A Rough Morning

This morning was rough for Katelynn. She refused to go to school. When it was time to leave I went out to get the other two kids into the car. She started crying, screaming and climbed up onto her bunk bed. It took some effort to get her down and into the car. After we got to the school I was out at the car with her for about 15 minutes, then finally carried her into the front office, since by this point school had already started. She cried for another 10-15 minutes in the office, then the principal took us into her office. She talked with Katelynn, tried to get her to calm down, and asked her why she didn't want to go to class. Katelynn kept saying she was scared and wanted to stay with me. After a while the principal was able to convince Katelynn to go, and she took her to class.

When I was out at the car with Katelynn I saw a friend of mine who had just dropped off her kids.  As she was driving away she mouthed, "Good luck!", and gave me an encouraging smile. After I left the school I sent her a text telling her that we had just barely gotten Katelynn into class. She texted back that she'd wanted to help, but didn't want to intrude. Then she said that as she was walking she saw the other two kids and said, "Hey, Michael. Have a good day!" He said, "No, it's going to be a GREAT day!" and gave her a big smile. That totally cracked me up. At least one of the kids will be having a good day at school today, right?!

The Faith of a Child...

"I'm getting older now, so I can do jobs around the house. I want to get the house all cleaned up so that Jesus can come and hug us. He can come and hug us at night when we're asleep. So, He will come and turn off His light, then come in and hug us. He'll have to turn off His light, because if He didn't we would see the light and wake up and say, 'Whoa! It's Jesus!' So, He'll have to turn off His light before He comes in to hug us. Do you think he can do that? Of course He can..."

- Katelynn

The Pit

At the kids' school they have a environmental habitat thing and the kids call it "the pit". They wanted to show it to us, so we walked over there one day.

Red, White & Blue

Last Friday the kids' school held a "Walk of Honor" for the 9/11 Anniversary to celebrate local heroes- firemen, police, EMTs, and military. They asked the kids to dress up in red, white and blue that day. It's been a while since I have dressed all three of them matching, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to snap a few photos with them in their patriotic clothes. I think these photos depict their different personalities pretty well!

Puddle Play

We had a couple of days last week with a decent amount of rain. One night we let the kids play in the puddles, since that is a rare opportunity here in Phoenix!

Matinee

This week Harkins was showing some free movies to celebrate their anniversary. So, on Monday we took the kids to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. After the show the kids wanted us to take some pictures of them outside the theater.

On Thursday Scott & I were able to go on a date to see Larry Crowne. 

Riding Two-Wheelers!

Now I have three kids who can all ride two-wheel bikes! Katelynn and Emma really got it down when we were up in Oregon visiting Scott's family. But, Michael showed no interest. Here are some pictures of the girls riding in Oregon.

Just in the last week or so Michael has gotten the hang of it. Now they love to be outside in the front riding their bikes! I'm glad we live at the end of the street and that the street doesn't really go anywhere, because then they can ride their bikes out there without me worrying too much.

Toad Time

Sometimes we go on family walks at night on the trail by our house. One evening the toads were out in full force! We caught a few keep as pets, including this huge one! We kept them for a few days, then let them go. The kids are wearing gloves because we weren't sure what species of toad they were. Better safe than sorry, right?!

Scott, releasing the beast. 

Hiding in a bush. Can you blame him? ;) 

Saturday Morning at the Park

A few weeks ago the kids woke up on Saturday morning wanting to go to the park and practice soccer. I had been on the fence about whether to sign them up for soccer again this year, so I thought it would be a good to go and see how interested they actually were in playing soccer. It was a beautiful morning, and we got there nice and early so it wasn't too hot yet. 

First, they practiced kicking the ball up the hill.

Then we headed over to the playground. Michael--Rock 'n Roll! 

The kids are pretty good at swinging by themselves now. They are great at pumping! 

This is the least silly face I got out of Katelynn. She has this thing for making the goofiest faces whenever I pull out the camera. 

Hi, Michael! 

Playing goalie. 

Going for the goal. 

The kids decided to climb the trees. With no low branches to grab onto, the kids had to come up with some different methods to get up the trees. There's the bottom boost... 

the back-stand... 

and the head boost. 

Now that's using your head! 

The kids joined another girl at the park to play some t-ball. Swing, batter batter, swing! 

Success!!