School Bus and Dance

Today was the big B-U-S day. Megan was super excited and was awake at 5:30 once again. Oh my goodness. Well she in turn woke up Kaylee and they in turn woke up Elizabeth. Goodbye to sleep for an hour. We all ended up eating breakfast and getting ready. I was showered and ready to go before 7:30 and we had to sit and wait for a while to walk to the bus stop. I left early because they were all begging to go. I don't think I could have come up with another reason why it wasn't time to go to the bus stop, so we left. I figured getting the stroller out of the van, taking some pictures and walking to the stop would kill some time. This pic is of the girls standing in our driveway getting ready to walk.
Liz is funny because everytime we go outside she wants her jacket on and her hood on. If anybody touches her hood watch out. Well of course Megan was trying to take the hood off for the pictures. It was crazy.
This is cute Megan ready to go to school. This is part of the little bridge that we live on and the ravine on the side of our house and yard. If you look in the distance there is a car parked on the right side. Her bus stop is just beyond that. So not too far away but far enough away when the rain starts and I'm tryin' to get 3 little ones down the street in crazy downpours and especially right here on the bridge, we get puddles of standing water because the only drain hole we have on it is just a small round hole. Tiny. So we will see what is to come once the rain starts in the next month or so.
Cute Megan huddled up waiting for the bus to come.
She just jumped on as soon as the door was open, didn't even look back. The bus driver told her to pick a seat and sit down. Of course Megan sat in the seat right behind the driver. There she is smiling. (If you can see her)
?????????GOT MILK????????? Kaylee was having a snack of Graham Crackers and Milk and took a drink of milk. I looked up after her first drink and thought of all of those fun, crazy Milk commercials and I had to get a picture of this. I love it!!!! She is so silly.
It was such a gorgeous day today as we walked to pick up Megan from the bus stop. The girls had fun picking flowers and Elizabeth a stick.
Here's Megan climbing off the school bus. She was so excited as it pulled up. She was waving and yelling "Hi Mommy" out the window.
Today was the first day of dance classes for the fall. Last year Megan was in Beginning Ballet and Kaylee was in Creative Movement. This year they are both in Beginning Ballet. They were both so excited. Elizabeth loves going to dance classes, she tries to run out onto the floor and dance with her sisters. Aren't they so cute?
Megan and Kaylee at dance class. The dance studio moved to a new location and it is awesome. It is right on the pier and it is gorgeous. If you look in the mirrors you see the river. It's right on the Columbia river where it dumps into the Pacific Ocean. My little Ballerinas.

I have to say, Elizabeth and I were so exhausted that after taking Megan to the bus stop and playing for a while this morning we took a nap. It was about a 3 hour nap and it was wonderful that we both were able to get sleep. My body needed it so badly. Sweet Kaylee was wonderful. She played the Disney Princess game on the Wii while we slept. She was so cute." Don't worry mom you can take a nap, I'll just play the game. sleep good." Gotta love her.

Pics from the day's fun events

Here are some pictures from my fun day with Kaylee and Elizabeth. It was super quiet and no yelling and fighting over everything. It was kind of nice. I think Kaylee really missed Megan but I think she is really going to like having quiet time and being the big sister at home. Kaylee was being a scooter driver and having fun on Elizabeth's bike. She was cruising all over the floor. A plus for having wood floors and linoleum.


Elizabeth is miss Independent and wants to do everything by herself. I just think it's so cute seeing her drink the milk out of her cereal bowl like everyone else. She has been doing that since she was about 11 months. She is so much more steady and uses the spoon awesome. It's so cute.
She refuses to use her booster chair, so we switch to a regular chair. Well now she refuses to use a chair so now she gets a stool. Well now she wants to stand on it and climb into everything. She loves to push the stool over to the counter and watch what we are doing. She loves to help. Today she helped fold the towels and told me "I wanna carry them mama. I help!"
Tuckered out from all her helping. She just came in here by herself pulled on the blanket and fell asleep.
My beautiful, sweet, silly, happy Kaylee. She was such a tease to me today and was giggling the whole time she was teasing me. Then if I teased her she would give me a grumpy look and tell me to stop. Then the next second she was back to teasing me and giggling.
Okay, Kaylee is just so stinkin' cute. I was putting the girls clothes away upstairs, Megan was asleep on the couch and Scott was still at work. I hear Kaylee yell up to me "mom Elizabeth took off her pants and diaper."

