Wild Waters

We only went to Wild Waters once this year (playgroup at a discounted rate)  Kolton mostly enjoyed himself.  Xiana loved every second of the day.  Thankfully, Brian picked Kolton up on his way home and, with the help of some kind friends, I got to ride most slides before the day was through.  It was the most fun I've had at Wild Waters in a long time!  I think Kolton's favorite part was the sandbox and the cotton candy.  Xiana is getting big enough that she can navigate the waves in the wave pool solo.  She loved that.  It was the first time I could go in without feeling like I had to hold her.  It won't be long before she can go on the big slides... neither of us can wait!

Tahoe round... I'm not sure anymore

We had already planned a Young Women trip to Tahoe the day that Larissa and her fam were here so, thankfully, everyone agreed to join us.  It was a tremendous day!!! 

Visits from Family

I don't know how I spaced it, but when we took Cami's kids out shooting, I didn't have my camera!!!  We had a wonderful, albeit short, visit with her and her family.  We went shooting, to the buffet, and hung out.  A few weeks later, Larissa and her family came to visit.  We went four-wheeling (which despite what the pictures depict, Kolton doesn't love.. he gets a little afraid.) Branden was the main four-wheeler for sure.  It was another very quick visit.  We went to Tahoe, out to dinner, and visited.  Nicole spent both nights at our house and only got sick in the night once:)  I didn't see Xiana for either visit. 

Kolton pretty much just runs away from us non stop no matter where we are.  He doesn't even bother to look to see if anyone is following him!

Splash!

We hit the splash park across the street from us a time or two this summer.  It's so wonderful that it's close, you can bring your own food, it's cheap, and there are gates all around keeping a special someone locked in at all times.  I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately with the start of school a million side projects.  I also have been concerned that I'm so behind on my blog.  Then I realized, that's just silly.  For many of this posts I only need the pictures so that I can print them in my book at the end of the year.  As a result... the next few posts might be, shall we say? quite picture heavy!  Enjoy!

Preschool

So there is a little class at Jesse Hall that has a pre-school progam specifically designed to help advance language in children with language delays. As such, they need "model" students for the children to mimic.  They did a screening to select the two model students.  Xiana and her little friend Tad both went to the screening.  Because they are so close, we threatened and explained that there was to be no crying/fighting/hitting/leaving other kids out/tattling/not sharing on this screening day; so much so that Tad finally cried out, "I don't wanna go to the screaming!" We softened our approach.  Long story short, both girls were selected which is wonderful for them, and for their transporting mommies.  My dear friend Kate told me about this class.  I was very fortunate to be able to head down there as soon as I heard the word go.  Kate put in a good word for Xiana as did two other moms that know the teacher.  After the screening, when the teacher called to tell me that Xiana had been selected she said, "I gotta be honest with you.  I had three different moms in so many words tell me I'd be a lunatic not to pick Xiana.  It started to worry me that there was some reason they were taking pre-emptive measures.  Then I met her.  She is perfect.  I can't believe there is a 4-year-old so perfect for this class."  Needless to say, I was beaming with pride.  She proceeded to tell me about how Xiana could identify almost all her letters, counted to 50 before they told her could stop, and then, when they asked the kids to write their names and one little girl exclaimed that she didn't know how.  Xiana told her, "just copy the letters off of your name tag."  Genius I tell you, sheer genius.  I was very proud, and also a little relieved.  I know Xiana is a special, smart little girl, but every parent thinks that about their children.  So, after dropping her off for the screening I started to think that perhaps I was her A number one fan, perhaps even on a solo mission; so much so that after I picked her up I gave her a little pep talk about how if she didn't get selected, it wasn't because she wasn't smart or wonderful etc.  It's funny how I could lend my own insecurities to her.  At any rate, she LOVES going to school.  I heard her less than two hours later confiding in a mommy at the park that, "I go to pre-K at Jesse Hall."  I also had a long conversation with her about the man, Jesse Hall, whom the school was named after being the first African American teacher and principal in Washoe County School District and how important that was for her with her own heritage.  It was neat.  I think she understood pretty well.  She's so perceptive that she interjected once to say that she bet those mean people that were treating the black people so badly were really sad when they didn't get to go to heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus.  I explained to her that they didn't know any better and that they probably were really sad, but that Heavenly Father loved them so much that he probably just taught them the truth so that they could live with Him again.  She had a lot to say about that and thought it was pretty darn neat that Heavenly Father would be so cool.  She said she felt sorry for the mean people which is just about the best thing you could ever hear from your four-year-old half black daughter who will probably have to face a mean person or two in her life.  But I digress. 

Xiana asked her teacher half way through the first day when preschool was going to start.  She craves a sit down structured learning environment so much.  When I asked her about the comment, half laughing while doing so, she said, "Oh yeah, I think we're gonna start pre-school tomorrow."
Then, while she was gone I got to hang out with Kolton on a solo mission.  I can't say that I've spent all together too much time with him one-on-one.  It was a rare priveledge that I'm grateful for.  Although, I often go to the gym while she's at school, even the 30 minutes after can be quite endearing.  I guess that's just part of the gig for a second child.

And the girls were so darn cute.  They really love each other.  It's such a wonderful experience.  They do such fun activities and have access to any number of imagnative tools.  Our little ebony and ivory.  Happy little lives!!

Pyramid Lake

We took our little crew to Pyramid Lake right in the nick of time.... shortly after, they issued a warning not to swim in this particular lake as it was causing skin rashes from some parasite.  But... on this day... the water was grand!  Now I'm not a huge proponent for Pyramid lake.  I've seen more than one fish egg covered algae that makes me want to hurl.  But again, on this day, the water was marvelous.  It was clear and clean and a perfect temperature.  The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable is a boat... some day.  Still, we had a wonderful time.  Ekco stayed in the water the entire time.  Xiana and Kylee did some sand play, I ventured in and out, and Brian and Kolton stuck together....

Throwing lots and lots of rocks. Kolton is getting a pretty good throwing arm too.  The only problem is that, being a 1-year-old, he can't discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate rock throwing times and places.  *sigh* Enjoy every phase right?