Ryder's first...

We gave Ryder his first taste of rice cereal this week. He's been showing some interest and curiosity so we decided to see how he'd do with some cereal. He ate it just fine, though half of it ended up on his face, but he seemed quite happy to be included at the table (eating instead of watching)!

Too much of a good thing...

Okay, we've been totally absorbed in the olympics for the past 2 weeks. Kendyl now has dreams of going to the olympics as a gymnast, tennis player, diver, synchronized swimmer, and she says, "I wanna be the gymnast with the ribbon." She pointed out Michael Phelps in the newspaper and as we were going through the checkout line at the store she's telling me, "Mom, it's Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson!" Even Brityn was willing to give up watching Dora and Diego to watch water polo, volleyball, handball, soccer, softball, field hockey, and weightlifting. I had to draw the line at boxing! Swimming and gymnastics were by far the favorites--all I can say is thank goodness for tivo! Now that everyone has won (or lost) their gold medals, maybe I can finally get to bed at a decent hour!

Olympics!

We just can't wait to watch all the olympic games for the next two weeks. This brings back fun memories of going to the games when they were in Salt Lake City. We were able to go to Opening Ceremonies, Downhill Skiing, Curling, Hockey, and Pairs Figure Skating (yes, we were there when they had their judging scandal!). It was so thrilling and exciting to cheer on these athletes who had trained so hard. We'll be glued to our tv!

Last day of school...

This is Kendyl on her very first day of Kindergarten last August. She looks so small and young in this picture!










And here she is practically a year later on her last day of Kindergarten. You can tell how much she's grown and changed in the last year. I can't believe she is all ready for 1st grade!

Teaching moment...

The batteries in Kendyl's digital camera died , so we replaced them and then we were talking...

Kendyl: Batteries die, like people die, right mom?
Me: Yes
Kendyl: And then we get resurrected just like recharging batteries!

I guess that's one way to look at it! :)

Kindergarten Promotion...

Today was Kendyl's big graduation from Kindergarten day. She is now officially a first grader! It doesn't make complete sense because she still has 4 more days of school left! Oh, well, technicalities.

They had a cute little program where the kids sang a song and then a procession of "graduates" where they got a certificate (pseudo-certificate since they never give you the real one until later), shook the vice principal's hand and then the principal's hand.


We had a little party in her classroom afterwards and lots of congratulations from friends. When we got her "real certificate" she also had earned a Reading Award and a Completion of the Sam Books certificate. And just to toot her own horn, she earned the second highest points in her class for the Accelerated Reading program. Way to go Kendyl!


In Hawaii, it's tradition to give leis for graduation and her teacher used to live in Hawaii so we made her and her teacher flower leis and candy leis. She couldn't wait to give the leis to her teacher.

Kendyl and her teacher, Mrs. Schuck.

Congratulations Kendyl, good job!

First day of preschool...

Brityn's preschool actually starts in September, but her teacher is doing some summer classes that looked fun and we thought it would be a good idea to get her used to going and being dropped off. She was so excited and could not stop talking about going to Miss Natalee's and didn't have any problems being dropped off. Yay! :)


I think she was most excited to take her new Dora backpack to school, plus, she feels like a big girl since she now gets to go to school just like Kendyl.

She came home so excited, she could not stop telling us about her day and showing us all the projects and papers she brought home. Now she can't wait to go back!