School Stuff

The kids have been busy learning in school but also having some fun.

Mikayla's class took a field trip to the fire station.



They participated in the Walk-A-Thon. Austin was "all work and no play" and ran 22 laps this year.

Austin with his friend Braxton

Mikayla ran 13 laps while holding hands with her friend Garima.

Walk-to-School Day

This year we decided to start at the duck pond. After feeding the ducks we made the walk with some friends to the school. It was a fun change.

Eating lunch together.

Me and Brooklyn had been waiting about 10 minutes in the cafeteria before Mikayla finally arrived. When Brooklyn saw her, she started squealing and kicking her legs with excitement. 

 Hat day at school

 

Team Spirit Day

 And while the kids are at school all day, me and Brooklyn get to hang out together at home.

Wouldn't have it any other way!!

6 Years Old

Every morning Mikayla will wake up and come out of the living room carrying her blanket and pillow. She will wake me up and impatiently pull on me until I get out of bed to get her breakfast. Some of her favorite foods are cereal, cinnamon rolls, pop-tarts, and apple-juice. She is a breakfast girl and will most days eat enough breakfast for two (which I guess is making up for the dinner the night before that she rarely eats much of ). Then she watches her favorite show Sofia The First and is always thrilled when it is a new episode. Usually she wants me to put Brooklyn next to her on the couch so they can watch it together. She loves having a little sister. She goes to school without a complaint because she loves learning and being around friends. She is a social bug and always want to do things with others. She comes home on the bus and gets rewarded with a piece of candy for her behavior on the bus if it was good according to her brother. Then she plays around the house but will not play upstairs unless someone else goes with her. She loves to read books and will pull out 10 books to read every night if you let her. And even when we try to put her to bed without reading scriptures because it is so late or we are too tired she will not let us forget. Not sure if it is because she loves the scriptures that much or wants to stay up an extra 10 minutes. She ends her night with her dad singing "Here comes the ox-cart" while he tickles her. It has become a ritual and she rarely goes a night without asking for it. Then she pulls the covers over her head which is how she falls asleep. I go in her room later and pull the covers away from her face and look at this beautiful daughter of mine whom I love so much!!

 

Mikayla likes to play with her princess and dolls. She likes to set up "school" in her room and pretend play that she is the teacher. And it becomes even more fun if Brooklyn is in her room at the time because then she can be one of Kayla's students!!



She also loves to do puzzles and even though she could easily do them on her own she will beg for you to do them with her because she just enjoys doing things with others.

She is artistic and loves to color, write, draw, and create. One day she decided she wanted to make her own candy land game. It was a long process and a lot of squares to color and even though I helped her with the coloring she was eagerly doing her part until the whole thing was completed.

Her excitement and smile is contagious. 

She loves being outside mostly driving around on that truck of hers. But she is a good bike rider too and I really need to take off those training wheels. Not sure how smooth that transition for her will go so I just need to gather up some courage and patience for myself to do it.

One of the things I love most about Mikayla is her tender and mothering heart toward little children. I was reminded of this during our Walk to School day when we were walking from the duck pond to school with some friends from our neighborhood. One mom had forgotten her stroller for her 2 year old twins. One of them rode in Brooklyn's stroller but the other one had to walk and trailed behind the rest of the group. Instead of wanting to be up with her friends or be FIRST which is something important to Mikayla at this age, she chose to stay back with this 2 year old and held her hand as we made the walk to school. It was a sweet reminder of Mikayla's loving heart and her desire to mother and nurture. I have no doubt she will be a great mother someday.

We love you so much Mikayla and are so glad to have you as part of our family!!

Happy Birthday Mikayla!!

In September, Mikayla celebrated her 6th birthday!!

Her morning started out with her 2 favorite things: a birthday donut for breakfast and Grandma Reid who brought her presents---a Sofia puzzle and a Sofia blanket---hoping we can convince her to get rid of her other blanket that she has chewed on and worn to shreds.

 

She got to bring snacks to school on her birthday. We made butterflies like these. I forgot to take a picture of the ones we made but we filled ours with a mix of Trix cereal, marshmallows, and M&M's. She was excited about them and I thought they turned out pretty cute and fun.

Kayla was thrilled with the Frozen nail polish from Austin & the Elsa and Anna dresses we got her.

And we celebrated that night with ice-cream at Kayla's favorite place.....Cherry Berry!!

The Saturday following her birthday she had a mini-golf party and invited some of her friends.

(school friends Leighton, Addison and Jackson)

 

Connor and Kristi

Brooklyn enjoyed crawling around

Craig and Justin had a friendly competition going on.....loser had to mow the other person's lawn. And I think Craig lost....twice! Good thing he loves to mow.

Kayla's school friends and twins Parker and Preston also came.

(Only got a pic of one of them but they look about the same so I am not sure which one this is) 

Austin enjoyed having a friend to play with too

Kayla got lots of really nice gifts from her friends and family.
(My Little Pony Game, Lalaloopsy doll, a horse that walks/neighs, Frozen puzzles/colorbook, Frozen purse to color, and a Frozen talking doll)

 Frozen Cupcakes 



Yumm Yumm!!

 Happy Birthday Mikayla!!