I told her I would be down in just a second. While I finished hanging up the last couple of dresses I hear Kaylee say to Elizabeth "Liz come lay down so you don't pee." Then I heard her telling Elizabeth good job then I heard her go in my room to get the diaper and wipes. I was done and coming down the stairs at this point and say her putting on Elizabeth's diaper. So I had to grab the camera. It was so sweet. She loves being a big sister and is just soooooo good with Elizabeth. They are best buds and I think will become more inseparable now that Megan is in school.
Helping Beth stand up to pull up her pants.
Pulling up the pants, they got stuck in the back around the diaper and Kaylee just kept pulling harder and harder, then looks at me and says "mom please pick her up and hold her so I can get the pants on."
She told me not to help that she wanted to do it all.
Best Friends. They love each other so much and are always hugging and kissing. I have the sweetest girls in the world.

Tonight I was reading library books to them and I got really sleepy so I snuggled up on Megan and she stroked my face while I closed my eyes for a few minutes. Well Elizabeth couldn't be left out so she climbed on the edge of the couch by Megan and started kissing my nose. Then Megan joined in, then Kaylee joined in. It was so fun. They all took turns kissing my nose telling me how much they love me. I love these moments of being a mom. I'm excited to have fun adventures with my girls as they get older.

Megan's first day of School

I think that this year in the mornings getting Megan ready for school is going to be a humongous challenge. I am SCARED. Today was the first official day of school but the Kindergarteners weren't being bused, only the older kids. So I got her up in plenty of time to get dressed, eat, brush teeth, get her backpack and go. Well from the moment she woke up she was screaming and yelling at me about how tired she was. Then trying to get her socks and shoes on was a nightmare. She screamed and cried forever. If I haven't mentioned she can be very OCD about her clothing and her hair and her room and well.....EVERYTHING. Well she took her socks off and put them on probably 10-15 times. Oh it was insane. Then trying to ask her what she wanted for breakfast was insane. She of course yelled and screamed at me again and again. Oh man.

I didn't really sleep well last night because I've had some wierd cough or maybe it's just allergies I don't know. But whatever it is, it has made my asthma act up so bad. I haven't had problems with my asthma like this but I had a bad attack last night and was up coughing forever. It was awful. It's been like that for about a week now. I think it's time to go to the doctor and get a new inhaler or something. I NEED SLEEP!!!!!

My children tend to think otherwise. Kaylee decided to climb in bed with me because she was scared. This was at about 12:00 am, I realized she was there around 2:30 and kicked her out. Then I went back to sleep and probably only a few minutes later was up coughing and couldn't go back to sleep until about 3:30-4:00. Then Scott woke up at 5:30 and I tried to sleep but Elizabeth woke up screaming and she came in bed by me. I tried to get her to sleep and I think she fell asleep around 6:50. Then of course my alarm went off at 7:00. Oh please don't let that be the typical night/morning for us. I think I might go crazy for lack of sleep.

Megan got off to school and was very cute showing Kaylee and Elizabeth where to go and what to do. She hung up her backpack and put her nametag on and put her magnetic button on the file cabinet saying she was having cold lunch. Then hugged us and she was off. Bye mom. I love ya, have fun.

The other girls and I are off to the library for pre-school storytime then to costco for diapers and lunch supplies for Megan. Yeah what a day. Scott has the laptop and that's what I have to download my pics on because our desktop is prior to USB ports and Memorystick slots so tonight I will put a couple pics of Megan up.

