The BIG, unforgettable first day of school

This story is so long overdue and is quite the funny one...

We have been so excited for the first day of school.  Zack was starting kindergarten and Ashley was all set with her "cool 2nd grade clothes."  Zack was a little nervous, but very excited at the same time.  Josh and I were anxious to make sure everything would go smoothly for Zack on his first day so that he would transition fine.  Well...

The first sign of trouble: Ashley tells me her alarm clock has been acting funny and sometimes doesn't work.  I told her not to worry because I would have mine set as well.  Famous last words.

Big day arrives.  I roll over in bed, and look at the clock.  Immediate crazy panic sets in, it is 7:37!!!!!!!  School starts promptly at 8:00.  For those that know my panic attacks, I can have the tendency to act like a chicken with its head cut off.  So, yes, I jumped out of bed, starting yelling to the kids upstairs they needed to get up.  Josh immediately was my calming influence, telling me that was no way to start Zack's first day of school.  Of course he was right!  So, I ran to get ready while he woke up the kids.  After I was quickly ready, I ran upstairs to kids getting dressed, brushing teeth, and Josh making poptarts.  We all jumped in the car (luckily lunches and backpacks were ready to go), threw Natalie in her seat with her PJs on, and sped off to school as fast as we could in a 20 mph zone.  Josh drove right up to the entrance, and I jumped out with the kiddos to walk Zack to his class.  We actually got to school at 8:03.  I still have no idea how that happened :)

Looking back now, I can only laugh at what happened.  I think maybe, in a small way, it was better for Zack to not dwell on the impending moment of separation and be sad about it.  I didn't get to do the big breakfast I had planned, but we did it the next morning.  We also got our first day of school pictures after school!  We bought Ashley a new alarm clock that evening and I now have my iphone permanently set with 2 alarms to go off every morning.  Definitely a day we will NEVER forget. 

 

Thanksgiving

I always love Thanksgiving. We had my parents come up from Lubbock along with my sister Jenny and Mema. We had a fun week going to Six Flags, making delicious Thanksgiving dinner, watching movies, hanging out, and going to a football game!

Ashley and Zack opened their "Heritage spa", complete with a menu of services ranging from 15 cents to 60 cents. Everyone really enjoyed this special treat. The kids were super excited with their aunt Jenny's tip of $1.00. Part of Natalie's specialty is walking on your back and then jumping off of it as hard as she can. Gives an extra "oomph" to her massage.

As always, Natalie goes through a "Grumpy" time when she's tired, usually around 5-6 pm. I wish she still napped, but she definitely doesn't.

Aunt Jenny tried to help and convinced her she should be happy and have a happy picture.

Another highlight of the week was going to the Texas Tech game at the Cowboys stadium. It was our first time inside and we were very impressed. The stadium is really large, and the screens are amazing. What a fun game...

Six Flags, Holiday in the Park, was a blast for the kids. They loved riding rides with their grandparents and Jenny.
Natalie was so tired at the end of our day, she cuddled up to Josh's arm and promptly fell asleep in the car. She's quite the daddy's girl.

Zack's 5th Bday

We are so glad Zack is in our family! He turned 5 in November and is growing so quickly.

What a cutie he is here at only 22 months.

Birthday favorites this year was all about transformers,

Hot Wheels, (he loves trick tracks because they link together and set each other off)

Cool presents from Alaska (he loves this shirt)

and a fun cake! (Made by me...I was really worried for a while that it wouldn't turn out)

Natalie of course wanted to open presents too, but she finally consented to just be super excited about every present Zack opened! Ashley was our picture taker as I was video taping. She did a pretty good job.


We had a fun birthday party for him with a Hot Wheels theme (hence the cake).  We played a variety of games like obstacle courses, stick the car on the race track, race the cars, etc.  We also set up loads of tracks for the kids to play during the down times...they were a great hit!  As a party favor, I took each child's picture and we sent them their own special driver's license with a thank you card.  We're so glad we had so many friends who could come celebrate with us. 

Family outdoor fun

A favorite activity of ours has been to bike ride as a family. Ashley happily rides without her training wheels, Zack tries to follow after her as fast as he can wishing he didn't have training wheels, Josh pulls Natalie in the trailer and I ride alongside whoever is in the rear. We have a lot of fun and the kids are getting so much better riding.

We also love to go exploring around Fort Worth. A favorite place of the kids is the Fort Worth water gardens...one word of advice though...stay out of the planting beds!!! We were climbing up around the gardens and Zack stepped on a HUGE pile of fire ants. Needless to say he was screaming his head off at his leg rapidly being covered with ants. I swooped him up to move him and proceed to rapidly brush him off. Luckily, I think he only got 1 bite. It could have been much worse.

We also enjoy hiking (in the few areas there are around here). Here the kids are near Eagle Moutain Lake.

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun! Zack was a knight, Natalie a princess, and Ashley was a prima ballerina. Everyone knew immediately that Zack was a knight and complimented him immediately on his costume. Natalie of course would then chime in with "and I'm a princess!!!" so of course they would have to compliment her too. It was pretty funny.

