Easter Egg Hunt in Pinedale

Kysa went Easter Egg hunting in between our volleyball games.

Braden's Birthday Party

Raleigh had a great time at Braden's birthday party in Rexburg a couple of
weeks ago. They played dodgeball, went swimming, and Aunt Claire even had
an Easter Egg hunt for them in the dance studio.

Tax Day Tea Party Has Come and Gone...

WHEW! Taxes done, in my usual form--at the last minute. It was quite a busy day today! Ty had a parent meeting tonight for summer basketball, then open gym. I went to the tax day tea party at the river prior to heading to Skyline. Good turnout despite the rain. I enjoyed hearing from Mel Richardson. He's great, and really understands the constitution. Fun to see Barb there and quite a few familiar faces, but many more than I didn't know. Whitney Shetrumpf and Jenna Zollinger babysat for us while we were at the gym. (Jenna was a bonus as we lined up Whit but she had Jenna come over!)

Funny thing Kysa said earlier in the week, kind of out of the blue...

"I am a HUGE princess."
I said, "Kysa, you're not a huge princess!"
She responded, "No, I am a BIG Little Princess!"

Yesterday she was in her car seat and exclaimed,
"Mom, I got my boog-ay (booger)...........I ATE IT!"

The babysitter reported that she told them "I can drive the car."
One of them said, "Wow, you can drive a car?"
She said confidently, "Of course!"

She often tells me she can do things, like go to school, because she turned three. She is actually going to get her chance in about a week. Idaho Falls High School home economics students are teaching a 4-week long preschool that goes from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. every day. It only costs $20 and I got her signed up for it the other day. Shay can do it with her next year as it's for 3 and 4 year olds. I imagine Kysa is going to eat it up.

I am excited for the weekend as Kirby and Andrew are coming and Ty and I are actually going to get a babysitter and go out with them on Friday night. Gretchen and Dave are meeting us here at 7 and we are planning to go to Iggy's. Then on Sunday we are having some friends over for dinner...Kirby's friend Lindsay Beck and her husband who recently moved to Idaho Falls, and Brandon and Cynthia Taggart.

Now backtracking a day or two...
The volleyball tournament in Pinedale last Saturday was really fun. I had a great time driving over with Andrea Baldwin and she played some awesome v-ball in the tourney. Kysa came with us and was an absolute angel. She wasn't a bit of a problem and slept most of the car ride both there and back. Never even turned on the DVD player.

Raleigh got the "screature" he wanted for Easter, which he earned by keeping his room clean for a month and a half. He is a good kid. He does really good at the basketball clinics I'm doing on Tuesday nights at Skyline. Yesterday night he and his buddy Brennan Bodily (another kindergartner) won the dribble tag game with the 2nd and 3rd grade group. We had to call it a tie after a minute because they couldn't get each other out. Raleigh's favorite thing to do is not to play basketball though, it's to play HALO! We've been trying to limit it to only a day or two a week that he can play. We should probably just get rid of it altogether, but sometimes it's so helpful to have a "carrot". He'll do just about anything to earn HALO time. I hope it's not too bad for him to play. I guess as long as it's the good guys versus the bad guys, which it seems to be. I don't know how I feel about it. Some parents would probably condemn me for letting my kindergartner play Halo!

Shay is talking more and more every day, and she seems to say words exactly like Kysa. For example, they both pronounce the word "Paper"--"Pay-Pay". She gets along with Kysa more than she did a month or two ago, but they still have their battles. Today, Kysa handed her something she wanted, and she said, "Kysa share...Kysa share with me!" So I think she's starting to understand the concept of sharing, which is obviously huge. She is also becoming more sympathetic. If I get mad at Kysa, often Shay will stroke my arm and say, "Nice....Nice....mommy." But it's not like she is telling me to be nice to Kysa, but more like she is comforting me in a sweet little voice because she recognizes that I am upset. It's really interesting how she operates. I think Shay is going to be very bright. Raleigh has a great memory and is good with numbers. Kysa has amazing fine motor skills and is going to have excellent handwriting. But I think Shay will be our braniac-maniac. I hope they all do well in school. But my prediction is that Shay will have the highest ACT / SAT scores. That's probably silly to say at this age. We'll see if they prove me wrong.

Happy Easter!

Mom, thanks for all the fun Easter gifts…the kids loved all the stuff.  I wanted to also tell you something funny about our observant little Kysa.  We were getting in the Expedition at Apple the other day, and Kysa walked around the back of the Ex to get her side and exclaimed, “mom, this is not our car---look!”  She was pointing at the bumper where my McCain-Palin bumper sticker had been.  I finally took it off earlier in the week and she noticed it was gone.  I told her I took it off, and she just said, “Okay mom...it is our car?”  Yes, Kysa.

 

Spencer Maxfield came over tonight for a little while, at Raleigh’s request.  He babysat for us last weekend, and when I asked Raleigh how he compared to the other babysitters, Raleigh said, “Oh, he’s better mom.”  Raleigh said he was the best babysitter because 1) he liked Halo way more than the other babysitters 2) he knew how to make “real” food.  (Raleigh was impressed that he made them corn dogs from the freezer.)  3) he could do two things at once—play with Raleigh and help the girls  and 4)  he has a car—none of the other babysitters have a car!  Raleigh said the only problem is that he doesn’t know how to change diapers.  Good thing the girls are doing good with their potty training!  Ha.

