Preschool

Thank goodness for preschool. Without my awesome friends who keep agreeing to do this with me, my girls and I would not survive. :) Whitney has been so excited about her one-morning-a week preschool for months. And now with Kate in school, it's so nice for Whitney to have her own little thing. She has already been more motivated to learn her letters and practice writing them since it started. She just was NOT interested before! But I've been happy to discover that she is a quick learner when she actually cares about learning, and that she DOES have the ability to focus on something academic for longer than 2 minutes at a time. So we're having fun.

So her first morning of preschool she woke me up 2 hours before it was time to go, wearing this exact outfit. Which she had picked out and laid out the night before with zero advice from me. :)

She looked so haphazardly cute! And she wanted her picture taken RIGHT AWAY. And that's how we ended up outside before eating breakfast, the sun barely up, taking this picture.

And this one. We love how huge her backpack is!!

Yay for little Whitney.

Lydia

I've forgotten to post about something important- my newest niece! And the girls' 3rd cousin! We were excited to go to her blessing a few weeks ago, because we haven't been able to attend the other cousins' blessings in California. She was beautiful and so was her mama (way to go Katrina!)and it was so sweet to hear her blessing by her awesome dad. I'm kind of attached to my siblings, and I am SO grateful that Katrina is nearby for the time being. While she was on her mission I had no siblings in Utah and it was sad. But since she's been back we've also had Donny for a semester, and in January Derek will be up here to spend the next 4 years or so! Wonderful. And now we have a cousin close by. Thanks Katrina- I know this isn't your first choice of a place to live, but I'm sure thrilled about it. :)

our favorite hike again

We have done this hike in Santaquin canyon several times, but we hadn't done it yet this year because a landslide was blocking the road for part of the summer. So we finally went last Saturday and it was beautiful.

We've discovered with Whitney that she can only walk about 100 meters before she gets bored and claims she's too tired to go any farther. BUT, if we find things to catch her interest or challenge her- " look a butterfly! Let's see if there's any more up ahead by those flowers!" "Ooh, a rocky part of the trail. How many rocks can you step on?"etc.-she can go for miles. It's a bit exhausting, but can be a fun way to hike. She just does not care at all about getting to a destination (besides the car) whereas Katelyn is all about destinations, goals, plans, that kind of thing.

So anyway, we went quite a bit farther this time than we had gone before, because we finally got to the part that we'd been told about, where you have to walk in the river for a while. It was SO cool!! The water was FREEZING and several times Eric and I carried the girls through deeper parts- okay not even up to my knees- and I almost felt like a pioneer! I couldn't feel my feet they were so cold, and it was 70* outside! So I could imagine why, if it was actually cold outside, they would come to a river and just cry because they knew what it was going to cost to get across.

Here are the girls venturing in for the first time

walking on a trail of rocks in the stream

Eric carrying Whitney through this really cool part with rock walls on both sides

katelyn bravely making her way

and later with dad's help

It was fun to discover something new on a trail we already liked.

And Eric only carried Whitney for the last half-mile or so. :)

First day of school! First day of school!- name that movie...

We have entered a new phase in our lives. I knew it would never be the same, but still. You can't really know until you're there. It's a good thing Katelyn was completely ready for it in every way. She's smart, she's friendly, she's confident. She's obedient. Excited to go off and do something on her own every day. It's also a good thing I feel good about her school. She'll be safe and taken care of there. There's only 12 kids in her class, so she won't be overlooked. I'm glad I didn't have to worry about any of these factors. But I didn't think Whitney would miss her as much as she does. I knew I wouldn't really miss her for only 3 hours a day, but the impact of what we're getting into has definitely hit me. This is the beginning of her life outside of her home becoming more and more important as it takes up more and more of her time each day as she grows older. When I was in High school I felt like I was never home. And I know you get to that point gradually, but still. The time of me having control over everything she sees and hears is over! We had a good talk about how I want her to talk to me about anything that goes on away from home that doesn't make her feel good inside. Anything that scares or upsets or bothers her, I want to know about. I've realized more than ever how much I want my home to be a sancuary, a safe and peaceful, happy and loving place. Because I'm not worried about her surroundings yet, at school and music class and soccer. But I have a better sense now of how little time I actually have with my children before they're out in the world. Of how few years and how few hours in the day I will be with them to influence and teach them. So I've got to step it up a notch. Just be aware and more deliberate about the things I do and say with my kids. Because our lives got a whole lot busier a couple of weeks ago, and I can only imagine the years ahead. So I have to make sure the most important things and feelings find a place in our lives.

Whew.

Okay now on to the cute pictures.

Here she is on her first day. She asked me every 2 minutes all morning- " is it time to go yet??"

first day again- different pose

of course Whitney wanted a picture taken too

Second day- I made this skirt but she didn't love it because it was "too hard to climb on the playground" in it :)

Another day. I made this jumper out of an old dress of mine that I hadn't worn in years. It has ruffles all down the front, so cute. And she says it's comfortable too.

And here she is before her first soccer game that same week. She looks so cute in those shin guards! I'll save all the soccer commentary for a later soccer post, but let's just say 5-year-old soccer has been entertaining. As expected.

Hooray for the first day of school! And the movie is Finding Nemo by the way.

freckles

This is the top of my arm.

I am so behind on blogging, and this is the post I choose to do first??

Well, yes. Because I have to announce that this summer I got the best tan I've had in years.

Thank you swimming lessons and the resulting desire to swim a couple of times a week for the rest of the summer!

Thank you Mexico trip that gave me a head start!

And thank you weather for actually giving us a hot enough August.

The top of my legs are actually a shade darker than my stomach. Shocking! and so vain of me to care!

Anyway, I've been enjoying my freckles. And I remembered that last summer at the Hansen Family Reunion Donny had been surprised at how many freckles I had on my shoulders. I love my freckles. And then a couple of weeks ago in church, Katelyn leaned over to me and said " mom I have 7 freckles on my arm!" and I said, "cool! do you want to count the freckles on my arm now?" I held it out and she put her finger up to count but then stopped and said "whoa, that's way too many!" and it made me laugh, and smile.

I love summer and freckles. I'm going to miss them both.