2.8

No, we didn't have an earthquake... Dan and I went to our first parent-teacher conference as parents. I was nice to hear that McKenna is doing well in school. Mrs. Atkinson tested McKenna's reading level. 2.8 grade level. She is awesome! She is going to go to a first grade class starting this week for reading group. She is going to start a reading program that the 1st through 5th graders participate in, where they read books and pass tests and receive recognition for so many books completed. It is nice to see that she will be challenged in school and won't be sitting bored in Kindergarten (Dan was worried about that).

McKenna teaching Ryleigh all she knows.

She's a great big sister!

I came downstairs and this is what I found...

Personally, I think it would give me a headache.

Ryry loves her big sis! Loves climbing on her, that is!

Patience

We received a letter Saturday informing us that McKenna has been chosen from her class to receive an award for patience. I guess the school has a virtue they work on each month and select some students who portray that virtue and recognize them in an assembly. We are so proud of her. Anyone who knows me, knows that Kenna must have inherited her patience from her father. Sometimes at home I think she is the total opposite of patient (probably just me being impatient), but she must do better at school. Funny thing is, just yesterday Dan and I were watching a movie and she must have interrupted three or four times to say she wanted a snack. We kept telling her after the movie we would have dinner. She is an awesome girl and we love her.

Ryleigh is going to be our little musician someday!

Hooray for Dan!!!

We found out this morning that Dan passed the last two tests he just took! Wahoo!!! He has one left that he is taking in a couple of weeks. I know he will do great. We are both so excited for him to finally be done with getting his architecture license. Dan, I am so proud of you!

This weekend, I had to work Saturday so we missed Brooke's baby blessing :( Sorry, Tracie. We were there in spirit. We spent Sunday doing the usual stuff. Dan had a couple of meetings in the morning, then church (my CTR 7 class had to do sharing time in junior primary), Dan did tithing after church, then came home. We had dinner with some friends which was delicious. It is amazing what two families can put together at the last second for dinner. We bbq'd steak, salmon, and chicken. Adrianne made rolls and cantalope melon balls. I picked some corn on the cob from the garden and made brownies for dessert. It was a feast. We have some sad news about our pumpkin plant. It died. It became infested with squash bugs. It was gross. The trick we found out is to rotate the spot where you plant any type of squash every year or buy some special bug killer before they do too much damage. We were too late.

Monday we spent the morning sleeping in until 9 then went to breakfast. We went shopping at the mall then relaxed in the evening at home. It was nice to have everyone home and nothing really to do.

This morning we all went back to our daily routine. Dan went to work (that is when he found out about the tests), Kenna went to school, and Ryleigh ate breakfast. Lots of breakfast. She had 6 ounces of formula and rice cereal mixed with baby food apples and oatmeal. She will eat just about anything.

You would think milk in your eye would hurt. She just lets it sit there.

This is the aftermath of pigtails taken out last night. Nice do.

Picture Day

McKenna's first picture day! She wanted her hair "curled on the bottom, but straight on top." She asked for that specifically. How'd I do? She even picked out her own outfit. She wanted to wear some purple lip gloss she got at a birthday party, but I had to intervene. Purple lips wouldn't look great in a class picture. I took these at home before school. She looked pretty darn cute I have to say.

This head shot turned out so cute that if her school ones come back horrible, I think I will just print this one to give out.

Toilets!!!

Last Friday, after work, we took the girls to a day camp area not far from where we live. We had a camp fire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and had s'mores. There was a playground close by and Kenna loved it. We were close to the river, but didn't go swimming. The best part was we went home and slept in our own beds. We should camp like that more often.

Kenna with marshmallow in her mouth

Ryleigh always smiley!

She is exploring the feel of pine needles.

Please pick me up and get me out of this stroller!

Kenna helping to put out the fire.

Saturday we drove to Twin Falls to see the new temple open house. It was very pretty inside. It was a good experience for McKenna to see what is inside a temple. She liked the pictures, the murals, and the baptismal font. That is probably the most interesting stuff anyway, for a little kid.

Dan and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary on Monday! It is crazy to think that we have been married for 8 years already. It flew by. They have been 8 wonderful years and we have two beautiful girls to show from it. We went out to lunch and dinner as a family and went shopping. Not real exciting but I did preorder the Sleeping Beauty DVD that is coming out in October. We were going to to ice skating and show McKenna how, but she got in trouble that afternoon so we couldn't go. Here is the story of how McKenna lost her priviledge to go ice skating (which means we all lost the chance to go)...

