Hadlee's 1st Birthday

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted anything so I apologize for that. We've just been awfully busy and then when it goes for a little while it turns into a long time. Anyway, Hadlee turned 1 on October 22nd. She was very excited about all the gifts and especially about her very own cake. We thought she would be walking by the time she was 1 since she started standing on her own at 11 months but no luck. She's a heck of a crawler and climber though. Now we'll just have to wait and see if she has any hair by the time she's two.

Kindergarten Here I Come

On Thursday Brookley started her very first day of real school. We know it is part of life and that every kid has to go at some point but it's still sad to see your child grow up. Brookley was very excited but a little nervous that the kids might be mean to her on the playground. We don't know where that came from but she really wasn't too concerned about it. I mean who couldn't love our little Brookley? Her teacher is Mrs. Freisen (we think that's how you spell her name) and Brookley loves her so far. The parents were invited to the first hour of class on the first day, but it was so boring Dad said he had to leave for work quite a bit earlier than he really did. Nothing's really much different than when Brookley was in preschool other than we can't just take her out of school very often without getting in trouble.

On Monday Evan started his preschool again. We were looking forward to him getting back to Mrs. Bremmer because she was really good but unfortunately she moved to another school and working afternoons. His new teacher Mrs. Mitchell seems like she'll be a great teacher also.

Of course with the kids off to school now Hadlee gets all of the attention she wants from Mom. She's doing fine other than she is crawling quite good now and follows Mom all over the house.

Wet n' Wild

Considering how hot it has been around here we've needed some water to cool us down. A couple of weeks ago Aunt Cathy took the family, except for Dad, up to Lake Kaweah with her boat. We had a lot of fun and even rode behind the boat on the tube, well we left Hadlee in the boat since she's a little small still.

Then last week we headed up to the mountains with the Stagg's for a now annual mountain swimming day. We first of all headed up to Buckeye Flats and did some bridge jumping. Then a couple of hours later we headed down to the waterfall by Potwisha and did some water sliding. That was a lot of fun also except it was a little steep in one spot and Mom slipped right on her butt and bruised it up a bit. She's sitting funny but is getting better.

Brookley's First Tooth Fairy Visit

Last night Brookley lost her very first tooth. She's had a loose one for a couple of weeks now but this one wasn't it. In fact we didn't even know the tooth was loose. We thought it wasn't quite ready but when Mom messed with it enough to make it bleed we figured we might as well tear it out. Unfortunately that happened right around bed time and the tooth fairy didn't plan on this so there wasn't enough cash around to leave the it under the pillow. Brookley was okay with that though because she could show Grandma the tooth first.

Tonight Brookley was a little hesitant to leave the tooth under her pillow because she didn't want to wake up to some strange fairy lurking in her room. In fact she asked Mom if she could be the tooth fairy tonight since she knows Mom. Little does she realize how right on she was. We finally convinced her that the tooth fairy will just use some magic outside her window so she was okay with putting it under her pillow. We're not sure how inflation has affected the tooth fairy but we thinking Brookley will probably get a $2 dollar bill.

Hadlee Jane Hadlee Jane who's that Jane it's Hadlee Jane

I was just informed that I don't put up enough pictures of Hadlee on the blog so here are couple from the past few weeks. I actually don't know why I don't because her smile makes us so happy so we need to share it with everybody else.

Visalia Rawhide

It's been a while since we've been to an Oaks baseball game, in fact it's been so long they've changed their name in the meantime. Now they are called the Visalia Rawhide. Chatter the squirrel is also gone which is kind of good since the kids were deathly afraid of him, but now we have Tipper the Cow. Although the kids call him Tippy for some reason. Unfortunately Mommy and Hadlee couldn't go with us since they were both sick, but it was nice since we didn't have to worry about her telling us to put our shoes on when we went into the bathroom, but Aunt Kristen made sure we did. We ended up leaving a couple of innings early but also have two foul balls given to us so it was all worth it.

P.S. Do you think Dad should keep the mustache? Actually it's already gone but maybe we'll see it again around Halloween.

Long Old Swingetty Swing

Today for Father's Day we headed up to Heartland Christian Camp for a little day trip. We've been there before and one of the coolest things is that they have a giant swing mounted between two big trees. Before the kids were too young and small to do it but they're expert swingers now so let the give it a "swing." They had a great time and even Hadlee thought it was great. The only unfortunate thing is that we didn't get any video of Evan swinging but we did get a great action shot.