Ashley wore her costume to school for career day and Zack was able to wear his for his preschool's Halloween parade. Natalie's dance class said they could wear costumes, but since her princess dress was too long for dance, she wore one of Ashley's old dance costumes and LOVED it. She looked adorable and we said she was a dancing princess.

Funny kids...

Ashley: Upon hearing that Jenny was at a Miley Cyrus concert, Ashley asked me to text Jenny to take a picture. When we saw the picture, Ashley noticed the stage was far away and if I could see Hannah Montana on the stage. When I told her no, she quietly muttered to herself, "Darn it..." It was really cute.

Ashley has convinced Zack that lots of little rocks they have collected are really eggs. She has even gone so far to draw "cracks" on them to convince him that they might be hatching soon. Josh and I have let this play out because she is doing it to make Zack happy and have a fun imaginative time with him. We are curious to see how it will end. So, one day, Ashley said, "Mom, I have a big problem. I don't know what to do next because the rocks really aren't going to hatch." I said, "Yea, that is a problem. What are you going to do?" "Can we buy teeny tiny robots or something? Or how about switching them for real eggs that really can hatch?" Upon being told that wasn't possible, she lamented, "I just don't want to tell him. He'll be so sad..." The saga continues. I think for now, she is going with the "don't mention the eggs again and see if he forgets about them" strategy. I think it is working as he hasn't mentioned the eggs in a long time.

Zack: "I want everything transformers for my birthday. I just LOVE transformers!"

He is sure his new sandals are speed shoes. Ashley showed him where a special button is on the top of his shoes. When he presses it, he can then run super fast.

Constantly draws and writes letters to friends, family, teachers. I think he would love a whole ream of plain white paper as a gift. We have stacks of letters to mail to people and he has some regular pen pals from school, church, etc. I think he could draw or write everyday from dawn to dusk and wouldn't tire of it.

Natalie: Loves to drag her dance shoes out almost everyday to put them on and dance around the room :)

Regularly bursts into the Dora the Explorer theme song. She knows every word and loves to sing it anywhere (grocery stores, car rides, home, restaurants) whenever she thinks of it. Another favorite song is from the radio at Christmas. She so cutely sings, "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away. This "ear" to save me some tears, I'll give it to someone special, special."

"Speedboy"

Zack really loved soccer this last fall. So much so, that we enrolled him in this upcoming spring as well. He enjoyed being active and trying to chase that ball. Josh and I loved it how every time he would kick the ball good, or make a goal, he would look over at us with his "proud face." It was really cute. He gave himself the nickname of "speedboy."

First Days of School

I am super behind on my blog...but working to get it up to date! So, here we start with school pictures. Everyone was so excited about school this year.

Ashley, ready for first grade:
Zack, ready for preschool:
Natalie, wishing she was ready:

End of our Alaskan trip #15

Last post for this trip! We finished up our trip with yummy food at a Salmon Bake in Fairbanks, joining up with an old friend, Hans, at a restaurant (he was in Fairbanks for business but lives in Hawaii), eating ice cream at Hot Licks,

enjoying cousin/aunt time,

and taking an awesome Paddle Riverboat ride in Fairbanks. The riverboat experience included watching a seaplane land right next to us, seeing a sled dog camp and presentation, and getting off to explore a Chena Indian Village. I really enjoyed the village...

Natalie is thinking, "Is that a real moose?" (It wasn't, but I think EVERYONE did a doubletake when they saw him).

My favorite part was going over to the sled dog area in the village. The dogs were fascinated by our little kids and they whole group of 8 or so ran over to them and kept trying to interact with the kids. Even when we moved, the dogs kept following us around the kennel area. Everyone in the crowd thought it was hilarious the dogs were so enamored with our young kids. Their trainer said they loved younger children because they were their size, their speech was higher, and their movements more unpredictable. The kids loved it.

It finally came time for us to leave. We were a little worried about getting out, because smoke from several forest fires made the whole area very hazy. We were a little bummed by the smoke because we couldn't go on some hikes we had wanted to, and one night, you felt like you were breathing only smoke! The smoke had even permeated into the movie theater and grocery store.

Luckily, after a 2 hr delay and our flight's 3rd attempt to land in Fairbanks so we could get on it, we were finally able to leave. We had to make our own fun in the airport while we were waiting:

Our red eye flight from Anchorage to DFW was one of the worst...Natalie screamed and cried for the first hour and a half and we got death stares from a couple in front of us (Josh and they had a not so nice chat in which they said that maybe throwing our child off the plane might be a good idea! Luckily, the stewardness backed us up and Natalie FINALLY fell asleep). The other 2 and I only got a minimal amount of sleep with Josh not sleeping at all. Needless to say, we were all completely wiped out when we got home and were grateful to walk into our door after being gone a month!

Alaska was such an amazing trip and I definitely recommend it to all. Definitely save up...it cost a lot more than we lot it would! I'm so glad we got to go, thanks for sharing our trip with us through our blog. Now I think I need a vacation just Josh and I...