Biking, School and Family

So much to catch up on so I'm going to start with the rest of August.  The end of August meant the beginning of school.  Madeleine started kindergarten at North Glendale and Hadley went back to KECC to start in the Duck room.  The school year is off to a good start for both girls.  Madeleine is really becoming more independent now that she is a kindergartner.  She loves playing outside by herself and is working on her kindergarten spelling.  Hadley is really enjoying being a duck.  I also signed up to be the co-president of the KECC PTO.  It is been a lot of work so far but will hopefully slow down now until after Christmas.   Tommy is busy busy busy.  He loves to climb and run.  He has quite the scream when he doesn't get his way.  It is so fun to see him interacting with the girls and playing more and more.  He also loves to be outside and has started bringing his jacket to you and then going to the front door.

We also got to enjoy a brief visit from Amy and Seth at the end of the month.  They stayed with us while in town for a friend's wedding.  We spent a fun Saturday with them going to the Botanical Gardens and to lunch on the Hill.

Amy and Madeleine at the Botanical Gardens

Hadley at the entrance to the Children's Garden... more playground than garden

Concentrating on walking down the rope ladder

Tommy and Madeleine splashing in the water

Hadley decided to try and take a shower in the water area

These sheep are always a favorite picture taking spot

Hadley and Seth being silly

Madeleine's First Day of Kindergarten 

Madeleine started to get a little nervous at this point and I started to get nervous  that I wouldn't be able to hold the tears in

Saying good-bye to Madeleine by her classroom.   Now she says good-bye to Jim at the crossing guard... already becoming such a big girl

Hadley and one of her teachers on her first day in the Duck room.

Madeleine and me on a Grant's trail bike ride

Waiting at the intersection... looks like they are about to do a family cheer

Hopefully, I will have a chance to share some of our September fun soon.

Camping on the Jack's Fork

We had planned a camping trip for the 2nd weekend of August not knowing it would basically be the first weekend in the summer that was not over a 100 degrees.  Finally, we lucked out with great camping weather with sunny, mild days and cool nights.  Jim, Hadley, Tommy and his mom headed down on Friday last weekend. Madeleine and I stayed back so she could do her swimming lesson Saturday morning.  Then we headed down with Butch on Saturday.  The campsite was very remote and there was no one around!   The Jack's Fork is a great river and the kids really enjoyed playing it. 

Tommy hanging out on the river

Getting ready to float... the princess innertube is a great way to experience the river :)

The river was very slow moving... in the kayak I actually floated upstream

Hadley practicing her paddling skills

The big flashlight from Todd is a lot of fun... and it can be used to scare away raccoons later at night

Enjoying a Sunday morning PJ walk

Hadley likes to find the biggest possible rocks to throw in

Tommy napped outdoors while we packed up

July Photos

Here are some photos of our July fun

Madeleine, Hadley and I enjoyed a Cardinals game... game time temp was 106!  But we stayed for the whole game and had a great time.

One Sunday we packed up and headed down to the Current River.    We had a great spot for a picnic lunch.

Tommy enjoying the water

The girls loved floating down the river in their inner-tubes.

Jim had to had this kid's kayak.  Trying it out the night before we left for the lake.  I must say it was a big hit and very fun to paddle around.  All the kids loved it.

Tommy's first dip in the lake.

Dock jumping was definitely the favorite activity.   Hadley said she wasn't going to do it until she was 6 but then spent the whole time jumping off the dock and boat.  

Tommy's swim spot on the dock

Go Karts - Hadley enjoyed going fast with Daddy

Madeleine opted for a slower ride with Tanya

Madeleine showing off her jumping skills

Tommy swimming off the back of the boat

Madeleine jumping off the side of the boat.  Amazing how she started the summer not wanting to put her head underwater.

Swimming was a great way to beat the 100+ heat

Jumping is fun in the inner-tubes too

Uncle Dave and Butch's new toy

Birthdays

July is birthday month for us.  First party was a gymnastics party for Madeleine to celebrate her 5th birthday with her friends.  When we arrived they told us the air wasn't working well and did we want to reschedule.  It was over 100 degress outside so it was a little toasty inside. Hard to reschedule though when you have one very excited birthday girl and 12 kids about to arrive in 5 minutes.  The kids had a great time though and didn't seem to mind the heat.  Madeleine has grown up so much in the last year.  She is a great big sister and always looking out for Hadley and Tommy.  She loves to dance and tumble.  She just learned how to do a flip on the playground bar and to do the monkey bars.  She also is learning how to swim and can do a little by herself.  She has really taken to going underwater this summer.  Hard to believe she is already 5 and about to start kindergarten.

Party 2 was the following day to celebrate both Madeleine and Tommy's birthdays with the family.  The outside bbq got moved inside in the 105 degree weather.  We had a pirate theme as Madeleine is really into pirates right now. Tommy seemed to like the pirate hats too.  We did a quick treasure hunt with the kids outside. Tommy spent the party walking all over the place.  He wasn't too into the presents but loved his cupcake.  He had icing everywhere.  Tommy is very mobile these days and into everything.  It is becoming clear to us that all the babyproofing we didn't do with the girls we will need to do with Tommy.   Just tonight he opened the built in cabinet in the dining room where I have all my glass pitchers and vases stored while I was putting away dishes.  I heard glass clinking and caught him just in time as he was lifting out a vase.  His sisters can really get him to laugh.  He has a few "words" but still no "mama" or anything even remotely close.  He also has started screaming at the top of his lungs when he wants something.  We got to work on that!

Madeleine's actual birthday she wanted to spend by riding her new tagalong bike.  So we loaded up early and headed out to the Katy Trail.   With Madeleine graduated to the tagalong, Tommy took her spot on the big bike with Jim and Hadley.  It was a great time and we are looking forward to many more family bike rides.  We also went to the pool for a little while.  Almost all the fireworks were canceled this year due to the drought and high temps so had to tell Madeleine no fireworks for her this year.

Here are pics from all the festivities.

The Birthday kids last year!

Madeleine picked out a very festive leotard for gymnastics this summer... also worked well for her party.

Starting off with some stretching

Madeleine and Hadley on the balance beam

At the end Madeleine got to award each friend a medal

Can't see too well but these were the cake pops Madeleine requested.  She told me she wanted pink with purple ruffles.

Tommy trying to stay cool at the party

Tommy carrying around a balloon before his party. This cracked me up because Madeleine carried around her one year old balloon for weeks after her first birthday.

The birthday kids watching some tv while anxiously awaiting the party.  You can't tell in the picture but Tommy was actually dancing to the music.  

Tommy's new favorite game... hide under the bed or the table.

Madeleine the pirate

Hadley the pirate

And the littlest pirate Tommy

Getting ready to treasure hunt

Treasure found...

Tommy wasn't very excited about going in the high chair for everyone to sing to him.

Madeleine was excited... probably because she knew the cupcakes were next.

Once Tommy had the cupcake he was happy.

Tommy and Jim

Tommy's birthday present that Jim picked out... not exactly sure it was for Tommy.

The birthday boy on his actual birthday.