Last Preschool Fieldtrip

Today was the last day of our neighborhood preschool. This has been a great experience. The key was doing it with 2 Mom's who were on the same page- creative, dependable, organized etc. I think it was the perfect answer for this year. Next year all 3 kids will head to a local traditional preschool. We've heard great things about it and I really think Kai will love it.

We wrapped up the year with a fieldtrip to downtown. We rode TRAX (the train) to downtown, ate lunch and wandered around at Temple Square, and then explored the Planetarium. This month we were sturdying transportation (land, air, water, and space) so it was a fun way to wrap it all up. The kids had a blast and the weather was great so it was fun for all.

Sunday Photos

Last Sunday:






Today:

(Check Out Those Teeth)



(Starting Saturday morning this is now how we find Rori when getting her out of bed)

UT Angelman Walk 2009

Today there were Angelman Syndrome Walk-A-Thon's being held all over the country and for the first time there was one in Utah. We headed out to it and had so much fun seeing all the Angelman kids (or Whitney Friends as Kai says). There were probably 15-20 AS kids at the UT walk which we thought was a ton. It was a great walk and so much fun to get to chat with all of these amazing families. We even met 2 families that live really close to where we do which is wild to me. For us these things provide an opportunity to connect with people that feel like long lost family members. It is a place where you might get grabbed or huged by a passing Angel and there is no need for explanantion or apology. It's awesome!

When we have gone to Angelman things in the past we generally see somewhat younger kids because most of the ones Whitney's age or older were mis-diagnosed as something else at a young age and din't have the more advanced chromosomal testing now available to these younger families. There were several younger ones at the walk today but there were also a few older kids which was neat to see as well.

Mom and Dad were co-chairs of the San Diego walk again this year. They put a TON of work in to it and have no doubt one of the best walks around the country. Think auctions, helicopters landing, prizes etc. We talked to them on the phone earlier and heard that the San Diego walk went great. Congrats to them!

A New Ride

Kai made a great deal this week:

-A new "big kid" spiderman bike for $10 from a friend up the street that had outgrown it.

-A new helmet for $5 from a local place that must buy them in bulk and then sell for cheap as a form of community service.

Grand Total= $15 of pure bliss and endless summer entertainment. We are all thrilled!!!

Rori at 9 Months

Rori turned 9 months old this week. It seems wild to me that she is already that old. She is such a cute little thing. It is exciting to see the little person she is becoming. She got a good report at her 9 month check-up. Her 9 month stats were:

Weight:18 pounds 2.5 ounces - 40% (our homework is to try and chunk her up a bit. Ha!)
Height: 29 1/2 inches - 97%
*Kai was almost exactly the same at the same age which is interesting.

Here are 9 things about Rori at 9 months old that we'd like to remember:

Rori at 9 months:

1. Has 2 bottom teeth that have barely come through all at once.
2. Is finally doing a traditional crawl and enjoying the new freedom to put to use some of that constant squirming and moving around.
3. Wants Mom to be within 5 feet at all times which is driving Mom a bit nuts.
4. Loves to give big smiles and waves to people around us, but will strongly protest if anyone other than Mom and Dad tries to hold her.
5. Has a strong little personality. Don't mess with this little one or she will give you a piece of her mind with lots of protesting babbling. It makes it hard for Mom and Dad not to laugh and encourage this behavior.
6. Continues to be a great sleeper. Sleeps about 3 1/2 to 4 hours during the day and from 7:30pm-7:30am at night. We lay her down, give her a kiss and she just goes to sleep.
7. Gets people coming up to her all the time asking where she is getting this red hair from. The new hair in the back is looking pretty light but the stuff on top is still red.
8. Loves riding in the double jogger next to brother. We think she thinks that it is what big kids do and so now she is big too.
9. Thinks Kai is so funny. He is very good at getting her to belly laugh. The crawling is just beginning to allow her to get in to whatever he is doing. Today he told me that she always wants what he has and I told him that that is just what little sisters do when they get bigger. :D

Getting Familiar with Nature Again

It has been a lingering winter. It didn't seem like as strong as some, but it just lingered along. As a result I guess we are a little extra excited about being outside in the Spring and Summer this year. Plus I was fairly pregnant last year which made it a bit less enticing to be out in the heat. So, I guess in honor of Spring this week we:

1) Set up the new tent (with our neighbors Romney and Addy) that Lance and Kai picked out with the help of a Christmas gift card. They are currently planning on using this on some male bonding adventures. Rori and I prefer playing in nature and then sleeping in our own beds at this time. If you look very closely at the one picture you can see the kids trying it out.





2) We did a quick hike up to Ensign Peak on Saturday morning. We found this awesome backpack with sunshade on Craig's List for a great deal. Rori did great in it and Kai was in heaven to be hiking again. He really loves hiking and amazes me with how far and fast he can already go (he started doing some pretty good size hikes on his own the summer before his 2nd birthday). This should be a fun and healthy activity for our family again this summer- and now we have a great way for Rori to join in.


(This is where we started and the highest point you can see is where we took the last pictures- and for some people's sakes it is really a more gradual slope down -versus cliff edge- than it appears in the last pictures) :D

Tulips

A couple of weeks ago we took our preschool fieldtrip to the Tulip Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. The Tulips were beautiful, there was lots of space for the kids to run annd log roll, and it served as a fun place to play with my camera. I haven't posted some of my favorite shots from it yet because we decided to give this picture to our Mom's for Mother's Day:



So here are some of my other favorites from the trip now that they've gotten their pictures:

Happy Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day to all the great women in our lives!



I for one had a very nice and fun weekend. A yummy brunch, a family hike, a Volleyball game with friends that feel like cousins (this is how their little girl that I watched in London as a baby referred to Kai), a husband that let me sleep in a little longer than usual and made blueberry waffles for breakfast, a husband that gave a great talk at Church, a little boy that was "super good" all day and made me a cute gift with his picture, and a little girl that decided that today would be a fine day to start crawling. Thank you!

They say...

...that there are less pictures taken with each child you have. Fortunately we are doing our part to beat that stereotype. A fun camera and girl clothes are definately helping the cause. Oh, and if you look very close in these you might spot Rori's 1st tooth which made its debut last Sunday. Other than a runny nose she didn't warn us much about it which is great.