I had planned to go to the mall that afternoon after lunch with the girls. I wanted to buy some books, church shoes for Kenna (her feet just don't stop growing), and some other things I can't remember. We arrived and went into the book store Borders. I checked the computer to find the books I wanted then McKenna said "I have to go to the bathroom." Nothing new, she always has to go when we go somewhere. We went into the bathroom (Ryleigh was in her stroller), and made it into the handicap stall. Kenna looked at the toilet and panicked. She absolutely HATES automatic flushing toilets. She is pretty much scared to death of them. We have tried to teach her tricks like flushing it before hand to reset the sensor and putting a finger over the sensor to not make the toilet flush while she is sitting on it. I think she thinks she will be flushed down the drain. So the first thing she does is remember to push the button to flush it before she gets on. Then she starts crying. I show her that nothing is wrong, by going myself. She is still crying. I know she has to go or she will pee her pants, so I try to tell her I will cover up the sensor. She won't have anything to do with it. I grab her arm to pull her closer to the toilet (wrong move by the way) and she starts screaming like a banshee. High pitched and everything! Like I was going to kill her. I am sure the lady next to me thought I had hit her. She was hysterical for about one minute but it always seems longer. I think the threat of leaving the store altogether made her wise up and jump on the toilet and go. All the while, Ryleigh is just watching us in her stroller, calm as can be thank goodness. This is the funny part... As we were leaving the bathroom, an older lady who saw us when she first entered the store when I was on the computer, was coming into the bathroom. Mckenna is sniffling by now. The lady says, "Your girls are so beautiful!" I mutter thanks with a half smile and we left the mall altogether. Later I thought, I should have said "Wanna keep this one?" I was pretty mad at Kenna. We talked all the way home about not screaming in the store and about toilets. So her consequence was not going ice skating. We were at the mall for 5 minutes and left. We went home and the girls had a nap. So Dan decided to take us to the mall that night so I could buy the things I wanted. He is so nice to me. I love my girls, but sometimes...

Looking at these pictures always makes me remember how blessed I am to have these two wonderful girls, even if they drive me insane sometimes.

Ryleigh's 6 month appointment

Quick update on Ryleigh's growth. She turned 6 months on July 23rd. We went to the doctor's on Monday. She weighs 15 pounds and is 25 inches long. Her head is in the 80th percentile. She has inherited the Patton head. She is right on track developmentally and physically. She still hates shots and turns beet red when she gets them. I remember when Kenna would get shots. She would stop crying once I picked her up and comforted her a couple of minutes. Ryleigh will not be consoled. She cries while I am redressing her, walking out of the office, and putting her in the car. She finally calms down when I am about half way home. She yells at me like it is my fault. In a way she is right. I am the one holding her arms and legs down. What a mean mom!

Oregon Coast

Last week we drove to the Oregon Coast for a Patton family vacation. There were 18 of us in 1 house plus a carriage house above the separate garage. It was pretty crazy sometimes with the kids running around. We didn't stay in the house too much. The girls did fairly well on the drive over. I, on the other hand, had a meltdown, but we won't go there. I did have to crawl into the back seat on more than one occasion to calm down Ryleigh. By the end of the drive she had had enough of her car seat. I don't blame her. I am happy to announce that, although she had a couple of poopy diapers, no blow outs occurred. That is the worst when you are traveling. McKenna watched movies and talked the whole trip. She did not sleep at all. She was too excited. As long as she is happy that is all that matters. When we arrived at the rental house, the kids jumped in the hot tub right away. Dan, Ryleigh and I took a quick stroll on the beach. Our nephew decided he was going to play in the water and was soaked by the time we left. The water is so COLD! We expected that but it is harder to play in.

Wednesday consisted of looking for star fish and sea anemonies in tide pools, walking to a lighthouse, and running around the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We saw a sea lion on the rocks at the tide pools. My brother and sister-in-law wanted to get close for a good picture and scared him off. Way to go... McKenna loved the aquarium. She even communicated with a sea otter. I missed it but she had a nice crowd of people around her watching. She was looking through a window which was partially under water. The sea otter came right up to her face and McKenna pressed her hand to the window. The otter pressed his flipper on the window where her hand was. Pretty cool! She also had a Puffin perform a show in the water for her. She must have a way with animals I guess. We had lunch at Izzy's Pizza buffet. It was really good. Mckenna ate a ton. Dan and I were in charge of dinner that night. We made clam chowder and tuscan soup. They must have liked it because it was all gone at the end. Most of the evenings were spent playing games, talking, and digesting dinner.







Thursday was beach day. The weather was fairly nice. Cloudy, but warmer than Wednesday with no cold breeze. We had a sand castle contest where everyone was a winner! Thanks Penny for bringing prizes! Dan and a couple of his siblings went in the water. Some had wet suits, some didn't. McKenna went in about knee high. She was freezing by the end of the day. Ryleigh and I watched from the beach. I did get my feet wet. We were able to get a few kites in the air. It was fun watching McKenna run and run to get her Barbie kite up.

Dan's Japanese pagoda

He won the prize for the best Japanese castle!

Best sports logo!

Best animated or Disney character (Lightning McQueen)!

Best traditional castle!

Best Egyptian theme!

Friday we went to the outlet mall. I bought some clothes for the girls. Dan found a sweater that he liked. We brought it home and came to find out it is a women's sweater. So I guess I have a new sweater. We ate at Mo's for lunch. And stopped at Coldstone for ice cream. There was an ice cream shop across the street from Mo's, but they took cash or check only! Who does that anymore. Sheesh! Especially in a tourist town (my gripe for the day). Dan and I had wanted to go to Tillamook to see the cheese factory and a lookout point, but we ran out of time. We will just have to go the next time we are in Oregon. I did get a nap in with Ryleigh before dinner. That was nice. That girl can sleep anywhere. As long as she has her blankie. We watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics that night.

Saturday consisted of packing and cleaning and driving. We got home at 8 pm and started laundry. A vacation is supposed to be restful and relaxing. How come I don't feel well rested? Oh well. We are back in the swing of normal life. Kenna went back to school and Dan started work, where they piled more jobs on him. Wahoo...