More of September

Now that we're back to a schedule, we're also back to running around like crazy to all the activities we're all involved in. The kids have started piano & choir again which have us running before and after school. Jadyn and Regan started dance class. Regan started a tap/ballet combo class that she just absolutely loves. Jadyn started a hip-hop class so she can shake her little booty. J.J. just eats it up when the teachers pick her to dance in front of the class. They both seem to be enjoying it a lot.

I've been super busy running everywhere, being room mom for Regan's kindergarten class, and volunteering down at the school.  This year for the school fundraiser they did a read-a-thon. One day the girls got to dress as characters from a book. Brooke picked the girl from "Because of Winn Dixie". Regan picked "Fancy Nancy" and Jadyn picked a pirate from a story she made up. (Creative Girl!) Another day, they had everyone come in their pajamas. They also asked for volunteers to come in their pajamas to read to the classes. I went and read in Jadyn's class.  The kids seemed to really enjoy seeing parents be silly.

September 20th was the anniversary of the day my dad was shot and killed as a police officer in the line of duty. Although it has been 23 years since he died, it is still an extremely difficult time of year for me. I miss him terribly and wish he were here to see these grandkids of his and be involved in our lives. He would absolutely love this time of his life. I was really emotional this year about it and don't really know why. I guess even though years and years go by, it still doesn't take away the sadness of what could be and what I miss. But this year I decided to celebrate my dad's life.

So, for dinner we had medium rare steak, loaded potatoes, and salad which is a meal my dad made on special occasions.  I talked about memories I had growing up with my dad. One of those was going tubing down the Salt River with him. We floated down the river with big inner tubes and my dad would toss us pop and Ding Dongs and other junk while we had fun. So for a snack we ate Ding Dongs in his memory. We sang some of the songs my Dad would sing with us while camping. We played Swat the Fly like we used to sometimes for Family Home evenings. And, we danced around while we listened to my Dad's CD of the group he sang in when he was in his 20s. 

I'm glad I got to share those memories with my kids so they could know their Grandpa better. I'm pretty sure he was laughing with his crazy laugh as he was watching us from heaven.

Everything Since Then

As soon as we got back from Arizona, we came home to find the Skipper cousins in town!  The kids had so much fun being together again.  When Laurie and Dave and the kids lived here, these kids were very close.  Each one of Laurie's kids has one of our kids close in age. They love being together and are super goofy!  Demonstration below:

Here's McKay and Brennan doing their usual...video games. Actually, we were quite impressed with these two boys. When we got back, we had temperatures of 104 and tons of humidity. David was building a deck in the back of Jeff's parents' house and asked them for help. They were very hard workers despite the horrible weather! As always, we were so sad to see them go back to North Carolina. We miss having them live by us.

Just a few days after that, the kids had their first day of school. Brennan started High School (which I'm still in denial about), Brooke 5th grade, Jadyn 4th grade and our baby Regan started Kindergarten.  What a spread! Regan was so excited to start school and was very ready. She even had me just drop her off at the curb outside of the school as she walked in.  She absolutely loves school. She's a little torn because she misses all the mommy time she's used to having, but she loves being there.  

I am experiencing a bit of an empty nest syndrome.  My house seems so quite and lonely without the constant chatter and singing that she does.  Everyone keeps asking me what I do with all my free time.  I just laugh and say, "What free time?"  Between getting up at 5:30 every morning to take Brennan to early morning seminary, being room mom, volunteering, kids before and after school activities, all my other daily chores and gym time, I still haven't found free time. That's okay though. I like staying busy.

On August 15th, our little Jadyn Joy turned 9!  Boy how time flies. She ended up having a birthday weekend. On Friday of that weekend she had her friend Melissa Ault over for a sleepover. I took them to get candy and a movie. They had pizza and painted their nails and had lots of fun.  The next day Jeff and I took her clothes shopping, to lunch and then to get her ears pierced.  Sunday was her actual birthday. She had lots of yummy food to eat all day, had Grandma and Grandpa Danielson over for dinner and had homemade German Chocolate Cake.  I think it was a successful birthday weekend.

One weekend we were bored so we went to Jackson, TN which is about one hour away just to do something different.  We went to lunch at an AWESOME Mexican food restaurant and spent time at the family fun center bowling and playing miniature golf. We then went and had banana splits and shakes at the old time ice cream parlor. It was a nice change of scenery.

These past few weeks the weather is finally cooling down and we've taken full advantage of it.  We've done lots of hiking and family walks and picnic.  Last Saturday we went to Herb Parson Lake for a 5 mile hike that ended up being a 7 mile hike. Don't know how that happened, but we enjoyed it anyway (for the most part). And the kids were troopers! 

Saturday night Regan kept complaining about being itchy. I just assumed she got attacked by bugs while on the hike. But by Monday (Labor Day), she had more and more spots in more and more places that looked a little funny. As we examined her closer, we realized that they weren't bites at all. Our poor baby had Chicken Pox.  Jeff took the other kids over to his parents' house for a BBQ and Regan and I stayed behind.  All week she kept getting more and more spots despite the two vaccines she had to prevent it. Luckily it wasn't that bad of a case. She was very itchy but never got sick.  I think we both enjoyed having her home from school.  We did lots of reading, snuggling and playing games.  I hate that she had chicken pox, but was glad to have some chatter in the home again.