"Come on backpack, we can do this!"

School has officially started and I am back to teaching PE.  It was hard going back because I was being so productive and getting things done at home and I didn't want to be away from my sweet kids.  Such is life.  

But something excitingly new this school year...Memphis has started all day preschool.  A high school in my school district offers an all day preschool for mommy teachers and it's really cheap:)  But you have to be 3 and potty-trained so only Memphis could go this year.  Next year Kayzee will join him.  

I was worried about the potty-trained part because two weeks before it started Memphis started to regress and was having accidents again.  I guess preschool actually helped.  He has not had a single accident and his teacher says he does great at going all by himself.  They also feed him all his meals and he gets to play with new friends and get some preschool learning in with the high school girls.   He especially loves his new backpack!  It was only $5 (no way was I paying for an expensive backpack for preschool) and every school morning Memphis runs downstairs and gets his backpack ready.  On the first day of school Memphis walked into the high school with his backpack on and said, "Come on backpack, we can do this!"  I Love my Memphis:)

First day of preschool August 21, 2012

Last year was really hard for me dropping my kids off for day care each day I worked.  I really struggled with the girl I had watching them and my kids never wanted to go so it was a relief to find something different this year.

I LOVE that Memphis is getting preschool and playtime and I love my friend who is watching Kayzee this year.

My friend Michelle is a friend I grew up with through high school and seminary and she actually moved by my house last year.  It has been fun to catch up with her.  We work-out together and she also mentioned that she wanted to work from home so I asked if she wanted to watch Kayzee for the school year.  It has worked out perfectly.  She has two boys in school (one in 1st grade and one in 2nd grade so they are gone all day) and she just had another little baby boy.  Another friend who is also the music teacher at my school needed a babysitter for her little girl so I mentioned my friend that Kayzee goes to and now Kayzee has a friend to play with.  Kayzee actually likes going to "Shell's" house to play with her friend and I love that both my kids are actually happy going.

I Love my Kayzee:) 

We had a fun short visit from my dad this weekend.  He was passing through Utah on his way back from a cross-country motorcycle trip with his friend up to eastern Canada.  I definitely heard when my dad arrived:)  Memphis and Kayzee were really shy at first because they haven't seen their Grandpa Thorpe in so long but once my dad started playing with them and reading books with them they were happy to play with their grandpa.  Here they are playing on his motorcycle.  Memphis still talks about "Grandpa's LOUD motorcycle"!  We also enjoyed a yummy dinner at Porter's Place.  Sorry they were all out of Buffalo steaks Dad:( but yummy scones!!!!!  Thanks for visiting us Grandpa:)

No more ducks!

I got so sick of my guest/kid's bathroom being ducks that I redecorated and I love it!  I took a stab at trying a colored theme; how did I do?  I thought about painting it but after the painting experience I will tell you more about below...let's just say I will probably never paint our bathrooms.

Here is a picture of what it used to look like...

 And here it is now...

 Yes, my shower curtain is wrinkled.  I don't iron so don't judge;)

We have had a very busy couple of weeks with lots of driving.  One Saturday we drove up to Logan for my cousin's wedding in the afternoon.  Then we drove back down to Pleasant Grove (with my brother Chris who came to visit) for Danny's work party in the evening at a water park.  Memphis LOVED the water slides and he surprised me by swimming underwater.  

Then that night really late (more like 3:30am) I drove to Salt Lake City to pick up my sister from the train station.  Then that same day, Sunday, my sister and I drove back up to SLC to go see WICKED!  LOVED IT!!!!!!!  Want to go again just wish it wasn't so much money.  Luckily that was all the driving we were going to do till the next Saturday when we drove back up to Logan Canyon for a family reunion.  My mom and brother had driven from Washington but my mom stayed in Logan for a few days after the wedding so she joined us at my house on Monday.  My sister Alicia had ridden the train in from California.  They all came to visit and to help me paint some rooms in my house.

Here is my brother reading a book to my kids.  They loved Uncle Chrissy!    

When we moved in this house Kayzee's room was purple and I got sick of that too so I decided to paint her room white and paint a stripe design to match her color theme.  I thought with my sister, mom, and brother we could get tons of painting done.  HA!  Painting is a chore.  Especially when you are trying to cover a color.  I wanted to paint Kayzee's room, Memphis's room, the master bedroom, the guest/kid's bathroom, and a part of my kitchen that includes the pantry.  Ya, that didn't happen.  After a coat of primer and two coats of white, the purple room could still use another coat but I am just spot painting now since my family is gone.  We also got two coats of paint done in Memphis's room which a bright blue color was starting to show through the one coat of white paint that was there when we moved in.  Nothing else in my house got painted but that's ok.  There's always next summer right?

No more purple!  My sister Alicia...

 My brother Chris.  So lucky to have him since he is 6 ft 8 in tall we didn't need ladders!

 Me

Call me crazy but in all this mess I also decided to switch my kid's rooms.  Now that they were both white it didn't really matter except for my grandma's huge brown dresser that was in Kayzee's room.  I don't know how we got it up there but there was no way it was moving and Kayzee's room colors are going to be white, black, and pink so a brown dresser just bugged me and Memphis's room colors are white, brown, and blue so there you have it.  Danny just shook his head at me the entire process.  My mom was really nice and watched my kids and made all the meals so the rest of us could paint.  Oh, and I have to mention that the baseboards and the doors in their rooms were not as white as the paint we had bought so I ended up painting those too.  This turned out to be a bigger project then I wanted but oh well.  I will love it in the end.  Now I just have to paint the stripe design...

And this also turned out to be a perfect time to get rid of the crib and move Kayzee to a real bed since the crib didn't fit through the door.  Right now her crib mattress is on the floor until we get her twin bed (who knows when that will be) but she is doing great so far.  She falls asleep great but it's the staying asleep that has always been a problem since she was born that is still a problem.  

My sister was the one that took most of the pictures so I still need to get those from her so I have more pictures to show from our fun week.

BIG Thanks to my mom, brother Chris, and sister Sheesha! Thanks for all your help.

We also got to have Danny's sister Emily stay with us for a few days.  I had never really sat down and talked to her before so it was really nice to get to know her better.  She is an amazing girl and she was so nice and helpful while she was here.  THANKS Emily!

Now I am cleaning up from the painting adventure and getting ready to start school next Thursday....AHHHHHHH!!!!  Goodbye Summer Vacation:(