Last Week in Idaho

 Claire

Since we have our new apartment and know where we are going now, she had her last day of this school on Thursday and brought all her stuff home. She had been talking about one of her friends had moved and she didn't see her all week, so I explained that she was moving too and get to make new friends at a new school. She was thinking she would see the friend that moved too, so I had to explain that we probably wouldn't. She has really loved her school and teacher so I hope she transitions to the new one without being sad about missing the old one. I know she won't have a problem making friends because she is so outgoing, and I love to see how much she is learning and doing. They got to sleep over at her cousins house for two nights and I tried not to tell them too early because they were way too excited and kept asking why they weren't sleeping over yet the day before. I heard they did pretty well on their own, but this was their first one and I am in denial thinking they are independent enough to sleep over!

Shay

She is excited to go to her new home even though she keeps asking if it is her old home and I get annoyed at explaining the same thing over and over again. I hope we can get to a normal routine again for her and she can be happy where she is instead of always asking to go places. She helped me go pick a tomato in Grandma's garden and we found one that was half the size of her head and she almost took a bite out of it when posing for the picture. I was worried about her most for the sleepover because I'm used to brushing her teeth still and doing things for her, but she is becoming more and more independent which is not fair! With being able to put on cloths, brush her own teeth, and do so many things, I don't get to baby her any more. She is growing up a lot faster than Claire did because she wants to be like her and I just want my babies to stay my babies! 

Camping

While the girls went to their sleepover at the cousins, Chris and I with his parents and oldest nephew went to the white cloud mountains! The hike in was 8ish miles with 6 of them being mostly uphill and 2 were down hill to the lake we were camping near. We were all worn out after hiking in on Saturday so the first night was setting up camp and going to bed early. On Sunday, Chris taught his nephew how to fish and catch us some lunch and dinner. There were a few lakes in the area and we had a little spiritual moment listening to a Come Follow Me lesson while enjoying the beauty of one of the lakes we hiked to. The trip was over too soon because we packed up and left by 9am on Monday morning! The trip out went a lot faster than in so we stopped for burgers on our way home, which was lucky that we got home because the truck we had driven there in was over heating!

September Shenanigan's

 Claire

Another fun week as a kindergartener! She was learning colors and I did my best to dress her in the right colors but got mixed up and did green instead of orange. She definitely told me about it when I picked her up and then she didn’t have another green outfit for the next day…oh well it happens! Next week is going to be complicated because they have spirit week and their class is learning more colors…pink superhero day is Monday! I liked the crafts she did in school for each color and she is learning how to glue, cut, and be so creative! I think she is going to miss her friends she has been making and I hope we can find another good class where we end up.

Shay

She is being really good saying goodbye to Claire in the morning even though she sometimes pretends she is still upset. As soon as I say “you get to stay with me and daddy, let’s go see if he’s awake” she gets excited and runs back inside. We have still been going to story time at the library, and I used the internet to look for apartments! The story time is fun because she is around kids her age and then she gets to shop for books because they have kid shopping carts. It’s adorable and I hope we can find a good library where we are going to be living. She can buckle one of the bottom buckles now and is so close to getting both, its a lot earlier than Claire learned because I never thought to give her the chance. I’m being much better at having them do things for their own and watch them struggle getting dressed is kind of funny when we aren’t in a hurry.

Hunting

I had contacted apartment tours to set them up for Saturday by visiting cousin’s house and the library. I was semi successful and had 3 set up on Friday night, but ended up only seeing one. We let my girls go to the Dinosaur park with my cousins while Chris and I drove the rest of the way to Farmington area and found an apartment! The one we saw, we liked so the others that canceled and told us they were full wasn’t too much of a disappointment. We took it as a sign that this was the place for us so we applied. Now we will be moving down in two weeks and hopefully I can get the things done I need to because the internet is supposed to be fixed tomorrow…fingers crossed.

Still Septembering

 Chris

This time it’s most important to tell everyone that he is done with school and joined us once again! He left right after his test and made it home about 9pm which was after the girls were asleep. They woke up to tel me something and found a daddy! They are so excited to have him back and Shay never wanted to go anywhere unless he was coming with us. It was the first day she was okay with Claire leaving her behind after getting on the bus. We also had an official job offer in Farmington Utah and hope to having this work out to transfer back up here after a year. 

Claire

She had another week of school and started learning about colors so we dressed her to match with the lessons. She did crafts and on Wednesday made a sun special for daddy since that’s the first day he waited for the bus with us. Now that Chris is home, she gets to ask for shoulder rides and a lot more fun play things that I was never good at. She came home from church singing a song she learned but as soon as I tried to capture a video she got silly…she likes to Shay she just doesn’t know something when I ask her. A lot of times she doesn’t remember things from school, like new friends names, and will say she doesn’t know. 

Shay

As I mentioned, she was so happy to have her daddy back and convinced him to come to the library and the store. She had to visit him when he was working out, and always asked where he was that first day. It’s cooled down a little but now she sits in his lap for prayer time and Claire wants to sit in his lap so I scooch in close and pretend to sit on his lap too. We all missed him a lot but I don’t think Shay knew that’s why she was always grumpy, she doesn’t ask to go back to her house as often but it does still happen. 

Activities

There was a fair in town for Eastern Idaho and we went on Thursday night looking mostly at the animals. The girls loved the feeding/petting area and wanted to ride on the pony’s but it was getting dark by the time we got to that area. We had gone with their cousins and had to get home to get to bed! We got to play with them for a loooong time on Friday because I was babysitting and mooching internet to hunt for places to live. Then on Saturday morning Chris and I went to Pocatello for a race and I got first place in my age group!

Starting September

Claire

She is still enjoying school and loves to tell us what she learned when we go pick her up at the end of the day. I’m looking for more ideas on how to get her to eat a little more while she is away from me. They learned their names this week, and how to spell, write, and introduce themselves. As far as I know, she already knew how to do all that, but she was learning her new classmates' names in the process. Claire’s new caterpillar pet is living in a jar and she is so obsessed with wanting to take it places that I had to lay down the law. Hopefully, it doesn’t die with all the handling she has done so far and we can see it cocoon and transform. Don’t know what it is yet…

Shay

It has become a little easier to say goodbye to Claire when the bus comes to pick her up, but she still gets sad. I’m getting better at distracting her and doing fun things with her while she is bored without Claire. We went to the library twice this week because I took Shay for story time on Wednesday and then Claire was jealous and we went again on Friday. They checked out books about caterpillars because Grandma Bell found one in the garden right before we left and they now have a pet.

Parade

We went to the parade in town that was a kick-off for the fair that is going on in Eastern Idaho. The girls were excited, to begin with, but it was hot and they got impatient from the beginning and didn’t have a lot of candy. Claire went off to find a shade with a few of her cousins and Grandma Bell. Shay stayed for a while but was hot and tired before it was entirely done and we missed a little at the end. It was pretty busy and we still got enough candy to make them happy though.