Love this Guy!

I can't believe this little guy is going to be 3 months on Tuesday.  He is so fun these days.  We can get him to laugh, he is always kicking his legs like he has somewhere to go and he loves splashing in the bath.

Kindergarten!

Ryleigh has been talking about going to kindergarten since her cousin Zachary was in kindergarten which was 3 years ago.  She always talked about riding the bus and couldn't wait.  The day for kindergarten finally came but she doesn't get to ride the bus since she is going to my school.  I thought she would be pretty upset but she is ok with it.  The other day I had a staff meeting after school and she wanted to go home so she asked if she could ride the bus home.  I had to explain that no bus at the school goes by our house.

She is loving it and is so sad that she doesn't get to go every day.  She goes Monday, Tuesday and every other Wednesday.  She loves her teacher, Mrs. Miller.  All of the teachers that have worked with her have stopped me in the hall to tell me how cute and sweet she is.  Hopefully it will be a great year and that she will learn lots.

Last Minute Trip

We decided to take one last trip the weekend before I headed back to work.  We went to Shoshone Falls.  They are doing construction on the dam so a big part of the falls is blocked off.  It wasn't nearly as cool as it usually is but the girls thought it was pretty cool.

After we had a picnic at Shoshone Falls, we headed over to Dierkes Lake to play for the afternoon. 

Bailey was pretty grouchy that afternoon due to no nap so she spent most of the time laying on the towel instead of playing in the lake. 

The girls LOVE going to hotels.  This one had two pools so we spent a lot of time swimming.

Bailey stood in front of this mirror forever watching herself dance.  It was pretty funny. 

Our hotel was pretty close to the Perrine Bridge so we took a walk over to it. 

Ryleigh and Devin even walked over the bridge.  I thought for sure Ryleigh would freak out.  Surprisingly, she didn't.

We also got to go hang out with Devin's friends from college one afternoon.  It was a fun weekend and fun to get away one last time before school started.

No Stopping Her Now

Ryleigh learned how to ride her bike.  She is so speedy now on her big bike.  She wants to ride it all the time.

We took the training wheels and pedals off of her bike so she could learn to balance.  Two weeks later, I took her to the church parking lot to see how she was doing.

I sent her down a little hill and she was able to come down with out using her feet.  She had the balancing down! 

We went back home and Dad put the pedals back on the bike and we headed back to the church parking lot.  She rode it with out hesitation.

The next day we went back to the church parking lot with her bigger bike that her cousin Ashlyn gave her.  She loves how much faster she can go on this bike. 

Capitol Building Tour

My sister-in-law invited us to go tour the Capitol Building with them this weekend.  This is the first time we have visited it.  It was pretty fun.

A high school kid from Nampa is attempting to beat the world record for the largest M&M mosaic.  When completed, it will be 150 square feet and have over 70,000 M&Ms.  The old record is 40,000 M&Ms.  You could smell the chocolate.  It was pretty awesome to see. 

Ryleigh sitting up in the Senate Gallery

and then the House Gallery.

Thanks for the invite, Auntie Ann.  We had a good time.

2 Months Old

Bentley is 2 months old now.  My how time flies.  He had his check up and I think we are going to have an "average" size kid finally!  He weighs 12.2 lbs and is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight.  The girls were either not even on the chart or in the 1st or 2nd percentile.  We have very little girls.

He had 3 shots and was still a pretty happy baby that day.  Look at those smiles.

Every time we lay him on his changing table, he is all smiles.  I don't know what it is but it never fails, every time he gives great big smiles.

We love this little guy and feel like he has always been part of our family.

What a Great Dad!

Ryleigh, Bentley and I were out running errands and came home to see this...

Devin was helping Bailey make a bracelet.

I inherited all of my Grandma's jewelry making items.  The girls love getting them out and making different things.  Bailey had asked me the night before to help her make a bracelet, but we ran out of time before we headed to the drive in.  These girls have him wrapped around their little fingers.

A Weekend in Walla Walla

A couple weeks ago we got to go to Walla Walla for my niece Ashlyn's baptism.  As we were sitting there waiting for it to start, it dawned on me, I was baptized in that same font!

We got to stay the whole weekend so we had time to do other fun things too.  My brother-in-law's co-worker took us out on the river in his boat.

Ryleigh was excited to go out until the boat started up.  She covered her ears and said, "I don't like it, I don't like it.  I want to go back."  Devin got her calmed down enough that they didn't have to bring her back.  There was no way she was going to get on the tube though.  Devin and Uncle Rick took a turn and then Ashlyn was quick to volunteer to go next.  Blake wasn't sure he was ready for it yet.  He wanted to wait until he got used to the water.  He gave in though and had a great time.

So great that he came along on the next ride too.  Bailey had a blast on the boat! 

I so think we need a boat.  It is so much fun.  Look at me go! 

Blake did awesome.  He lasted forever back there. 

Aunt Nicole even braved it! 

Bailey was too little to go on the tube, but she wanted to jump off the back of the boat and play in the river with Uncle Rick.  She was shivering bad but didn't want to get back in the boat.

We also went to Whitman Mission.  Devin likes to look at things under glass, according to Aunt Nicole, so she thought he would enjoy it.

We walked around the Whitman's Settlement and read about or listened to a narration about the history.  There were stones marking out the perimeter of where the buildings were.  The map showed where Dr. Whitman died after he was shot.  Bailey is showing us that spot

and Ryleigh is showing us where Narcissa Whitman died.  She was shot inside and then died right outside the house.

Aunt Nicole, Blake and Devin hiked up the hill to the memorial and the grave site where they buried everyone that died that day while I took the rest of the kids inside the nice air conditioned museum.

It was fun to learn more about the Whitmans.  The thing I found most interesting was that they were warned by the Indians that if they didn't leave, something bad was going to happen.  They didn't want to return home and be looked at as failures so they decided to stay.  Guess they didn't think the "something bad" was going to be death.

Thanks for letting us visit, Aunt Nicole!  Can't wait until next time.

Lizzie and Bentley

Lizzie has always loved lying down by the babies on the floor.  She is no different with Bentley.  I think it is so cute.  She is so gentle around him.

Bentley is a pretty happy baby.

If Bentley ins't using his mat and it gets left on the floor, Miss Thing thinks she can take it over.   

Ryleigh's Gymnastics

When Ryleigh turned 5, she moved up to the next class.  She has found this class to be a lot more challenging based on the fact that it is twice as long and their warm-ups take place around the whole blue mat, or all the way down and back on the blue mat instead of going from their dot to their star. 

 Supergirl-Love her expression

 The bridge

Coach has them somersaulting all the way down and back

as well as cartwheeling all the way down and back.  She has almost mastered her cartwheel!

They are vaulting,

doing different things on the low beam, 

using the low bar for various stunts,

and learning to do a back flip. 

She is doing very well and is learning a lot.  However, she has decided to take a break from it this fall because she is going to be starting soccer.  Devin is going to be coaching her team and she is very excited.  We got her all outfitted this weekend.