Kindergarten

Yesterday was Hannah's first day of Kindergarten. Before school, she couldn't stand still she was so excited. She was ready to go 20 minutes early and didn't understand why we couldn't leave NOW!! We used our extra time to take some pictures:

No, they're not wearing uniforms, they just wanted to wear their matching outfits.

Waiting in line outside class.

Emma and I were able to go into Hannah's classroom for the first 15 minutes. We watched her find her cubby (so exciting!), hang up her coat and backpack (so exciting!), put her lunch in the lunch bucket, and find her seat (!!). She loved all these tasks, but started to get grumpy when she was at her seat with Emma and me. After her teacher called the class to come find a seat on the floor, Hannah started rubbing her wet eyes. Her teacher asked the children to wave bye to mom. Realizing that Hannah was sad, if not already crying, I gave her a big smile, grabbed Emma, and raced out the door. In retrospect, I think she would have done better if I'd just said bye at the beginning, before going into class. Much like my friend Cailean's Kindergarten experience (see her blog, linked to the right), when I peeked back at Hannah, she was looking at her teacher, sadness apparently over.

After school, Hannah told us all about her day. She said she didn't learn anything, "just rules." She liked eating her lunch at school and carrying her princess lunch box to the lunchroom "like a purse." She toured the school and told me the name of the PE teacher, though she didn't participate in the optional PE games. Instead, she "just got used to the gym." :) Her favorite time of day was free choice time and quiet time when she went to the reading corner and found new books to read. She didn't go to the bathroom at all for the entire 6 hours. Yes, I asked. She said the bathroom has a "loud flusher" and was, therefore, not usable. Despite my insistence that she go during her time at school, she refuses. We'll be working on that.

All in all, a great first day. She couldn't wait to go back the next day. She was quite tired and was in bed and asleep by 8:00 PM that night. I went up to bed at 8:30 PM. The first day of Kindergarten is tiring for Moms too.

First REAL Haircut

I've cut Hannah's hair before, but she's never had a professional cut. I though before starting school was a good time to take her in. She sort of tolerated the actual cut. She didn't like sitting so perfectly still for so long. Her efforts were rewarded with candy from the stylist, so she thought it was all worth it in the end.

Before

After. LOVE IT! She looks so grown up! Sniff.

Loof Toof

Hannah has her first loose tooth! On Tuesday, she mentioned that her tooth felt funny. I quickly dismissed this, reminding her that she's getting her six year molars, so her mouth might feel funny. She persisted, saying it was her front teeth, not her back teeth that felt funny. Sure enough, upon inspection we found a wiggly bottom left tooth! She's so thrilled. ALL she could talk about that night was her tooth. Would it still be there in the morning? What would the tooth fairy do with it? How does the tooth fairy get into the house? What would she look like without that tooth? Would it hurt when the new tooth grew in to take it's place?

In case anyone is wondering why Hannah's nose and upper lip are a little scratched up, she fell at the park yesterday. A full on flying leap face plant into the bark chips. Apparently, running and jumping onto a swing is harder than it looks. I'm not sure why she attempted such a maneuver, but that's what she said happened. I asked her if her face or hands hit the ground first. She said they hit at the same time. Ouch.

Tagged by Mari...

Thanks for the beginning blog help Mari! Here's my answers to your "blog tag" questions:


Job's I've Had (in no order, it took me too long to remember this many to organize them at all):
1. Restaurant Hostess @ Dukes on Lake Bellevue
2. Courier/Receptionist/TA/Research Assistant/Jack of all trades @ BYU Religious Ed Dean's Office
3. Event Planning Assistant: stamp-licking, database entering, heavy box lifting Jack of all trades @ Prestige Events
4. Fax Girl Extraordinaire (Yes, my job was to send faxes ALL DAY. It was a big company.) @ CH2M Hill
5. My first "real" post-college job: Residential Home Land Acquisition/Development: due diligence, financial model tinkering - er, preparation, AND Jack of all trades (notice the theme to my work?) @ Quadrant Homes


Movies I can watch over and over:
1. Napoleon Dynamite (favorite line: "I want that." 10, no, 20 points to anyone who can tell me the scene that line is in)
2. Much Ado About Nothing
3. The R.M. (I'm a sucker for Mormon Cinema)
4. Pride and Prejudice - any version, but my fav is the A&E version with Colin Firth :)
5. Sense & Sensibility


Places I've Lived:
1. Bellevue, WA
2. Provo, UT (5 different apartments in 4 years... not bad)
3. Issaquah, WA
4. Tualatin, OR
5. Gainesville, FL


Favorite TV Shows Past and Present (and odd list since I haven't had cable since I lived in BYU's married housing - FREE CABLE!... and I just don't watch much TV anymore):
1. The Office
2. The Cosby Show
3. 30 Rock
4. Supernanny
5. Arthur (yes, the PBS Kids show - I LOVE IT!!!)


