Abbi's started preschool

Abbi started preschool just a couple weeks ago. So far she's loved it and looks forward to going. She loves telling people that she goes to school too. She has cute friend, Cassidy who she goes with and they love it. I'm finding out that having a girl go to school is more time consuming for me since I have to do her hair. With Zac his hair is usually so short that we don't even comb it most days. But with Abbi I have to make sure there's extra time to do her hair. But it all pays off because once she's in school I only have 1 kid for 2 1/2 hours.

Keep that patch on!

This is our newest tactic at keeping the patch on Carter.

Poor guy! This was a few days ago and since then we've only used the socks (no tape) and he seems to think it's fun to have socks on his hands. He still kicks and screams about putting the patch on, but once the socks are on he doesn't bother the patch. After awhile he'll pull the socks off but so far the patch has been staying on. (knock on wood) At least it's only for an hour.

First Grade

Zac's first day of first grade was on Tuesday. He was very excited and I was sort of nervous to have him go the whole day. It started off with pancakes and Zac requested a pancake with a 1 on it for his first first grade day. (That is a one on that pancake)
Next we were late to school. That's a good thing to do on the first day of school. We were just a couple minutes late and the teachers are very prompt on the first day. He didn't miss much though so it turned out okay. As the day went on I realized that I was missing him and I was sort of sad he was gone the whole day. So even though he is my child that tests my limits it was sort of sad to have him gone. I think I'll get over that though. I can do so much more with only 2 kids during the day. I forgot to put his sandwich in his lunch so I had to go to his school to take it to him and I think he was sort of embarrassed by me coming there. That's a first (and I'm sure not a last). After it was all said and done he loved it and the main thing he said about the day was, "We got 3 times to go out and play!" Today was his second day and his teacher wrote in his planner that he brings home everyday that his card was turned to yellow today (that means he got in trouble). He was messing around in line with another boy (really?!) So we talked about it and he promised he would try to be better. Then he had a paper in his backpack where he had to draw how he felt about first grade. He was supposed to draw a picture of himself. He drew it with tears on his cheeks. I asked him about it and he said it was because of his yellow card. That made me sad but then I realized it's probably good he at least feels bad about it. But I think 3 times of playing a day will make him happy to go back.

The patch is back!

Carter went back to the eye doctor this past week. I was really quite nervous about the visit since his eyes seem to be crossing again. I was just really worried about what the doctor would say. Our pediatrician had even commented on how they were crossing and he was worried so that made me even more worried. But the eye exam went better than I expected. I was worried that they would have to do surgery again soon and ... well there were tons of worries going on in my head. The doctor told us that his eyes are crossing when he looks at things up close but they don't cross when he's looking far away. That is expected because most kids need the surgery 2 or 3 times for it to really work. So he will need the surgery again but now not and we don't know when. The doctor did say his one eye seemed a little stronger than his other eye so we have to patch. But we only have to do it for 1 hour a day. Last time it was 4 hours so 1 hour doesn't seem like much. So for the next 3 months we'll be patching. But this has proved to be a challenge. First of all I need to make myself do it. Yes, I know it's the best thing for him but it makes me feel awful. And second of all, Carter isn't quite the gem he used to be about wearing it. Before when he wore it, it barely bothered him. Now he hates it and tries and tries to get it off and usually succeeds before the hour is over. The first day he wore it for the whole hour without problem. Since then he hasn't worn it for an hour. It's more like 1/2 hour or 45 minutes before he rips it off. So I don't know what I'm going to do about that one. Plus those patches are pricey so using 2 or 3 a day doesn't seem plausible. Hopefully he'll just get used to it more. Hopefully.

Zac's Growing Up

All of the sudden we have a first grader in the house that's missing a tooth. How did he grow up so fast? Zac was the sweetest little baby boy and Carter reminds me of him in a lot of ways. See...
Well, all the sudden he's growing up. He had to give his first report at school during his last week. They had to choose an animal and he chose a king snake because he saw another poster of a cool looking snake in the hall at school. I was amazed at how interested he was in it. His Grandpa Haynie read him the book about king snakes one night and he remembered and understood so much of it. We made a poster and he had had to fill out a paper about the king snake then read it to his class at school. On the second to last day of school, Zac's kindergarten class had a end of the year program. They were supposed to dress up in their favorite outfit or what they wanted to be when they grew up. Can you guess what Zac wore? A firefighter's turnouts? Pink tights? Shirt and shorts? No. Watch the video and enjoy.


I tried to talk him out of the batman costume since it didn't really fit what they were supposed to wear but in the end I decided that it didn't really matter and he could be what he wanted. And he told me, "Mrs. Foster said we could wear whatever we want!"

Then that weekend he lost his first tooth. Those of you with children might understand that this day has been long awaited for. He's been telling me for years that he has a loose tooth. Just the week before I was telling him that he just may not loose a tooth until he's 7 and that's okay. So when he actually had a loose tooth I didn't believe him. It didn't stay loose for long though and Tom accidentally helped him pull it out while we were at a family reunion. Luckily Zac didn't mind all the blood and stuff because it was so exciting to lose a tooth.
So now he's growing up and first grade starts in 17 days. First grade seems to be a jump since it's all day. Kindergarten was almost annoying since he was only gone for a couple hours and in that sense 1st grade will be nicer. But at the same time, he's going to be gone all day. It's like I have to share him with the world now. Oh well, growing up in inevitable. Just makes me want to enjoy those little years even more.

Classic Comments

Tomorrow we're getting a new Stake President at church. I was explaining this whole concept to Zac and he wanted to know who the new Stake President was going to be. I told him I didn't know but we would find out when we went tomorrow. He paused then said, "Well if it's me I'll be really surprised." Won't we all.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

If I let her Abbi would go out everyday looking like this. Our sweet princess girl. After this picture she was found putting huge amounts of my blush on in the bathroom. She just can't resist getting all beautiful.

I'm not sure this is quite as sweet

Well, after posting all of Carter's sweet things he went and did this--


If you can't tell he knocked over the liquid soap all over the rug in the bathroom. Thank goodness for the "new quick pour cap."

I think he's still sweet though.

Carter's Sweetness

I love that his pants fall off as he crawls.

He loves to cross his ankles like this and I think it's so cute.

He's become obsessed with the silverware as I do dishes and taste tests what we've eaten all day.

This picture cracks me up.

He loves playing with his dad (although I'm always telling Tom to stop).


And he loves our dog Maia. When no one will play ball with Maia (her obsession), she gets desperate and lets Carter play with her.

Full Circle

For Zac's 2nd Christmas we got him a toy vacuum. He had been obsessed with the vacuum since he was a baby and when I saw a toy vacuum at the store I thought he might like it. That was an understatement. The kid loved that toy. It's probably one of the most played with toys in our house. And other kids love playing with it too when they come over. I still can't figure out why it's so popular. But this past week while my back was still sore, my carpet really needed vacuuming so I decided maybe Zac was old enough to do it for me. Well, it's not as exciting as he used to think it was. And he doesn't quite get the concept of how to get all the carpet clean. So I think I won't be passing that chore on to him quite yet, unfortunately. But in the meantime, Carter has a obsession with the vacuum too. Good thing we have just the toy for him in the basement.