Tomorrow is the big BUS day. Megan can't wait.
Here is Megan again so cute ready to go to school.
One last picture with sisters before she leaves for the day.
Picking Megan up from school. This is her cubbyhole for her backpack and jacket.
As soon as we walked in the room to get Megan, she ran up to Liz and gave her the biggest hug ever, then she ran to Kaylee and did the same. It was sweet.
Grandma Carpenter: this picture is specifically for you. Megan asked that I take a picture of her backpack just so you can see it, since you asked for pictures of her first day of school.
While we were driving home Megan kept saying how tired she was. She came in and colored with Kaylee and then she grabbed a blanket and cuddled up on the couch and fell fast asleep.

Orientation Day for Megan

It was a very early morning for us today. Megan had Kindergarten Orientation. Yeah. She is so excited. We went and it was for an hour filling out paperwork and meeting her teacher and getting her school bus route and getting her cafeteria number. She loved it and had a blast. I must say that I am stinkin' tired. I couldn't sleep very well last night and had Scott's alarm going off at 5:30 for him to get to school and get ready for the day. I had just fallen back to sleep when he came in and kissed me goodbye. Once again I had just fallen asleep and Kaylee climbed in bed with me around 6:00(My alarm wasn't supposed to ring until 6:45), then we fell asleep and a few minutes later I heard Elizabeth calling out "momma, oh momma." She came in bed with us and tossed and turned and I begged her to sleep just a few more minutes for mommy. It didn't happen, Megan came and opened the door saying "Mom, is it time yet, I can't sleep anymore, I tried but I'm just so excited. Please can we go now?"

Well we got up and got ready, they look pretty sleepy though to me at the breakfast table as you can see. We all came home and watched my friend's little boy while she went to orientation then after that we all took a long nap. It was wonderful but it wasn't enough. Scott came home absolutely exhausted at 6:00. I think it's bedtime shortly.

The beautiful princesses all ready to get Megan to school. Today. They were so cute posing for the camera. Even Elizabeth looks happy here.
Megan giving her sassy/cute pose that she so often uses. She put on a pair of new socks and they were too thick for her shoes she wanted to wear so she ran and grabbed an older pair. I didn't notice them until we got the school. Oh well, I guess they match.
Elizabeth wanted to once again see the pictures of her before I had even taken them so of course she was crying and that's once again the picture I got of her. She's still stinkin' cute even though it's a sour face.
Kaylee was having a blast posing for me. She wanted to be a beautiful princess ballerina for me.
Megan was having a blast playing with the playdough and she even has a friend in her class. Lexie and Megan take ballet class together. They were both very excited.
This is Megan's teacher Mrs. Laugle. She is so very nice and sat with the kids and read stories and played while the parents were filling out paperwork. I think Megan is going to love it.

Megan got a new backpack along with all of the kids at the school. Plus several school districts in the area also got backpacks donated filled with supplies in them from Costco. It was awesome. Megan loves it but poor Kaylee was devastated when she didn't get something. Her and Elizabeth were playing at a friend's house. Tomorrow will be the big day and hopefully we'll get pictures of her in her new outfit that she picked out for the first day. The Kitty shirt.

Villains not Princesses

Well the other day right after I started this blog Megan and Kaylee were playing make believe. I was half listening as I was trying to get a few things done in the house when I hear Megan say in a cackling villains voice...." we are the evil villains who do dastardly things, not princesses."

Of course at that point listening to her say they were villains and watching them run around cackling I thouht to myself I definitely used the wrong name for the address to this blog, Princesses? No Villains, Scott likes to call them little terrorists because they run around like crazy and tear things apart and are sometimes absolutely crazy. But of course they are my little princesses in all that they say and most of the time what they do. Here are some pictures from today of the girls being what they do best....CUTE!!!!!

Kaylee being silly and leaning over backwards.


