September 2017

Kaliya's first day of preschool. She has the same teacher that the boys had when they were also in preschool. But unlike the boys, she did not cry when I dropped her off. However, she did have a few crying moments throughout school. 

They did this on their own. They love playing outside and they love each other.

We had some friends invite us to the lake for boating. They also had their paddle boards that they took the kids out on. Carter loved it. Kaliya wasn't too sure about it. But we always have fun at the lake.

Makai thinks he is big enough to climb up the high equipment at the playground. This kid loves keeping up with his siblings.

Laken loves bugs and found a few dead cicadas outback.
He also started piano lessons this year. We asked a lady from our church ward if she teach him and she agreed. She comes to our house once a week and teaches Laken new songs. It's great and he loves it. I just wish he loved it enough to actually practice every night, but i think that's the struggle all parents have with their kids.

The kids had tickets for the Des Moines zoo so we headed down there one day. They love the zoo and I was impressed with the animals this zoo had. Laken absolutely loved the red panda. So we got him a stuffed red panda to bring home.

Checking out some animals.

One of my favorite animals is the giraffe. Apparently Makai is intrigued by them too.

The older boys checking out the giraffes from the high point.

Riding a caterpillar.

I'm pretty sure they were checking out a lion.

These two crack me up.

Everyone had so much fun at the zoo that they all crashed on the way home.

It's always interesting to see how a kid's brain works. While we were at the playground, Carter had to use the bathroom. But there are no lights in the bathrooms so he decided to use his bike to prop open the door so he had enough light. Smarty pants.

We love our library. One tuesday a month, they have a tinker tuesday for kids in kindergarten - 4th grade. They teach them some science and do a science experiment. This week the kids helped make elephant toothpaste and learned how to change the experiment to change the results.

Watching the elephant toothpaste.
Another big hit for my kids are the blocks that connect to move, light up, turn, and drive.

These are Carter's favorite thing to do on Tinker Tuesday. He loves to figure out how to make things work.

Laken playing the piano, and Makai learning from Laken. He actually has learned to only use one finger at a time rather than bang on it.

Laken had a homework assignment to do a timeline of his life. He could only pick 5 things which was hard to narrow down but he did a good job on picking the big stuff.

Someone got a hold of the camera.

Laken and I got to go on a fun late date one night. The library had a stars program that I took him to. We heard a few constellation stories, got to look through a telescope at jupiter and some stars, and got to use a laser beam to point out some constellations. At the end he left with some fun jupiter photos, a snack and glowstick. He loved it.

We took the kids to the Clay County Fair in Spencer. The tractors are always fun to look at and climb in.

Waiting for a show to start at the fair. It wasn't he nicest day for the fair - rainy, cloudy and chilly. So we did what we could and left before it really started raining. Unfortunately that meant the kids didn't get to do any rides or the giant slide.

Kaliya's special date was going to a daddy-daughter ball. I made her a new "princess" dress for her special dance and she loved feeling like a princess. They had a photo done there, had snacks, colored pictures, and she came home with a new tiara. I think she was pretty happy.

Laken trying o teach Makai how to ride his trike.

Christmas day at school for their spirit week.

Carter is just an awesome kid. He has a great imagination. He is always making up games and things. This time he came home from school and started making a "puppet show box". He found the box on his own, cut it how he wanted and then made a girl puppet and a boy puppet. He even put pillows on the floor for people to sit on so he could put on his show.

Another day he decided to try to climb the small tree out back. It's not a good climbing tree but he got up a bit.

Laken is (and always has been) good with art. He started cutting out pieces then decided it started looking like the dreamworks logo so he continued making it.

Laken made a hideout under the bush.

Kid Photos

Apparently in the fall I like to take the kids out to do individual photos of them. Thankfully they are all pretty good sports about it and put on happy faces for me. And I don't think they turn out too bad for doing them myself.

Laken - 7 years old

Kaliya - 4 years old

Carter - 5 years old

Makai - almost 2 years old

Laken helped me decided on some group shots. 

And I can't just make them take pictures the entire time so there's plenty of running around and playing in between. 

Dad got them racing around.

Kaliya learned how to draw her name n the first couple weeks of school. I think it's super cute that she sticks her tongue out like she has to concentrate on how to write each letter correctly and in the right order.
Laken loves Misty so much and always wants a picture with her. 

Our fall this year was pitiful. The leaves started falling late this season. This was as big of a pile as we could get at the end of September. The kids still had fun running and jumping into them. It just wasn't big enough to really play in or get all of them in together.