Day of Firsts- Back to School for the Kids and A New Job for Me

Kaylee-3rd grade

Kianna-1st grade.
She is really into owls and despite the really hot weather insisted on wearing her new long-sleeved owl shirt.

Trace- 3-day Pre-K

Our Cuties

Trace and Mrs. Keeler

Today was the kids' first day of school: Kaylee is in 3rd grade with Ms. Arquette; Kianna is in 1st grade with Mrs. Banks; and Trace is in 3-day Pre-K with Mrs. Keeler. Despite having an excellent summer, the kids were all very excited to start school again. Personally, I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to deal with the stress of getting the four of us out the door on time every morning, but ready or not school is back in session. We had a great first morning and two out of the three kids had a great first day of school.

Kaylee loves her new teacher and declared today the "best day ever". She made a new friend, Makenna, and already wants to schedule a playdate with her. Kianna came home a bit grumpy, or maybe a lot grumpy. She got her feelings hurt at recess when two kids cut in front of her when she was standing in line. Unfortunately for her, that overshadowed the rest of her day. She did admit to liking her new teacher. She had PE, chapel and music class today and seemed to enjoy each of them. Trace said "Mom, Mrs. Keeler is a REALLY good teacher. He was excited that they had a scavenger hunt which led to fruit snacks, a juice box, and goldfish in his locker. It doesn't get much better than that!

After dropping the kids off at school, I was off to start my new job at In Home Rehab. I will be working on Mondays and Fridays while the kids are in school and will be home with Trace on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not too shabby! So why the job change you ask? Well let me tell you...

For the last year, I have worked at Lenawee Medical Care Facilty. I have enjoyed working there, but out of the blue this new job came into my radar. In Home Rehab is located on the campus of Siena Heights University and inside the Dominican Life Center, which is a retirement home for nuns here in Adrian. There are 200 nuns that live on campus and 800 in the county. The appeal for this new job is that it offers the same flexibility as my other job, but the patients only need to be seen 2-3 days a week instead of 5 days per week. Since they only need to be seen two days a week that means that I will be the only physical therapist they will work with. This is a HUGE plus for me!

At Lenawee Medical, I would see different patients each day I worked, which made it difficult to know what treatments were working and what weren't since they were seen by a variety of therapy staff when I wasn't seeing them. It also made it difficult to develop relationships with my patients. I'm excited about my new job as I will be able to build better rapport with my patients and grow more as a therapist. My first day went well. I have some really nice coworkers and enjoyed the sisters I worked with. So far so good! Thanks God for this new opportunity. Overall, I would say our day of firsts was a success.

My 36th Birthday

LCS Fundraiser Golf Tournament

I had a really great birthday this year, mostly because I felt so loved and blessed by my dear friends and family. I had a great time catching up with old friends through phone calls and newer friends with lunch dates. I even went roller blading with one friend. It was a blast!

In addition, my kids surprised me with a homemade birthday banner, which was quite lovely and Trevor surprised me with several gifts. On my actual birthday, we went out for lunch to my favorite mediterranean restaurant and out for ice cream afterwards. Then Trevor and I played 18 holes of golf several days later, which was great fun. I hadn't played in 6 years. It was a best shot scramble tournament and my goal was that my team would use at least one of my balls. In fact they used about six of them. It was so much fun and the weather was perfect! Then over the weekend, Trevor got us a sitter and took me to Toledo for dinner and a movie. Thanks everyone for making me feel so loved!

Kianna's 7th Birthday

Our little girl is officially 7 and she couldn't be more excited. The day began with her eagerly waiting for Trace to wake up so she could open her gifts. I should back up though because the celebration continued last night with a trip to Ann Arbor so we could eat pizza at one of her favorite pizza places, The Pizza House. I think it is her favorite because she went there last year on her b-day and received a free chocolate milk shake, which she had again this year and was just as thrilled. Following dinner, Grandma Becki and I took the kids to see the new "Planes" movie, while Daddy and Grandpa Bob went to a grown up movie. Okay, back to the gifts this morning. Kianna excitedly received a unicorn stuffie (those commercials always get her), a new backback with her name on it, some of my old Precious Moments dolls, a fancy new dress coat for this winter, and a new skateboard.

We had walking tacos and buster bar for lunch and then spent the afternoon at The Centre path, so Kianna could practice riding her new skateboard. The rest of the evening was spent at Vacation Bible School, which began tonight. It was a fun day and we are so happy that Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob were able to celebrate with us.

So here is a little more information about our seven year old:

