got scared during Monsters. Drew had nightmares, but they all loved Despicable Me. Here we are getting ready to see Despicable Me 2.

May 2013

Well, April came and went. We didn't really do much except celebrate Easter. I always like to keep it low-key to help my kids remember the true meaning of Easter. So of course, no pictures. Then May came and hit us. May is always a crazy month. Thank goodness I was finally getting energy and actually doing more than just laying on the couch. Drew had a great kindergarten year and is so excited for 1st grade. Kylee loved going to her first year of preschool and can't wait to continue in August with different teacher.

 Last day of school party

 Drew and Mrs. Vincent

 Kylee went to lunch with me for my birthday. She loves to pose like this.

Kylee's preschool graduation.

It's A.....

GIRL!! As you can tell, Kylee was more than thrilled. Drew has happy too, because in his own words, "Kylee needs a sister because I already have a brother." I love my kids!