One Tough Little Cookie

Launa had her first day of school on the 27th. She was nervous, but really excited. We went to the school and met her teacher and Launa thought she was great. She is 7 months pregnantly currently. She must be patient because if I had to deal with 25 5-year olds while being seven months pregnant I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty. In the car Launa asked me "so... is she having a baby or is she just fat." I told her she was having a baby and that it was rude to say things like that and she responded "I know, that's why I didn't say it to her, I said it to you." Oh well, I try. Mark and I have been having a power struggle over her riding the bus. Our bus was supposed to come at around 7:15, but came that day at 6:58 AM. Luckily, we were ready, but I didn't want to put her on the bus by herself without Kyla to help her out. Mark was adamant that she was tougher than I thought and he put her on the bus. I went to the school to wait for her to get off the bus, and waited, and waited, and waited. I was told all the buses should be there by 7:35 but there were still lots of buses coming. I ran back to her classroom to see if she got there before me and still couldn't find her. ALL the buses came and went and NO Launa. At this point, I was having a little anxiety. I called the bus garage and they had to find her. They are all supposed to transfer buses at the high school. Evidently, she didn't know what to do (why would she for pete's sake, this is Kindergarten and she's 5) so she just stayed in her seat and didn't move. I'm not really sure if the bus driver realized there was someone still on there or not when I called the bus garage. Anywho, she was all by herself on the bus when the driver brought her back to Wahitis. I thought she would be crying and a mess, but she is and always has been so tough. Not one tear. She was shaking when I got her off, but I walked her to her classroom, got her settled and left 10 minutes later. I went back after school to see if she wanted me to drive her home, and she said no, she wanted to try to ride the bus with Kyla (I did go make sure she transferred at the right place -- it was pandemonium, the whole thing makes me nervous) and they made it home just fine. Rough start to the start of school. That night she asked me why Daddy and I put her on the wrong bus. It about broke my heart. Since then, she says school is okay, but that she doesn't even have time to play any more, and recesses are just NOT long enough!! It's kind-of true, it's all day kindergarten. Her favorite subject is P.E. and she says she hasn't decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

Gearhart Family Reunion

For the semi-annual Quinton family reunion (my Mom's side) we went to Gearhart, which is just a couple minutes from Seaside. This was my kids' first trip to the beach and they thoroughly enjoyed digging in the sand and playing in the water. It was so beautiful and fun -- I definitely could have stayed for a few more days. I anticipated 85 degree weather (yes, I know now that this was unrealistic) and it was more like 65 degrees so I had to swing into Carter's to buy poor Meg some warmer clothes. The kids loved playing with their cousins!! Mark was unable to attend so my parents helped me and were fantastic as usual. My mother-in-law let me take her Denali because it had a DVD player in it. I wish I could say they sat and watched peacefully, but it wasn't the case. Kate screamed so hard she threw up and then peed in her car seat. The other two did a little better. But THANK YOU to my parents for helping me. Without them it would have been miserable, so the help was much appreciated. Here are a few pictures of the trip -- notice my Dad actually giving a big smile in one picture, Meg and I doing the "two-headed monster" (she's in my Baby Bjorn with my jacket zipped up around us) and how you can tell it's slightly windy on the beach. :)

San Poil 2012

We spent the last week at Mark's annual family reunion in San Poil up near Keller. It was actually my best year yet as I actually made it the entire week and we really only had one rough night with Meg. I have had some serious war stories in the past with sick kids, grouchy kids, kids who won't sleep, etc. :) This year the weather was perfect and we had such a great time. The kids loved spending time with their cousins, Meg got spoiled with me holding her the entire time, we thoroughly enjoyed the jet skis and boats, the marble tournament, and lots of snacking and chit chatting with family. Mark's Mom always does matching sweaters for the girls and they turned out adorable. I guess that's one perk to having all those girls!! Before we left I took the girls to my Dad's orchard and picked cherries. They got to ride in the back of the pickup to get the full experience. Can you tell it was a tad bit windy. :)

Odds and Ends

I finally emailed myself all the pictures from iPhone. Since I have the phone available, I am trying to make an attempt of recording and updating my blog better. Here are a fun few pictures of the activities we have been up to. The first is of my Mom, with a goat. I walked into her house and saw a goat on the kitchen counter and her blowdrying it with her hair dryer. I thought the apocalypse was here!! :) She is helping Kameron nurse some of them back to health. One of them, "Bitsy" thinks it's a dog and is running back to her house, drinking out of the fountaain, getting on two legs so it can bang on the door and peek through the windows and snuggling up with her cats on the deck. It's really funny!!