 

 

morning trash talk--dance moves

The girls were bee boppin while they ate their cereal this morning, and I said, “Are you doing your dance moves?”  They both said yes.  Then Shay copied the side to side wiggle that Kysa was doing.  Ky didn’t like it and said,

 

“Shay, don’t do that.  That’s MY dance move!” 

 

Then Kysa got off her stool and did some moving and grooving.  She stopped, looked at me and said, “That was a BOY dance move.” 

Kids Height and Weight

Height and Weight, March 30^th

Raleigh: 49 3/8” and 53 lbs

Kysa: 40 3/8” and 40 lbs

Shay: 35 7/8” and 31 lbs

more trash talking

Kysa was in the kitchen jibber-jabbering this morning while I was rocking Shay in the living room.  Shay hollered something at Kysa and Kysa yelled back, “I not talking to you Shay!”

A Professional WHAT?

I was taking the shell off a boiled egg for Raleigh and he said, “Dad is like a professional egg peeler.  He never even has to wash it off.”

 

Ty is stuck in Dillon, MT tonight because we got a bunch of snow and Monida pass is closed.  He’s with some guy on his team from Mud Lake.  They got third out of 31 teams in the 6’1” and under division.  He’s swimming and sitting in the hot tub…I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get everything done that I need to this week!

swimming at Apple

I went running this morning at Apple (I got 6.4 running in, and .6 walking)
and then took the kids swimming. Shay was doing great in her lifejacket,
learning to balance and swim by herself and float / swim on her back. Kysa
showed her how. I like to put Kysa in her float suit when I take all three
of them so I don't have to worry about her drowning. She is such a fish.
Raleigh loves wearing his goggles and swimming underwater.

Ty said they won last night big, and if they win at 1 p.m. they will have 2
more games to win for the championship.

Good to be HOME!

Well, we survived our California trip and Grandma Ro and Grandpa Jer-Bear survived Shay for six days. We left Sunday around 11:45 (after a spring snowstorm) and mom met us in Pocatello with Shay at 4:15 this afternoon. After hauling stuff in from the car and re-packing, Ty was off to Anaconda for a 11 p.m. game with Chad Williams and the rest of the 6'1" and under team that Ty has played with in past years. Ty just missed their first game at 9 a.m. this morning which was a 30 point victory. I hope they can win it! Busy week for Ty.

I still can't believe what troopers Kysa and Raleigh were on the trip. Much better than I anticipated. It helps to have the DVD player for sure, but we didn't watch movies the entire time and our selection was somewhat limited. Kirby and Andrew gave us several good choices but we didn't bring any of our own and I think we ended up watching "Elf" seven or eight times. Pretty
sure I have most of it memorized at this point. During our travels, we stayed with Will and Leslee in San Ramon, Amy and Eric in Ventura, and LaRae and Adam in the St. George area. We were going to stay at a hotel last night but Raleigh said he really wanted to go and play with LaRae's kids, even though they were only 2 and almost 1. Raleigh really likes little kids
and it's fun to see him try to be helpful. LaRae made us a delicious breakfast this morning and it was cool to get to know Adam and see their cute little boys.

I thought I might get a chance to watch the NCAA's tonight, at least a little bit, but that was a dream. Too much to do, and the kids kept me hopping! Or should I say, Kysa and Shay kept me hopping! The girls are so cute together at times, but they fight like cats and dogs, and on a dime
they can go from playing nicely to battling it out. Thank goodness Raleigh is such a good helper. As I was putting them down for bed after their baths I was taking turns brushing Shay's hair and then going into Kysa's room to brush her hair. A couple of rotations, then lights out, bed time. Well, that's how it's supposed to work! As I was brushing Shay's hair she hollered something at Kysa.

Kysa grumbled, "Shay, I gonna kick your butt!"

Shay yelled, "No, my butt!" I don't know what I'm gonna do with those two.

Kysa went to sleep fine after that little exchange, but Shay ended up getting shut in her room to cry herself to sleep. I'm not into endless hair brushing. Once she says "no!" to me and starts kicking, the game is over and she gets shut in her room.

It's kind of sad because it's unanimous among those who were around her this week that Shay is a different person when she doesn't have Kysa to contend with. The only time she reverted back to her naughtiness was around Snowshack the cat. She was also a little gruff with Max and Nochie. Competition I guess.

GRANDMA RO'S REPORT ON "SHAY-ISMS"

Dad was walking toward the bedroom and remarked, "Little dunklin, keeps
busy." Shay said, "I Shay "
She was looking at pictures and said, "Me" , as she pointed to herself in
one!
She is very smart. I loved having her. I love 'em all, it's just so much
more we are used to, but we love it, once a year!! Love, MOM

Here is a great example of Shay the antogonist, from tonight:

Pismo Beach Faceplant

Pismo Beach, originally uploaded by kalyship.

This was Kysa's introduction to the Pacific Ocean--a full out face plant at Pismo Beach. The first time the tide came up past her feet she was so shocked (it was COLD) that she lost her balance. I wasn't standing next to her at the time so I had to run over to pick her up off her belly, which Ty caught in this picture.

California Trip

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing at Will and Leslee Ellsworth's house in San Ramon with their kids Broc and Keily.

We are headed south tomorrow to visit Amy. Here is a clip of the Raleigh and Ky jammin' out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbhIGGpLe0k

Hopefully Shay is still behaving herself. Mom said she was an angel after we left yesterday and I hope that continues. She seems to be a different girl when she doesn't have Kysa to contend with.

Out of Control

Supercurl

Shay's Birthday

Shay got a My Little Pony (so did Kysa), a hat that Kelsy made (so did
Kysa), and soap.