Officially 5

Hailey finally turned 5! This was a big one! Her b-day fell exactly one week before school started. For months, I've been trying to teach Hailey to blend letter sounds, to read. For months, I've been trying to get her to eat salad. For months I've been trying to get her to..... Anyway, her response became, "When I'm 5, I will know how to_____," or "I will like to eat______ ,"or "I will________!" I dismissed it until I had a conversation with her, when I realized she believed she was going to wake up and magically know how to do these things , or her taste buds would like these things. Then the night before her 5th b-day, she was addamet about sleeping on the floor. She told me, "When you turn 5, your teeth fall out. And tonight I am turning 5. My teeth are gonna pop out and I will loose them, since I sleep on the top bunk . And then I might not find them to put under my pillow for the tooth fairly!" Thank goodness my Mom was visiting and sleeping on an air mattress. Hailey thought that was close enough to the floor. First thing in the morning she felt for missing teeth. She was disappointed none fell out. She search many mornings after to see if she had lost her teeth! Tonight, she told me her teeth are loose. (They really aren't.)

Months ago, Hailey announced that she would not be having a b-day party! Ah, wonderful I thought. Then, Ms. Party Planner explained our family would be going to Disneyland instead, since "she hadn't gone for a while and was forgetting what it looked liked!" So we figured that might be okay, but we wanted to wait until the summer crowds were gone. About a month before her b-day, she decided she wanted to have a Fancy Tea Party Birthday. No problem, I thought, since last year we had a Tea Party B-day. I was ecstatic when there were only 3 friends on the guest list! And even more excited about the activities. We would have her friends over, dress up in fancy princess dresses, put on make-up, paint nail, and then have a tea party. I was thrilled to not plan games! I'll post the pictures on another post!

Pinky, The Dolphin

Pinky The Dolphin, was purchased for Hailey at the beginning of summer. She instantly fell in love with the dolphin. **Side note this is a replica of a dolphin found in the South Sea of China. It actually has a pink tint on it's back from it's blood vessels. This may save you the lecture from Hailey! Head her off! Anyway Pink, is a soft plastic dolphin. She can be found sleeping with Hailey. She can be seem every time we visit the pool. I have been warned NOT to leave her in the car. Here is Pinky trying on some Build-A -Bear clothes. You might think her fin is an issue, but Pinky quite liked it, from what I've been told.

Sweet Boy Jack

Sweet Jack, before his recent hair cut! Doesn't this face melt you?

On a hot day while playing in the kiddie pool, Jack disappeared to the back yard, and then a while later, came back holding a bunch of yellow flowers. He said, "Take these to Teacher Jeannete!" T. Jeanette, was Hailey's pre-k teacher, who he adores! I told him, she was not at school. But he insisted, "Take flowers to CCNS!" (CCNS is the name of Hailey's school.) I explained she was on vacation, and we could e-mail her a picture of the flowers. He thought this was a great idea!

After the quick photos he ran away to jump over the hose! He loves jumping off of, and over things! I caught him mid-air.

"Can I have it? Please?"

On one particular grocery store trip, I was in an extraordinarily good mood, and the children were in nice moods too. Hailey asked for the expensive variety pack, of tiny cereal boxes. Oh, you know the ones! I figured why not? I reminded her how special this was and I would not be buying them for a while. She was so bouncy the entire shopping trip. She nicely asked the checker for her own bag to carry her cereal. I'm not sure why I took these pictures? Maybe to remind her I'm not mean & I do let her buy special things once in a while!

***Hailey had me take 2 pictures, since there are different boxes on each side. Funny girl!

Bye-Bye Summer, Hello School!!!!!

Our summer was pretty quiet, at least until the last two weeks.

We found this train company called the Roaring Rapids Camp. We originally were going to visit Thomas the Tank Engine, but realized it was a rip-off. So instead, Nick planned this fun train ride to Santa Cruz Beach. Jack loves trains so this was really a great treat for him.

On the morning of we were of course, running late. Nick decides to make up time. But the road is twist through the mountain. Hailey gets car sick easily! I kept checking on her, because I was feeling sick. Finally she yells out, I need a bowl. Of course, I didn't bring one, since the trip was only 30 minutes long. So I dump out our trash bin at my feet. The minute she has the bin, Jack makes barfy sounds. No puke! Thank goodness. Maybe sympathy pains? Hailey was so white, I swore she was going to be sick and no fun for the rest of the day. We got there just in time & had her walk around! No throw-up! Yah!

The train ride took us through a red wood forest. So beautiful! We ended up at the beach. The board walk has lots of nice carnival type rides. So after a nice fishy lunch, we spent hours on the rides. Most, Hailey begged to go on, had a terrified look the entire ride, then exclaim what a terrible and scary ride that was. The worst was the ferris wheel. She was thrill and went skipping off with Nick. And after they were locked in and moved up, the non-stop screaming started. Nick said she was begging him to, "Throw me down to Mommy and she can catch me!" It was so sad! The driver stopped the ride and let them off after going around once! And we didn't even get a refund! Anyway, she said, "I won't go again until I'm like 12 years old!"

We also indulged in cotton candy, chocolate dipped marshmallows, and salt water taffy to name a few of our many indulgences. Nick and my Mom tried deep fried Oreo's, and a deep fried Twinkie. They said the Twinkie was great. And Nick knows his fried foods!

We played in the sand before the train left back to Felton. We never had time to fly the kite we bought. Sad, sad! It was a fun and exciting day! Jack fell asleep on the way home!

Look closely at Jack in my lap. He wore his sunglasses the entire day!

My Mom came at the end of summer, so she could be here for Hailey's first days of Kindergarten. She was really a great support. I wasn't all broken up and weepy on the first day! Instead, Hailey was placed in a Kinder-1st grade combo. I was really uneasy about this for many reason! #1 being, she turned 5 on the day of kinder orientation! Well I sat with my feeling a few days and made the switch 2 days into school! I was really sad about leaving the awesome parents and teacher I'd already bonded to. But I knew Hailey's needs and made a good decision! I love this parent participation program at her school. Parents sign an agreement to put in at least 4 hrs a month into the classroom or school. And this is public! So here's to a great year! An YES we love the uniforms! She looks so cute in them!