First grade and preschool

Well a new school year has begun.  I can't believe McKenna is in 1st grade.  She was so excited to go back to school, and frankly so was I :) We got to meet her teacher at back to school night and her name is Mrs. Tuttle.  I have heard good things about her and she seems to be really nice so I am glad that she has her.  It was fun that her Aunties got to be there on her first day of school.  Auntie Lindsay did her hair so pretty and McKenna picked out her outfit the night before.  Graysen of course had to be with her when we took her to school and even to walk her inside.  She just went right in and acted like she had been doing this forever.  I must say though the thing she was most excited about was to be able to take a lunch to school. I will definitely miss her since she is gone all day.

 Graysen is in preschool for the first time and he was so excited to be going to school just like McKenna.  He loved that he got to take his backpack to school and be all grown up.  He didn't fare so well when I dropped him off though.  He didn't want me to leave, but we negotiated and I was finally able to sneak out and he did great.  My little boy is getting so big.  He only goes once a week which is good because I would miss him too much if it was more.

 I love my kids and am so excited to see what they will do this school year.

Beach fun

My mom and sisters came to visit for a week and we had so much fun!  Since I have moved here 3 years ago I have yet to have a good day at the beach, but this one wasn't have bad, so I will take it.
We decided to go to Lincoln City which was nice.  It was somewhat warm, but foggy which as most of you know is just typical Oregon coast weather.

 The kids still had a blast playing in the water and in the sand.  McKenna got buried by Auntie and Isla. Graysen loved playing in the water with grandma and playing in the sand with the buckets.

  It was fun to be there with my mom, sisters and my niece and nephew.  It is so cool that the beaches and places we used to go growing up are now places we can take our own kids.  It makes it so much more special.

Graysen's 3rd birthday

I can't believe that my little man is already 3 years old!  He is such a wonderful little boy and is such a character.  The things that come out of his mouth are just so funny. He is so smart, and he pretty much potty trained him self a couple of weeks ago.  He loves everything and wants to be just like his big sister.  He is so fun and such a sweet little boy.  I love how he has so much energy, but can entertain himself.  If you give him a stick or rocks he is a happy camper.
For his birthday we had some yummy cinnamon rolls and eggs when he woke up, and he got to us the special birthday plate.

 He was so happy it was his birthday and he felt so special.  I made him a sign that said Happy Birthday and hung it on the wall.

After we got ready, we headed up to Beaverton to go to Pump it up, or as Graysen says "pump a dump." That is where Graysen wanted to go for his birthday so we wanted to make him happy.  We went to lunch first when we got up there with Grandma and Aunt Lynette, and then we headed over to pump it up.
The kids had so much fun there!  There were not a lot of kids there which was so nice because they had the big slide all to themselves.  They pretty much spent the whole time going down the big slide, but I didn't mind because then I don't have to follow them everywhere :)

After a couple hours they got tuckered out so we decided to head home. Daddy couldn't come to Pump it Up because he had surgery on his hip and he wasn't feeling too well, so it was nice to see him when we got back to Gram and Papa's, and Papa was there too.
We got some pizza from costco and had dinner outside on the deck which was really nice.  I love eating outside when it is nice.  I like that Graysen is old enough to tell us what he wants, it makes planning so much easier for me.  He wanted pump it up, pizza and a spider man cake; easy!
Graysen got open his presents after dinner, and he was so excited!  He picked out which ones he wanted to open first.  He got a lot of neat things.  He got a light up pillow pet because sister had one and so that he was he wanted, a spider man doll, clothes, planes, a dinosaur stuffed animal and a puzzle and a book, and a tool set.  He was ecstatic about all the toys and things he got and wanted to play with them right away.

We sang him Happy Birthday and had spider man cake and ice cream which was sooo good! He kept digging into the cake and eating all the frosting off the sides of the cake and the middle, he loved it.  I am glad he had such a good time and that we could share it with family.  I love my little man and am so happy with the person he is and becoming.

McKenna's Princess Disneyland party

The family vacation was planned perfectly so that we could have McKenna's birthday while we were at Disneyland.  She was so excited to be going there for her birthday, and more importantly that her cousins were going to be there for it.
In the morning we got up and wished her happy birthday then got ready and went to Disneyland for a little bit.  Around lunch time we came home and the kids ate, and then the party started to commence.
All the girls had princess dresses which they had brought, and we gave McKenna's to her for her birthday.  They got dressed up and then I did there hair and put some princess makeup on them.  They were all so excited and they all looked so cute! They played together for a while and showed everyone how pretty they were.