Last 5 places I've been on vacation:
1. Eagle Crest, OR (near Bend)
2. LaConner, WA
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Rochester, NY
5. probably Utah... I HEART BYU


Favorite dishes:
1. Tacos
2. Lasagna
3. Taco Soup
4. Pork Tenderloin
5. Pizza


Websites I visit:
1. Craigslist: baby & kid stuff and garage sales
2. ebay
3. Seattle Times
4. PANDORA!!!
5. My local library's online catalogue

Places I'd like to visit (I changed the topic slightly, hopefully the blogging police don't notice):
1. BYU. I've been away too long. I love how it feels there.
2. Rochester, NY (niece Natalie)
3. El Paso, TX (niece Gracie)
4. Los Angeles
5. New York City

People I'm tagging next (we'll see who's really reading this! feel free to abstain if you'd already been tagged with this one):
1. Betsy
2. Julie Despain
3. Rachel
4. Cailean
5. Julie Duncan - if you decide to get the blog going...

That was fun!

A Zootiful Day

We love the zoo, but don't get to go very often. This weekend we went to the zoo as a family which we haven't done in at least a year. We all had such a great time.

There's a chimp sitting in a hammock to the left of Emma's head, if you can see it.

Great climbing tree.

Chai the elephant strolled by us. Emma had trouble taking her eyes off Chai so I could take a picture.

Hannah has always loved the elephants the best because until recently our zoo had a baby elephant named Hansa. Hansa died a few months ago. Hannah was understandably sad about this and decided to name one of her stuffed elephants "Hansa." Chai (you make be able to see her over Hannah's head in the distance) was Hansa's mother. I think it was because of Hansa's absence that when we asked her favorite animal at the zoo this time, she said the butterflies.

Here's the jaguar, checking out the prey - I mean - small children crowded around his windows.


Emma was riveted and would not take her eyes off him for a picture.

At the butterfly house and the girls on the Komodo Dragon statue. Have you ever seen a Komodo Dragon before? Those things are HUGE!! They're like something out of Jurassic Park! Wow.

While at the Zoo, we visited the hippos. They are always very popular, so it's necessary to sort of wait in "line" until a viewing spot at the railing is available. Ryan and the girls were already at the rail, but I was lagging behind with the stroller. As a good viewing spot opened up, I turned the stroller to go occupy it, but before I could even move forward, a blur of double stroller flew past me. I was surprised and a little annoyed at first. Then, I noticed who was driving the offending double stroller: famous Seattlite James Sun of TV's "Apprentice" fame.

He was cruising the zoo with his two daughters. And he'd just cruised right past me and into the railing spot I wanted. Well, I guess you don't get to be a finalist on "The Apprentice" by standing idly by while others go to the head of the line. You see an opening and you take it. Life lessons learned at the zoo.

Summer T-Ball

Hannah played T-Ball this summer and LOVED it. Baseball is now her favorite sport. (I wonder if she knows that swimming can also be a sport? That might change her favorite.) She was the only girl on her team and seemed to enjoy her teammates' antics. She learned lots of new skills which she now tries to teach Emma when we play T-Ball at home. "Keep your elbow up, Emma. Keep your feet apart and step before you swing."

Thanks to all who came to a game or two. We had lots of fun and hope you did too.

Here's some pictures:

We called Emma the bench coach as she stood behind the bench, telling Hannah "you did a dood job." Here she's giving a congratulatory hug.

Hit and run.

Touching home.

The only ponytail on the bench. That's how we could pick her out of the sea of red helmets.

Her ready position.

And, we're off!

So, the test post worked out, as far as I can tell. This blogging stuff isn't so hard. Now, what to write about.....


I'm going to mainly focus my blogs on our family events and adventures. It's my hope that this blog will help our extended family and friends feel more connected to us, even though some live far away.


I've had some fun with the little sidebar options you see to the right. I've included a kid quote feature because my kids are always saying hilarious things that need to be recorded. To keep with blogging tradition, I've provided links to some of the blogs I read. I've had so much fun reading them, in fact, I had to start my own. A sampling of our favorite websites is also featured, for your browsing enjoyment. Pandora is our newest favorite website and I've attached not only a link to it, but also some of the artists for which I've created Pandora stations. And finally: what we're reading. I LOVE to read and Hannah, who has always loved books, is learning to read. So I'll keep a current list of what I'm reading (this won't change too often, it takes me awhile to get through books anymore) and what Hannah's reading (this will change often as she reads all the time and has a new favorite book almost every day).

So, enjoy our blog and feel free to comment. Here's a picture from earlier this summer.

Testing 1...2...3...

Now that I've created this blog, I'm going to see if I can post to it! Here goes.