Elizabeth was just a little bit mad at me because I wanted her to show me her new clothes and be "pretty" but she just wanted to see her pictures on the camera. I asked her to smile but she just growled and gave me grumpy face.
cheese it girl. I used to make this same face for the camera when I was her age, Megan made it, Kaylee made it, now Elizabeth makes it. Goofy head.
Megan and Kaylee just went to a B-day party and this is her little horn from it.
My three villains, I mean Princesses, being silly and crazy together.

Canning

Well I finally canned fruit by myself. I was quite proud of myself. Our ward was given the chance to order pears from our one of our Church's (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Orchards in Southern Oregon. We got each box for $16 each, and they were beautiful and very good tasting pears. I decided it was time for me to start canning. My mom used to can all the time when we were younger, then we would only do pickles when I was older. I decided to rely upon my memory of canning with her and my sisters and a bunch of phone calls to my mom for quick tips. We bought one cause of pears and it took a lot of time because I was trying to keep my 3 little princesses happy and entertained and trying to do it by myself(not to mention for the first time in years). After 3 days of limited time to can I finished and I have 19 quart jars and 4 pint jars full of pears. Yeah for me!!!!
If any of you haven't canned before and want to, it's a lot easier than you think it is, just very time consuming.

Fun things we did this Summer

I decided to make a list of things we did this summer since I haven't been in contact with many of you for a while on a regular basis so here is my list. (It's a little long, there are lots of pictures so if you don't want to read it all you can look at those and maybe get an idea of our summer.)

1. We played host for lots of family this summer which was so much fun. My parents and sister Amy and her two little girls came for a week or so. It was so much fun. I hadn't seen Amy for 2 years. Her baby Sophia and I got to share a birthday cake together since our Birthdays are on the same day. It was so fun. Scott's parents and brother came for a weekend(they came and babysat for us.) My sister Melissa and her husband and two boys came to visit for about 2 weeks.

2. We went and visited Scott's family twice-once in June and once in August. It was a lot of fun. The girls always love going to Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter's house, they love having a slide and swings out the front door to play on and all the fun coloring and activity projects Grandma has for them to do. In August Scott's whole family was home. It was so much fun to see everyone. There are five kids in his family and three of us are married and live in different states, us in Oregon, one in Utah and one in Minnesota.

3. We live right along the Columbia River and there is the prettiest river walk that we love to walk along, there are always huge ships coming and going and there are sea lions at the end of the walk. There is also a trolley that runs from april-oct and is so fun to ride. We rode that several times this summer and tried to walk along the river walk 2-3 times a week at night. Megan cheesing for the Camera by the sea lions.

My sister Melissa and her son Caleb, top of Kaylee and Elizabeth's heads, riding on the trolley.

4. We live next to many lighthouses and this summer we visited Cape Disappointment lighthouse several times to show it to family. We also would visit Long Beach, WA which is just a few miles away from the lighthouse while we were at Cape Disappointment. There is a fun boardwalk along the beach and there is a skeleton of a gray whale. While we were at the lighthouse we saw a couple whales playing and spouting. It was pretty cool.

Cape Disappointment LightHouse and the side view of the cliffs and Pacific Ocean.

The Gray Whale Skeleton at Long Beach, WA-My nephews Nathaniel, Caleb and my Kaylee.

5. We drove to Mt. St. Helens when Melissa and her family were here with us. It is just a couple hours away from where we live. We went and walked in Ape Caves one of the lava tubes, then drove up to the look out area for the volcano. It was pretty cool. The temperature gets down to around 45 degrees and there is no light, (it's underground of course) and the further in you get the more humid and drippy wet. The kids were all scared as we climbed down the scary steep stairs into the darkness but when we turned around at the end to come back they all begged to stay and go again.