We also attended Tyson's allstate football game. It's the final Mollotte so this was kindof a momentous occasion. Mark is sure sad at the thought of him going off to college. He will be missed!!

And, one of my favorite pictures of Launa and Kate.

Kate -- Need I Say More?

Kate is up to her same tricks. Her latest thing is switching her outfits a bazillion (I'm sure it's a legitimate word:) times a day. As exhibited below, she doesn't actually like to swim in the water, however she does like to get geared up like she's going to... I found a large chair, stacked on top with a small chair leading to the top of the bookshelf. She is still ALWAYS climbing!! She fell off a chair and banged up her lip a little this week as well. Who needs botox when you can just injure your lips and have plump scars? She is obsessed with popcicles and is always on the move, but she sure is irresistible. When we left for Seattle she got potty trained (Yay for Kate!!), and she must be completely naked from the waist down in order for her to go. But she yells "yay!! I go tinkle tinkle!! and then comes out wanting high fives. She has done great and I am so relieved she appears to be over that hump. This last picture is of a gargantuous snake at a lizard show they did at the local library. When it was over no one (including me) was interested in getting near the snake. No one that is, except for Kate. She was insistent and touched this bad boy like it was no big deal. I was holding her hand flinching and looking away.

Meg's Summer Activities

I can't believe Meg aka "the Megster" aka "Meggy Megs" is now over 5 months. How does it go by so much faster when they are out of your body than when you are pregnant? Mark had meetings in Seattle so Meg and I went with him, so this was her first real "trip" anywhere. She hung out in the Baby Bjorn and did great. The photo is taken by Mark. We decided to take a "pedi-cab" (basically they pull you behind a bicyle). You know that poor guy saw Mark and was thinking, "oh no, don't pick me, please don't pick me..." He was impressive and biked us all around downtown.

Meg was loving her little exersaucer (as exhibited in the picture below:) but as of late, she's kind-of over it. She's up on her hands and knees rocking now and is really itching to get moving. I am still hoping it takes a couple more months.

She also has started eating. She pretty much chases the spoon around and is pretty aggressive about it. So far, she is NOT fan of baby rice or oatmeal, and her favorite is the sweet potatoes. Below is her first eating experience. By the end it was a lot more messy!

Her first swim. As a general rule of thumb, I don't take any pictures of myself in a swimsuit, much less post it on a blog. This was however the only one, so you know, just focus on Meg. Launa was the photographer as I wasn't comfortable letting her hang on to Meg in the water. Ah well.

Meg gets carted around A LOT!! Even though I am a stay-at-home Mom we are kind-of still running to and from all the time. She spends a lot of time trying to sleep like this...

And this...

My highlights are when I open my eyes and see her on her tummy right in my face with twinkly eyes and a big smile. How can you not wake up happy when you see that? I love to snuggle in bed with her and nurser her. She really is such a joy!! I just love her to pieces.

Launa Swim & Preschool

Launa had her preschool graduation party and it was a blast!!! There was a gigantic slip and slide that I was itching to go down myself (I restrained, don't worry). She loved it!! We really loved her teacher, Colleen. I have known her my whole life and she handled Launa perfectly. At five, Launa can pretty much write and list all the letters and their sounds and can count to about 40. I feel like she is very prepared for kindergarten and will really enjoy it. She just completed her swim lessons today. She also liked those. It was a little chilly but she was a pretty good sport. She can now swim from the shallow end to the deep end all by herself. It's just a doggy paddle, but she is relentlessly practicing and knowing her, will have it mastered by the end of the summer. Her teacher, Piper, was a girl in our ward so that definitely helped her feel a little more comfortable. She is always shy in new situations. Below are a few pictures of all of the above!! Way to go Launa!!