Brookley's Gradulation

No I didn't spell graduation wrong, that's just what Evan calls it. It is easier that saying congratulations on your graduation though. Anyway last Monday Brookley finally graduate from the YMCA. Looking back she seemed just like a baby when we put her in but now she's a graduate. While we know it was only preschool it's still seems like she's getting big. She actually gave a little graduation speech since they asked her to count to twenty in Spanish. She did really good until about 16 and then it all kind of ran together. Now we just have to wait a couple of years until Evan graduates.

Up

It might seem crazy but we have never taken out kids to the movie. Actually Brookley went to Lord of the Rings when she was a couple of months old but she slept through it all and doesn't seem to remember it much. Well Dad really wanted to see "Up" so we packed up the family and headed to the movie. After paying for the movie and a bucket of popcorn we understood why we don't make it to the movies much. I mean, $7.50 for a bucket of popcorn? The kids are just lucky Mom had the debit card because Dad would have just let them eat some popcorn at home. I guess we would rather spend all of our money on Disneyland. Anyway the movie was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to really like it. We got some pictures but they weren't the best. I guess it's better than the two and a half months of no pictures though. Sorry about that. Once miss a couple of weeks it's easy to miss a lot.

Pink's Hot Dogs

Dad likes to watch food shows and has regularly seen these shows visit Pink's Hot Dog's in Hollywood. Since we were close to Hollywood when we dropped Grammy and Grampy at LAX we decided or Dad decided we should stop on by. It's suppose to be a celebrity hot spot but we didn't see anybody too famous other than one of the owners who always wears pink and has a hot dog clutch. They really were pretty good and Evan finished his in about two bites, but then again when you eat hot dogs every day you get pretty good at eating them.

Grammy and Grampy's Visit

Grammy and Grampy bought a new car a couple of month ago and since they didn't trade in their old one they said that we could have it. It's a little more difficult for us to pack up all the family and head up to Utah to pick it up so they decided they would bring it down to us. We also thought that since they were coming down they might as well come for Grampy's 81st birthday. Then since Disneyland is free on your birthday we made yet another trip to Disneyland to celebrate. It was really fun and of course they always seem to have to leave too soon. It's especially when you see Brookley's lower lip quiver while she holds back the tears. Hopefully we'll get to go visit them this summer.

Good Times in Ojai

Last week Grandpa thought it would be fun to invite us to go with him down to visit Aunt Lynne in Ojai (O hi), since it has been a while since we last went down to see her. Actually Brookley was probably about the age that Hadlee is now. Unfortunately is was really rainy so we could spend a whole lot of time outdoors but when the rain cleared up a little bit, it was beautiful. Especially since Aunt Lynne's house looks over the Ojai Valley.

A Little Chilly

One of the things that Dad misses most about growing up in Utah is the snow. Even though it did snow in Visalia about 10 years ago it really doesn't happen often so we have to head up to Sequoia NP if we want to see some real snow. We had a really good time for about the first 10 minutes but then for some reason cotton mittens don't keep the hands too warm when they get wet, so the kids started to get a little fussy. Next time we'll have to take some better winter clothes although we hate to buy any since they will outgrow them the next year and we only see snow once a year. After it was all said and done we probably shouldn't have gone since a couple of days later all three kids came down with strep throat. They didn't like being sick but the sure did like the bubble gum antibiotic.

Evan's Disney Passport

This week we decided to head to Disneyland yet again, but this time we had to buy Evan a Annual Passport since he is 3 now. It's starting to get a little more expensive to get the entire family into Disney now. Last time we went on New Year's it was crazy but this time was great. On many rides we didn't even have to wait behind anybody. The weather was a little cold once the sun went down, but we had a great time.

Actually since Evan is fairly tall for his age he was able to go on many adult rides and was very brave. At three I don't know if I would have been brave enough to go on the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror. Actually he wasn't brave enough for Tower of Terror but once you're at the top there's no turning back. He did say afterward though that he didn't want to do that again. Brookley is very brave also but Mom and Dad are a little hesitant to take her on anything too scary because of her heart. Overall it was a great time and we hated to leave.