Pure Joy

We've been a little busy lately. We just moved into our new house a month ago, and between finishing the basement and new yard and cleaning the old house and unpacking in the new house, we are still blessed with all the fun that summer break brings (as long as it's not raining anyway). We started taking Dillon to therapeutic riding to help him gain better balance, and he is loving it. I do have pictures of him but they are on my camera which needs to be connected to the computer we don't have set up yet. So those pictures are to come.

And since Dillon gets to ride horses, Halle is of course on his heels begging for a turn so we signed her up for riding lessons at the same place. She is in pure heaven when she goes. Thursdays are her day to ride and she is sure to have her "cowgirl" clothes on all day. She does feel a little guilty about leaving her stick horse and constant companion, Stripes, behind to go ride real horses - but only a little.

Anyway, Neal took this picture of her on his phone this week when he took her. Apparently she didn't stop talking with her teacher the whole time and decided she was ready for the "regular" horses next week. This pony's name is Winchester and he is so sweet with the kids. Her feet can barely reach the stirrups but if you could see her face, you would see a look of pure joy.

Teddy Bear Clinic

I volunteered at the Teddy Bear clinic at our hospital last week. It is such a great program put on by the local doctors and their wives for all the second graders in the area.

As a "tour guide," we got to proudly wear these coveted hats.

I was able to bring Halle and Dillon in and let them tag along with one of the groups. Here they are learning about the ambulance.

They had x-rays of a teddy bear and his broken arm. It was super cute.
Here, they learned about the ER. This bear was attached to an IV filled with honey to help explain that the IV helps give your body what it needs.
They had a few other exhibits I don't have pictures of where DARE talked about bicycle helmets, they learned about the poison sticker, and also dental health. Then they checked their bears (and all kinds of other stuffed animals) into the hospital.

Froggy and Sally Mercer (yes, Halle's bear has a last name) got weighed and measured.

Then they got their shots and a band-aid.

I knew kids from two of the schools from Primary because our ward straddles school boundaries. It was so great to get hugs from them as they came bounding off the buses and saw me (and my coveted hat).

Calling the Tooth Fairy

So what's the tooth fairy rate running these days? I have no idea, but Dillon just lost his first tooth while eating a hot dog yesterday.

Being an oldest child, I understand the magnitude of taking your parents through all the "firsts" for everything whether they are ready for them or not. For some reason, losing baby teeth now came as a surprise to me even though his friends are already missing several. I am still wrapping my brain around having to jump ahead a year and a half in child development stages.

Dillon's 1st Grade Program

Dillon's 1st grade did a patriotic program last month. He did so great. He knew all the words and actions and sang so good. He also taught Halle who caught on to the words quickly and she figures she's ready for first grade now.

This picture is super zoomed because it was cropped from a big group picture, but he had such a cute smile.
He's always so excited to tell us about his friends in his class. Even though they were supposed to be quiet at the time, he just had to tell us the girls next to him were his friends - They are incidentally the ones he gets in trouble for all the time for teasing.

Zumba class

This is a terrible, terrible video from my cell phone but I had to share it. Just watch it without the sound because I was standing right next to the huge speaker while I was taking the video and the volume was apparently waaay too much for my cell phone to take.

Halle and I love going to community Zumba classes twice a week. As you can imagine, Halle keeps up with the rest of the group and does much better at it than I do. She walks right up to the front of the room with the teacher and dances her heart out every time. I really can't believe how well she does.

And by the way, she's the short one in the front if you can't see it very well.

A couple of conversations

Our kids are constantly cracking us up. Here are a couple of conversations we've had recently.

Me: "Halle, how is it possible that you have caught yet another cold?"
Neal: "It's because she's kissing the boys at preschool."
Halle: "I am dead seriously, daddy, that I am NOT kissing the boys!"

Dillon: "How is your salsa, Daddy"
Neal: "It's spicy"
Dillon: "And you still like it????" (with a very confused look on his face)

What I didn't tell Neal was the conversation I had earlier that day at the grocery store where Dillon said that hot Cheetos were just for adults, and I said hot Cheetos were for people who weren't very smart. I tend to forget how literal this kid is and I get myself into trouble sometimes.

February in a Flash

All the stars aligned tonight in the kiddie kingdom and they were mercifully in their beds and asleep before 9:00. Homework got finished, dishes are done, and I find myself with some precious spare minutes. I know, I know. There some other things I should be doing, but posting on my blog took priority.

In a word - it's March. It doesn't feel like March because Idaho doesn't disappoint when it comes to winter weather. So here's what we were up to in February since it literally flashed before my eyes.

Sometimes, Halle has a hard time waiting for Dillon to finish his homework before they can play, so Neal will keep her busy with exercises until he's done. She loves the challenges and keeps begging for more.

I had to have her keep doing jumping jacks so I could get a picture that wasn't blurry. She finally said, "Here Mom" and gave me this pose.

Once Dillon gets finished, he likes to join in the challenge.Here are his awesome and well-rehearsed push ups. Look at that form.

Did I mention the winter weather? We are not even close to being done, despite the deceiving sunshine. This major storm fortunately came on a Friday night, so the kids bundled up and headed out to play.

Dillon wanted to help Neal with the shoveling.
Some neighbor boys came to "help" as well. One was clearly more helpful than the others, but they are all good kids that Neal teaches on Sundays.

This help of course came with a bribe of sorts. They wanted Neal to race his car for them - a guy thing I guess. It certainly wouldn't get me to do the shoveling.Here's our annual "mailbox" picture.

http://nealandbrenda.blogspot.com/2010/02/location-location-location.html

Halle had a hoe-down day at preschool that she had been looking forward to all week. Nobody plays cowgirl better than Halle does. Stripes - as the horse is called - even got to go with her for the day. The only thing she's really missing is real boots, but the ones she had served their purpose.

And there you have it. February in a nutshell. The only thing missing is Valentines day. We took the kids out to dinner to celebrate, but apparently we are the only ones who celebrate love on Valentines day as a family. They were the only kids in the restaurant.

Our Temple Pics

So life apparently keeps on going, whether or not you have time to post about the important events in your life.

We went to the temple to seal Dillon to our family last month. It was so wonderful to have most of our family and close friends with us. There are lots of pictures from the weekend's festivities, but here are the important ones.

Halle had a goofy face in just about every picture. And if she was smiling, Dillon was either looking into space or had an odd expression. Here's our family with Neal's parents.

I like this candid shot with my parents. Even though no one is looking at the camera, it shows how happy we all were on that day.