Something is Missing...

Tyler lost his first tooth! He had a loose tooth for about two weeks and this past Friday it was REALLY loose in his mouth. We asked him if we could pull it out before school, but he was a bit nervous and said if it came out he would just give it to his teacher. Ooh...lucky Mrs. Brawley. When we picked him up on Friday it was barely hanging on, so we decided to try and pull it out before we ate lunch at Olive Garden. Tyler successfully helped pull out his own tooth.

When Jenn was little she made a bag for the tooth fairy and Grandma Karla still had the bag. She still had teeth in it too...which was...interesting. We borrowed just the bag. Practically an antique. It was made in 1983. Tyler put his tooth in the bag and was visited by the tooth fairy.

Here's our big guy with a little something missing

A Bowling Birthday!

One of Tyler's best friends, Lucas, had his birthday party last weekend at the bowling alley. The kids haven't had a lot of experience with bowling...other than the Wii bowling...and it was interesting to see how it was going to work out. But, cute shoes aside, it was a success! Tyler caught on to it pretty quickly and even got a few strikes. Way to go buddy! Lucy was into dancing with her bowling shoes on! She's so funny.
The bowling alley had this cool contraption to help the little kids bowl. Lucy tried on her own a few times and actually got a strike with the slowest moving bowling ball EVER and then started to use this thing. Lucas' cousin was very helpful with all the little kids.
Tyler and Lucas...the birthday boy

She was willing it to roll down the alley
We had so much fun wishing Lucas a happy 6th birthday!

Kindergarten Field Trip to the Zoo and Fairytale Town

This past Friday was Tyler's first field trip...and Mommy's too. Well, Tyler and Jenn had gone on a field trip with Busy Bees Preschool, but this was the real deal. Tyler got to ride a bus with his group of friends, siblings could not go along, and Jenn had to be an actual chaperone to other kids. It was the real (stressful) deal...and both of us were excited.

Tyler was VERY excited to find out that his group consisted of himself, Lucas, and his new friend Preston. They were three peas in a pod. We were going to hang out with another group that had Bobby, Gavin, and our neighbor Sophia. Here they are getting ready to get on the BIG school bus.

Tyler, Lucas, and Preston...with Sophia peeking in there
The first half of the field trip consisted of going to the Sacramento Zoo and doing a scavenger hunt to find animals with certain traits. We did that and saw lots and lots of cool animals. We even saw a baby tiger. The kids kept finding all of these picture spots and wanting to be photographed. Here's Spider-Tyler being silly.

Our gang stopped to pose in front of the lion's den. It might be one of the only times they stopped...
Oh wait, here's another time...but it was hard to catch them! These kids were very eager to check out all the animals. They had a map of the zoo and they would open the map, find where we were, and then find where they wanted to go and get us there. Probably got us there even better than Jenn could have!

My little monkeys in front of the monkey! The kids were enthralled with the monkeys. I couldn't really take a picture because the monkeys are behind glass and it wouldn't turn out. The kids thought it was neat that they were swinging all over from ropes and lounging in hammocks. They were also very amused by the pink butts that some of the monkeys had. It brough on a whole new topic of conversation. After reading the sign, quietly, we learned that the pink wasn't so much their butts...but more a female's way of saying she was ready for baby making. Um...we just let the kids keep thinking it was a pink butt. That conversation would have overstepped the bounds of chaperoning...

The otters were pretty neat. We caught them at feeding time.
The second half of the field trip (after some lunch to refuel) we took the kids to Fairytale Town. Wow...that was exhausting. Those kids wanted to run everywhere...and in all different directions. Here we caught three of them in the cheese.

The kings and queen of Mrs. Brawley's kindergarten class!

The field trip was a lot of fun! It was quite an experience to see Tyler with his new friends and for Jenn to meet some new moms. We were exhausted and overwhelmed at times, but also very excited to see our children in this element. Next time, though, we might let some other moms experience the "joy". You know, to teach our children about the art of sharing!

Soccer Season 2.0

The soccer season has started again! Zach and Jenn are coaching the Panthers and they've got a GREAT team. Four kids from the previous team are back (Tyler, Lucas, Ava, and Jillian), four neighbors and classmates are on the team, and one t-ball teammate is on the team...so we know almost everyone. The Panthers finally had their first game on September 11th and really came together as a team. The kids did awesome...and the coaches couldn't have been more proud!

Tyler scored one of his four goals right here!

Gettin' some love from Daddy...I mean, Coach Zach

Roller Derby!

This past month Lucy told me that she wanted rollerskates for her birthday. I told her that we could go rollerskating at this place where I used to go as a kid. You know...these ancient ruins. We called Grandma Karla and asked her to join our adventure and we went to Sunrise Rollerland. That place (and some of the skates...as modeled by Lucy) haven't changed a bit. It was a real blast from the past! Here are the kids modeling their skates. We changed the skates to have tight wheels so that the kids had more control and could "walk" on the rink. Lucy did really well for her first time.
Tyler just took off on his own and did such a good job. I was really proud of him!The skates were about the only thing that has been upgraded at Sunrise Rollerland
Grandma Karla rocked it on the roller rink. The kids had fun skating with her!With my knee I probably skated as well as the kids, but we'll do better next time! And there will be a next time. Both kids have already asked when we can go again.

It is fun to get out and do new/old things with the kids! We will definitely try roller skating again. And, hey, maybe Lucy will even get those skates she asked for for her birthday.

One Proud Mama

At this point it's a toss up over who likes kindergarten more...Tyler or Mom. Doing homework is still fun and talking about school produces more than grunts and "nothings". Mom LOVES to get the Friday folders and go through them and find out what's coming up next at school. Tyler enjoys handing off the Friday folders and letting Mom deal with them.

Tyler's first homework assignment was to go around the kitchen and find objects that are the colors listed on the sheet. We sat down and started the project and Tyler thought it was fitting to write the "red" item in red pen and so on. Pretty smart, eh? He also found a plum for purple and figured out how to spell plum all on his own, so at the bottom where it asked for notes I wrote those things down. The teacher needs to know that Tyler thought of the cool color idea and it wasn't his neurotic mom that had him do that. So, I was VERY proud when the homework was returned and Mrs. Brawley had written WOW! at the top of the paper. That's how I feel most days about Tyler too. WOW!

And She's Off...

Lucy never fails to amaze me. When she wants something she just goes for it and does it. Her brother can ride a bike, so she wants to ride a bike. She walked up to Zach in the garage and asked him to take her training wheels off and she rode off. Not that easily, but pretty much. We walked the bike down to the park and Jenn held her seat for one second and she had it all figured out. Our hearts swelled with pride. Even Tyler's. It seems like quite the feat for our not-quite -4-year old.

Aw...Such Sweet Love

There's no story behind this...just a precious moment between siblings.

New Hairdo

Lucy is a girl who knows what she wants. She told us she wanted to cut her hair to her shoulders, so we made the appointment and she followed through. Her hair tends to tangle easily and can be difficult to deal with in the morning, so Mom was okay with trying a shorter style. We thought Dad would be the problem, but he was all for it. It turned out pretty cute.

My Lil' Ballerina

Lucy has been asking to do dance for months now and we finally found a class time that worked for our INSANE schedule. We signed her up at Tricks and she has class with two of her friends...Brook and Kira. She is enjoying the class so much and it is fun to watch her shine. The girls learn dance moves and play dress up at the same time. They get to wear tiaras, sparkly skirts, and beaded necklaces. It's one of the cutest things EVER. Here Lucy is posting for some pictures before class.Isn't she precious? We hope she continues to love dancing because she looks so cute in the leotard. :)