Catch up - WARNING! LONG POST!

It is summer time! I think we'll be spending a lot of time doing this!



It's been awhile since I really updated what's going on around here. Most of you who actually read this pretty much know what we've been up to, but for journaling purposes, here's our catch up:

Husband and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on June 7th. Hooray! Since Husband is working a ridiculous schedule this month, he had no days off the weekend before or after our anniversary. So we celebrated Memorial Day Weekend. Grandma took the kids Friday night and we went up to the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City. It was heaven! We ate in the fancy Giltetrind restaurant. It was delicious! Aaron loved the cheese appetizer and his chocolate-peanut-butter-banana brulee. I really enjoyed the chocolate decadence, complete with raspberries. The room was very nice, and we ordered room service for breakfast, which was perfect. Probably the most money we have ever or will ever spend on breakfast, but totally worth it. We realized that we haven't gone away together since before big sister was born, so a getaway was much needed. On Saturday, we hit the outlet mall in Park City, went to lunch at The Garden in SLC, and then went to watch Iron Man 2. It was absolutely wonderful to be alone together for awhile!


Big sister finished up kindergarten with a little nursery rhyme program at school. She recited "Peas Porridge Hot". She did an excellent job, speaking clearly and at the perfect volume. There was even inflection in her voice. She did great! She is way excited to be going into 1st grade in the fall. She is loving her summer vacation. She is practicing her reading every day and is also learning to play the piano, which she is enjoying.
Big sister also had her ballet recital this past weekend. she was beautiful! She remembered all her steps, and was even with the beat of the music most of the time. That is awesome for a 6-year-old! She was mainly distinguishable from the other girls by the fact that she has a farmer tan and is much darker than the other girls. She has inherited husbands/my ability to tan very easily! She loved her costume, but I was a bit ticked that this tiny piece of material cost me $50. Especially after I found out that they bought from a cheaper company this year, but still charged their standard for the costumes. So they made an extra $30 off of me by charging me for this flimsy little costume. Compared to last year's costume, it's downright pathetic. I must say I was also less impressed with the 2 1/2 hour program length, and big sister found it very boring to be back stage for that long. We actually left at the 2 hour mark, but we got there a half-hour early. They still had at least 30 minutes left on the program by the time we left. Ridiculous. We are going to a different place in the fall, which I think will be better for her. It's closer, cheaper, and all her friends from the neighborhood already go. She'll also learn more than just ballet, which I'm excited about.


Little sister got glasses! We didn't think it was possible for her to get any cuter, but the glasses are downright adorable on her. She is very good about wearing them, probably because big sister wears them and big sister is about as cool as it gets. Her vision isn't that bad, but she has an astigmatism which could make her develop lazy eye if she doesn't wear corrective lenses. She is still loving preschool. She gets excited to "see Miss Kelly? Ride the bus?" Her speech is already improving, and that is exciting for her parents! She did get left on the bus a couple weeks ago. The sub bus driver had been given Thursday's schedule instead of Wednesday's, and little sister doesn't go on Thursday's. So they picked her up from home fine, and she got on the bus to come home fine, but she did not get dropped off. I tried not to panic when she was 20 minutes late, and just called the bus shed. The driver had already gone to the next school and was just walking the bus to check and make sure nobody was on it when I called. The driver had to drop all the other kids off before bringing my baby back to me. She was on the bus an extra 45 minutes. The driver was (of course) very apologetic. She was just beside herself that she'd forgotten to bring her home. We were very understanding that it was just a mistake. What do you do if you're given the wrong schedule? And our girl is so tiny and quiet, you wouldn't notice her if she wasn't on your list. Mistakes happen, and we are all human. I was mainly irritated that the guy at the bus shed tried to tell me that she got left on the bus 'cuz she'd fallen asleep. It became clear very quickly that she had not fallen asleep at all. And even if she had fallen asleep, what does that have to do with the price of eggs? She's 3! She doesn't get off at a stop, you bring her to my house! If she'd been asleep, I would have had to come on the bus and pick her up. The issue was that the driver totally skipped coming to the house. The driver owned up to her mistake, was visibly upset that she'd made the mistake, and apologized over and over. I appreciated that - it showed that she does care about my little girl! But the guy at the bus shed tried to blame it on the 3-year-old. Lame. Little sister was not affected at all. She was thrilled that she'd gotten a long bus ride.

This little guy is now walking around the furniture. He can stand, but I have to trick him into it. If he recognizes that he's standing on his own, he gets MAD. I am in no rush to have him walk - he is into everything as it is! He has gone back to sleeping in the infant car seat. He was waking up 5-6 times at night, and not really waking up, just crying in his sleep. I think it's 'cuz he likes feeling cuddled. So we put him back in his car seat (the baby one, not the forward-facing one.) He's still waking up, but only once and it's usually because he's hungry. So we feed him a bottle and he goes back to sleep. He's such a little chunk! He is constantly hungry, all day long. But usually has this same little grin on his face!

On June 11th, my grandfather passed away. He was 89, and had lived in assisted living or a nursing home for 9+ years, so it was not a shock. It is nice that his trial in this life is over. His funeral was beautiful. Each of his children gave a short tribute, and all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren sang. It was SO good to have everyone all together! We take up a lot of space. It was funny to see all my cousins' children walking around, and feeling like I was seeing miniature versions of my cousins all over again! I am blessed to come from such wonderful family. It was funny to hear some of the stories that I'd never heard before. He was a man who didn't speak much, but you never doubted his love. He loved to tease, loved to watch sports. Apparently yelling at the tv during any sports game is genetic, since my own father does that, too! There was a color guard for my grandfather, who served in World War 2 under General Patton, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. 2 soldiers saluted him as we passed through 2 flags on the entrance to the cemetery lawn, and a 3rd played taps on a bugle. They folded the flag that had been draped on his coffin and presented it to my grandmother. It was a perfect tribute. I miss grandpa, and his teasing. Someday I will see him again, and I'm sure he will do plenty of teasing!