A Smattering of Pictures

Tyler asks to do preschool almost every day, we usually get around to it about 1-2 times a week. Poor kid. Our preschool usually consists of an upper and lower case letter craft, some letter writing practice, the letter game on starfall.com, and a scavenger hunt finding things that begin with that letter. Here are some of our first letter crafts. Although Tyler already knows his letters and sounds, he really likes these crafts! 

For the letter "c" we made "c" cookies!

When Clara joins us for preschool paint is usually involved.

My kids are so opposite in so many ways. I have my self painting picasso...

and my super careful, clean, and deliberate Rothko. (Rothko is the guy that paints in big blocks pretty similar to what Tyler has going on in his picture).

 In May, Tyler's best friend had a party - a princess party to be exact. And all attendees were invited to wear their princess gear. Tyler, being the only male attendee, was left with a wardrobe problem. You don't see too many prince costumes floating around out there, but thanks to amazon we managed to find a pretty dang good one! Presenting Tyler the Knight!

 Tyler with his princesses

 A few days later it was my turn to party with one of my best friends for her birthday. The day was perfect! Food, fun, lots and lots of laughing, pedicures, and good ol' girl time. Our trip home, on the other hand, proved to be a bit more than we bargained for. Coming back up the pass we hit traffic a few miles from the last exit and several miles until the next and I noticed that the gas gauge was below the E. I was so confused because I was sure I had had enough gas to make the trip. My friend was the one that noticed that all the electrical in my car had gone out. Nothing was working. It wasn't the gas ... something else was wrong with the car. I started trying to ease my way through stop and go traffic to the right shoulder, but the car died before we could get there. So there we were, a stalled car in the middle of the freeway, in the middle of nowhere. A pick-up truck behind us was able to push us bumper to bumper onto the shoulder where we waited for the next hour or so for our husbands to come rescue us! I'm so glad I was with those girls, because with them even our not so expected adventure was fun! The car ended up needing a new alternator. Just a fluke that happened to occur while I was driving.

Me, the birthday girl, and our other friend behind the camera - waiting for rescue.

 Just a couple of cute pictures of Clara feeding her baby gold fish. And there are now gold fish stuck so deep inside that baby's mouth they'll be there forever.

 About a month ago I caught Clara climbing out of her crib. Ugh! I'd been hoping Clara would last longer in the crib, but here we were again, almost 2 years to the day that we switched Tyler to a toddler bed. It's been both easier and harder than Tyler - ok mostly harder. Easier only because I've apparently become a weakling. Clara doesn't do this whole cry it out business. She'll just cry all night. No, seriously, I've let her cry for hours before with no sign of slowing down. So now I sit in her room until she falls asleep, which doesn't take long fortunately. I'm ashamed. Oh well, I won't be sitting in her college dorm until she falls asleep ... right?

 Tyler may hate me for this in years to come, but it's too cute/funny not to memorialize. Although Tyler is generally all boy, he has no qualms about playing Pretty, Pretty Princess . . .

or letting his two best friends (who happen to be girls) put make up on him.

 This picture on the other hand is a proud moment for both mother and son. Tyler has struggled with reverence and appropriate behavior in primary. In fact, I was released as his teacher, because my presence only made it worse! We started working on it at home and a few weeks ago Tyler was chosen as the Super Star Reverence Kid in primary!! He has been wanting that for months! He was so proud of himself I wanted to cry. He is doing so well! He will never be that perfectly quiet kid, but he participates and listens and is learning lots of new things. He now provides plenty of comic relief during primary in a good way and gave the primary's favorite prayer ever when he blessed everyone "to be reverent and not be crazy." I am so proud of this boy! And I am proud that he can still be himself and not stuffed into the perfect reverent kid mold. 

 You can't find out about National Donut Day and not eat donuts!

 One of Clara's favorite birthday presents: her sit and spin.

Tyler can do the craziest cross-eyed faces. The first time he ever did one I was disciplining him and all of a sudden his one eye drifted to the center. I freaked out thinking he was having a stroke or something, but soon realized he was just discovering a trick. Needless to say, he didn't get in trouble. Now when he does it I can't stop laughing!

Clara on her sit and spin and saying a few words.