Then we sang to McKenna and had cake and ice cream.  Since she was princess Aurora, we had to get her an Aurora cake, and she was so happy about that.  After cake and ice cream, she got a special call from Prince Philip.  He asked her lots of questions and told her to look for him at the castle when she went back to Disneyland because he would try to be there to meet her if he could.  The girls kept giggling and were so excited to hear him on the phone.  It was so cool to see how much fun they were having.

She opened presents and got some really fun things.  She got a Ken doll which she has been wanting forever, a light up pillow pet, some cute clothes, some princess jewelry, and of course her princess dress. She was so thankful for all her presents and so excited to play with them.
After that we headed back to Disneyland to ride more things and go on the Radiator Springs ride which we had been waiting for all day.  It was such a fun time with everyone. We had a blast, and McKenna said she had a wonderful birthday.

They had fireworks at night which we told McKenna were just for her for her birthday, and she was so happy when we told her that.  They all sat and watched the fireworks while eating ice cream bars.  It was such a fun day and I am so glad we could make it a magical birthday for her.
McKenna is such a sweet and wonderful little girl. She is always so willing to help others, and watches out for her brother which I love.  She is getting so good at reading and writing and is such a smart little girl.  She amazes me everyday with her joy and her love for life.  She definitely keeps me on the go, but I couldn't have asked for a better daughter.  We love her so much and are so blessed she is a part of our family.  She is going to do great things, and I am excited to have a front row seat to her life.
 She was tuckered out at the end of  the day though, she couldn't even stay awake.  My wonderful sleeping beauty :)

Last day of Kindergarten

McKenna has officially survived Kindergarten, or should I say I survived it.  I can't believe she is done and moving onto 1st grade in the Fall.  It will be so weird to have her gone all day :( On some level though I am kind of looking forward to it, don't judge me!
There was feild day the last day, so I took Graysen and watched her do all the fun activities.  She wasn't too happy when I dropped her off for her last day though, she is sad she won't have school for a while.

 It was so fun to see her run races, do a sponge game and eat snow cones with her friends and her brother.  Graysen wanted so badly to do everything big sister was doing, he loves her!

I am glad she had such a great year and it is fun to see the progress she made since the beginning of the year.  I loved volunteering too and seeing how much all the kids have improved from the first of the year.  It is amazing, and their teacher is wonderful! I will definitely miss her as McKenna's teacher for sure. Time to move on to bigger and better things right.....upward and onward!
Love my little girl, and so happy that she is having such a positive experience with school and learning so much and having fun.

End of the year Kindergarten performance

McKenna had an end of the year performance at school and Grandma Allen came down so she could see her and celebrate the end of the school year with us.
We went to Burger King for lunch and had fun playing together before school, and then we dropped McKenna off and came back later to watch her performance.  Daddy was able to get off work to come see it as well which McKenna was so happy about. Graysen of course was excited to cheer her on too.

She seriously was the cutest thing up there.  She was singing all the songs so loud and had a big smile on her face the whole time.  I loved watching her, she just melted my heart. She is such a joy and a light to us, I am so lucky to have her as my daughter.

Daddy brought her some pretty flowers for afterwards which she was over the moon about.  She definitely has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

 McKenna had to have a picture with her wonderful teacher Mrs. Bridges. She loved her and had so much fun being in her class.

The little pig with the stick house

McKenna's class put on little skits at school for all the parents to come and watch.  They actually wrote their own scripts based off the story and figured out the characters and everything. They had to add some new characters since there were more of them then the story.
McKenna's group did the story of the three little pigs.  McKenna was the pig who made his house out of sticks.  Their story added a woman who sold them their materials to build their houses.  Well the Hay and the Sticks were free, but the bricks cost a dollar because they were so strong.

It was so fun to watch them act out these skits and to see how creative they were.  It is such a good way for them to get use to talking in front of groups and speaking loud and clear.  It was such a great learning experience for them.
I was also volunteering in her class so I wasn't able to get too many pictures, but at least I got some.  I love my little piggy, she did such a good job, I am really proud of her.