First Day of School - Kindergarten

This morning James and I took Kaylin to school for her first day of Kindergarten. Although she is used to going to pre-school this will be her first time in full-day school. She was excited to go. And true to form - I mostly retained my composure until I walked out the door--and then I got choked up. It will be a weird experience for me to have her gone for so many hours. I know the time apart will be good for us. We will both grow in many ways. But - I'm still sad those pre-kindergarten days are now gone. Here are some pictures we took this morning.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL CHECKLIST

1 - Pose for pictures

2 - Show you are prepared with backpack

3 - Pose for picture at school with teacher in background 4 - Drop off backpack

5 - Let go of Mommy (sniff sniff)

and 6 - HAVE A BLAST

WE LOVE YOU BABYCAKES!!

Flashback 2006 - Little Girls and Lipstick Don't Mix

In June of 2006 (Kaylin was about a year and a half) we went down to San Diego to spend some time with Great Grandma Charlene and to have a mini-vacation. On Sunday afternoon I placed Kaylin down for her nap (in her Pack-N-Plan) in the guest bedroom. I then proceeded to the living room where James and I visited with family for the next couple of hours. I had a habit of peeking in on Kaylin when she was napping. But the house was old and the bedroom door was tight and squeaked so I tried to keep my distance. At one point I finally decided to risk it. I gently cracked opened the door and to my horror found my little girl sitting up with her face and body completely red. A split second of panic set in as I wondered if she was choking on something or having an allergic reaction. And then in an instant I discovered what she had done. First of all - she had not been sleeping (for who knows how long). Instead she had been discovering the joy of "painting". Turns out the Pack-N-Play was within arms length of the dresser where just hours before I had placed two tubes of lipstick. My precious daughter had spent an unknown amount of time "detailing" her body in two lovely shades of pink. After I got over the initial shock I carefully (and I mean carefully) picked her up and re-introduced her to the rest of the family. Below are the pictures of her handy work:

The first two pictures you can tell by the look on her face that she's unsure of what's going to happen to her. She couldn't tell if she was in trouble or not. After our shock wore off we couldn't help but laugh (I mean really - how are you suppose to react to something like this). Once she saw us smiling she knew she was off the hook and began to ham it up. (Well - it was funny until the clean-up began. Just an FYI - lipstick will leave a ring around the tub. So after I cleaned her, the tub, and her clothes and sheets I banned all lipstick from the premises.)

Kaylinisms 10

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I blessed you with the wit of my 5 year old. Here are some of her latest sayings that tickle my funny bone: *One day she found a spider in the bathroom. She told me it was a "chinchinilla" and talked about the "chinchinilla" all day. Saying things like: "I cannot believe we had a 'chinchinilla' in the bathroom." (In case you didn't figure it out - she really meant Tarantula - which it wasn't by the way.)

*She likes to make jewelry with her beads. But instead of laying out a pattern she makes a "patterin"

*A couple of weeks ago Kaylin went to Walmart with Grandma. As they passed the swimsuits Kaylin commented on the "zuchini's". (Translation: wait for it........bikinis).

*Since Kaylin was about 2 she's been saying "Holy Smoley". I still think it's the cutest. But lately she's been adding on to her favorite saying. She says "Holy Smoley Kwok-a-mole". And if that wasn't enough - she's started saying "Holy Smoley Kwok-a-mole Macaroni Salad" (Don't know where she comes up with these things.)

Question for fellow bloggers

Does anyone know how to work the "Pages" gadget. I've seen it in other blogs where people have different pages (home, info, pictures, etc). I know you go into the "add a gadget" function but I'm still not sure how to get multiple pages listed.

Steamboat Springs

Last month we went to Steamboat Springs for my nephew's wedding. It was a mini-vacation for us. We headed up early and stopped off in Glenwood Springs for the Strawberry Days Festival. Good thing the festival was free because we paid $6 for a chocolate drizzled strawberry kabob. After that we drove over to the carnival. Kaylin had a blast on the rides. I was hoping to go on the ferris wheel with her but she didn't meet the height requirements yet. For now she must stay on the kiddie rides. It didn't make a difference to her. She LOVED the roller coaster. I have to say - I think James and I enjoyed watching her face as much as she enjoyed the ride. After our fun in Glenwood we made our way to Steamboat and met up with family. It was time for food, fun, family, wedding and more food, fun and family. We had a great time. Steamboat is a very beautiful and picturesque place. James and I came home with the plans to retire there someday. Here are just a few pics (mostly of family).

James, Kaylin and I at Fish Creek Falls

The cousins: Fallon, Trevor, Kaylin, Heath (the groom), and Maverick

Fallon and Kaylin in the park

Kaylin "swimming" for the first time with the help of cousin Trevor After wedding pics of the kiddos Fallon and Kaylin again (one of these girls looks like she's used to posing)

My Almost Professional Photographer

We recently went to Steamboat Springs for my nephews wedding. I'll share some pics from that trip later. But for now I thought I'd share a picture that, believe it or not, was taken by my 5 year old daughter. She did pretty good, I'd say.

Kaylin's Big First Catch

Last year James took Kaylin fishing with him a couple of times. She has a kid fishing pole and everything. Although she loved the adventure she never really caught anything (other than seaweed). Last month when Uncle Mike was in town the gang drove up to the Grand Mesa and Kaylin went with them. They took their fishing gear with them (you know - any opportunity should be taken). Kaylin got to try out her fishing skills again and actually caught her very first fish. She was beyound excited and Daddy was so pround. Here is a picture of her and her catch. Sometimes I can't tell if she's a princess or a tomboy. Maybe she's a princess tomboy!