Funny stories-The roads are really windy up to Mt. St. Helens and Kaylee was sitting in the back. They had just eaten a string cheese when Kaylee kept saying her tummy didn't feel good and she was going to throw up. Well we stopped and she felt better. We started driving and she burped really loud-never heard something like that before from a child-then she cried that she was going to throw up. We stopped again and just as I was getting to her she threw up. It went all over her clothes and for the first time ever I didn't have extra clothes-who would have thought I mean we're 2 hours away from home. Well we put one of Elizabeth's diapers on her and hang her shorts and panties out the window to "air dry". When we got to the caves and put her shorts back on she was a little stinky.

Later Megan and Kaylee had to go potty when we were up looking at the volcano and so Scott held Megan by the side of the van (it was just our van and my sister's car no one else was around for miles) and she went potty. Then it was Kaylee's turn, she wasn't quite sure what to do and Scott couldn't really hold her well because she kept moving, well she went potty and with the awkward way she was held and the little breeze Scott ended up being a little wet the front of his shorts. It was pretty funny. We couldn't stop laughing. Not only were Kaylee's shorts gross and wet and stinky, she managed to get Scott's shorts wet and stinky and he didn't have extras either.

The entrance to Ape Caves and the steep scary stairs #1
Our fun adventure group in the dark-that's Elizabeth bundled up who later fell asleep in my arms while we walked. I bundled her up in my jacket and zipped her in. It was great!
Nathaniel with his head light on-he was very nervous to go in the caves and get anywhere near the volcano. We had fun teasing him that the tubes went up to the mountain and that it would start to "warm up" and he would see a "faint red glow" ahead.

Happy Elizabeth who fell asleep half way through the caves and slept soundly until we stopped for dinner.

6. After Mt. St. Helens we drove straight to Portland which was an hour and a half away. We ate dinner at Burgerville and tried to keep Kaylee in a corner-her shorts stunk so bad at this point in the day. After dinner we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens in Portland. It was so gorgeous. The kids loved it. If you ever want a place that is quiet and peaceful and amazingly green that is the place.

Melissa and I on the shuttle up to the gardens and a quiet path in the gardens-gorgeous
Kaylee, Caleb and Megan-they had so much fun together.

With all the beauty around them, at the end of the visit the girls and caleb only wanted to jump from the stairs and be caught on camera.

7. Scott and I went as chaperones with a group of 22 teenagers down to the Shakesperean Festival in Ashland, OR. We toured Southern Oregon University with the kids and got to go to "Much Ado About Nothing"- it was so good and so funny. We slept in the dorm rooms with no A/C, no wind and it was 90 degrees. Some of you may say that's nothing but to us who have gotten used to cool temperatures always and no A/C put into houses at all it was horrible. The bus ride one way was about 8 hours. Did I mention that we were on a bus with 22 teenagers.

8. Scott went on a salmon fishing trip in the ocean and caught 2 huge salmon and was very sick on the boat.

9. Playing in our backyard, swinging in the hammock, having a fire in the fire pit, tinfoil dinners, smores, smores and more smores, hauling wood and storing it for winter, watching the dinner, chewing out the raccoons for tearing up the grass, spraying the huge garden spiders and hoping you don't unknowingly walk into their massive webs that are invisible, watching my girls grow and play together. Dreading when Scott goes back to school and when Megan goes to school herself.

10.Visiting Indian Beach at Ecola State Park which is right next to Canon Beach where Haystack rock is. Most people know Canon Beach for Haystack rock where the movie Goonies was filmed and one-eyed willie's pirate ship sailed away at. Well Indian Beach is just a little bit more north, just around a couple big rocks, from where Haystack rock is at. We went with Melissa and her family to this beach early in the morning to catch low tide so we could see all the tide pools. It was gorgeous, you have to walk over a little bridge and creek and it's not super sandy like other beaches by us and there are awesome rocks and tide pools that have star fish(huge ones) and crabs and shrimp and little fish(don't remember their names but their tiny) and barnacles and the water is warm there compared to other beaches and we found tons of whole sand dollars. It was so much fun.

I'm sure there are many more things I could post but you are probably thinking that I have rambled on much more than I should have-will she ever stop? Yes I am stopping.