• She still loves frogs. I just caught one a few days ago when I was mowing the yard, so the kids have a new pet frog named Bumpy.
• She enjoys being active whether it be doing flips on the trampoline, swimming in our pool, playing on the swing set, riding her scooter, or playing sports (soccer and basketball).
• Swimming- Kianna loves anything water. She is quite the little swimmer. She can now swim underwater with ease and is a pretty good diver. She is currently in swim lessons and is learning how to tread water and learn the strokes. She currently prefers the doggy paddle technique.
• School- Kianna is really a smart little girl and excels at math and reading. At the beginning of the summer she finished her reading lesson book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and earned a trip to the roller skating rink, which she loved. She has begun reading chapter books this summer. Unfortunately, Kianna has recently begun saying she doesn't like school, because she gets bored. We hope this changes with the start of a new school year and a great new teacher.
• She loves doing crafts, especially the beads that melt together when they are ironed. These keep our kids busy for hours. She also is a very good artist. She is especially good at drawing cows.
• Kianna LOVES stuffed animals and is a sucker for all the commercials offering pillow pets, dreamlites, flashlight pets, stuffies, seatbelt pets, etc., She wants them all.
• Kianna still likes playing with Barbies and Polly Pockets, but also really enjoys Star Wars and Super Heroes. She especially enjoys the cartoons of the latter two.
• Kianna is a good sister. She enjoys playing with both Kaylee and Trace, although she usually pairs off with just one of them depending on the day. 
• Legos- Kianna really enjoys building houses and playing make believe with the big lego sets. She also enjoys playing with the little lego sets.
• Messy- Kianna is our messy girl and is a bit accident prone. She often forgets to clean up after herself, drop things, and gets food on her clothes. Silly girl!
• Singing- Kianna loves to sing and can often be heard listening to her CDs and singing at the top of her lungs, as I type this the girls are upstairs singing.
• Friends- Her two closest friends are currently Jenae Erd and Lexie Johnson, besides her brother and sister of course. She has had fun every Tuesday this summer spending the day with Jenae while I'm at work. Lexie and Kianna have been friends since Iowa. Lexie and her family just moved to Adrian earlier this summer. They are excited to be reunited.
• Alone time- We have discovered that Kianna really needs time to herself. She has a great imagination and likes to play in her room by herself. We have been encouraging alone time at home versus at recess when her friends are asking to play with her and she just wants to be by herself. Her daddy and I both like time alone as well, so we can't blame her.
• Dates- Kianna thrives on going on dates with either Mommy or Daddy. Maybe it is a middle child thing, but she loves spending one-on-one time with us. We really enjoy it too!
• Apples- We discovered this year that she has a slight allergy to apples. She gets a rash around her mouth when eating them, but it disappears as soon as she is done. Honey crisp apples are the worst for her, but taste so yummy. The doctor says she can still eat them unless the reactions start getting worse.
• She weighs 49 lb and is 49 inches tall. She is in the 47th percentile for weight and in the 60th percentile for height. We love you Kianna. God made you just right and we are so blessed to be your parents!!!

Little Mermaid Junior

Kaylee's cheering section

Kaylee on the left making waves

Ariel singing "Look at this Stuff..."

Kaylee on the right singing and dancing

Making more waves

Grandpa Bob, Kaylee and Grandma Becki

Kaylee's fan club

Kids with the chef- Oh my word was she HILARIOUS

Kids with Ursula- she did an AMAZING job

For the last two weeks Kaylee has been working hard in drama camp. She was cast as a water fish. She had to learn two dances and was in charge of making waves whenever the ship was on the set. She did a great job and we are very proud of her. Grandma Becki and Grandpa Bob came all the way from Iowa to watch her show. She had quite the cheering section as Lexie and Natalie Johnson came to cheer her on as well. When the kids were asked who their favorite character was they all said Kaylee. How cute is that!

Yau's Visit

Mila, Kianna and Trace (AKA: Spiderman)

Jodi and Hannah

Chaos

Organized Chaos

My good friend, Jodi, and her two girls, Mila and Hannah, came to visit us. It was fun catching up and letting our kids play together. Kaylee was at drama camp, so Kianna took over and enjoyed keeping Mila busy playing dress up, doing puzzles, having a tea party, and coloring. She was so good with her. Mila loved swimming and going down our little slide. Fun times!

Community Celebration Day

The Johnson Family

Lexie and Kianna

Kianna and Jenae

We spent the afternoon at The Centre doing a scavenger hunt, which included getting the kids' faces painted, playing games, going inside of an ambulance, completing an obstacle course, and jumping in some bouncy houses. Once the scavenger hunt was complete the kids got a free ice cream cone. They had a great time.

Our fun continued by having pizza with our good friends, The Johnson's. They are friends from our small group in Iowa that just moved to Adrian in June. They have two little girls, Lexie and Natalie, who are Kianna and Trace's ages. It is so fun having them here now. It is like having a piece of home with us. The rest of the evening was spent with The Johnson's at an outdoor concert with free t-shirts, silly games, and fireworks. It was one super fun day!

Kianna's 7th Birthday Party

Kianna pounding the oreos for the Buster Bar

Jenae, Cameron, Kianna, Kaylee, Trace and Lexie

Lexie and Kianna with their new snorkels

Happy Swimmers

Trampoline Fun

Trace was invited to go to a baseball game with one of his friends and said he would rather go to his sister's birthday party. That made my heart happy.

Buster Bar

Craft time

Night Swim

Nana Bear

Brotherly and Sisterly Love

Kianna's birthday celebration officially began last night when three of her friends: Lexie, Jenae and Cameron came over for a night swim & sleepover. It was Kianna's first time being able to have a sleepover party, so she was pretty excited. The kids arrived and were each given a new snorkel set to use in the pool. They were thrilled. We began with the dinner of Kianna's choice: homemade macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, a relish tray and veggies with dip. After dinner, the kids began swimming and jumping on the trampoline. Kianna and Lexie especially enjoyed their new snorkel sets.

After awhile, we took a break from swimming to eat some buster bar for dessert and open gifts. The buster bar was a hit as usual. We followed that up with a bead craft and ended the evening with a night swim. We had the lights turned on in the pool and the heat cranked up in the hot tub. It was a fun night. The kids went to bed around 11:00 PM and woke up a little before 7:00 AM. After some cartoons and waffles for breakfast, it was time for them to leave. Lots of smiles = Successful party

As a side note, Trevor and I feel we have learned a few things over the years from all the birthday parties we have thrown. The most important one being less is best. We used to let the kids invite however many kids to their party as the age they were turning. So this year Kianna should have been able to invite seven kids. However, we have learned that less is best and have decided to only let the kids invite 2 or 3 friends. We found that when they have larger numbers they end up not playing with everyone and the kids end up paring themselves off into smaller groups. Also, I used to plan multiple games and crafts and then realized the kids just want to play together. This party was by far one of the least stressful we have had, which was nice for a change...