First Day of School!

Today, Maisie started 2nd grade! She was very excited to discover that her good friend Ellie would be in her class again this year.

She headed off to her first day equipped with new shoes, new clothes, and a new backpack.

After her first day with new teacher, Ms. Urban, she's excited for the year ahead, and is already getting busy on her homework.

Good luck, Maisie, we know you'll do great!

Birthday Camping

This past weekend we headed up to the property for another Rogers' get together, and as it happens, Saturday was Rory's second birthday. Teag and I came prepared, making cupcakes ahead of time, and hiding presents in the trailer. Saturday morning she woke us up bright and early, and we all sang Happy Birthday to her, a big smile on her face the whole time. We had a tasty breakfast, and then it was time for presents.

Hmm, I wonder what it could be

At this age, we let our kids pick their own presents, as I'd rather get them something they'll actually play with. So Rory selected a Dora bouncy ball:

A Dora guitar (that's right Uncle Kevy!):

I bet Elvis never had a pink guitar

A princess chair (which we left at home, so as not to have it immediately destroyed while camping), and some plastic animals/dinosaurs.

She also got a baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa Rogers, but that was also saved until we got home. As you can imagine, she had lots of help both opening and playing with her toys.

But she was pretty good to share, and I think it was a novelty for the kids to celebrate a birthday while camping. Rory had an absolute ball with her presents, but she especially loved the guitar. She jammed on that thing constantly, dancing around while strumming enthusiastically. She even mulit-tasked, and played the guitar while swinging.

Serious talent, I know. Later that night, we busted out the cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday again, much to her delight.

Oddly enough, she didn't really eat the cupcake, just sort of licked the frosting and sprinkles off. Weird kid.

We were much fewer in number this trip, but those who were there helped make it a fun day for Rory. Honestly, I can't believe two years have passed since she entered our lives. In some ways she's still my baby, but she's getting bigger every day, trying hard to be like her big sisters.

Happy birthday, Baby Girl! We love you so much!

Escape Artist

A few days ago I put Rory in her crib for a time out when she was being naughty. I shut the door behind me and walked out, planning to return in a few minutes after she'd "learned her lesson". A minute or two later, while walking past her bedroom, I hear "Mama, help! Help Mama!" I figured she just wanted to get out of her punishment so I waited a bit longer to go rescue her, only to find this:

Yep.

I'm not even sure how she managed it, frankly. My other two kids have levered themselves out of their cribs when they were little, usually landing with a painful thump, and the parental certainty that it was now time to move them into a big-kid bed. But this? How did she get herself both up and over, and once she did, why has she not chosen to repeat this impressive feat?

This kid seems to have an affinity for high surfaces, and is completely at ease on them.

I blame her dad, who used to climb the clothes in his parents closets to reach the top shelf as a toddler. And yes, she's sitting right next to the knife block.

New Glasses

From the time that Maisie first got her glasses two years ago her eyesight has continued to deteriorate, and it became clear that she needed a new pair to help her see better. This worked out well, as she'd outgrown her current pair and needed new frames anyway.

I decided it was about time for me to get some as well, given the fact that mine were going on something like ten years, and didn't sit straight on my face courtesy of my lovely children bending the crap out of the earpieces. So I made an appointment for both of us, and off we went to the optometrist.

Despite how truly awful my vision is, at least it hasn't gotten any worse, but sadly Maisie's had gotten much worse in the last two years. We'd figured as much, but I was quite shocked to see the evidence in front of me. Anyway, we finished the appointment and headed to the store to try on frames. For the most part, I have no problem with letting my kids pick out their own stuff, but I do try and guide them towards something that they'll still like a year or two from now. Finally we each settled on a pair, and as I'm discussing prices with the saleslady, I'm dismayed to discover that due to both of our horrendous deficiencies, we had to pay extra for the prescription, and then extra again to have them file it down so we don't look like we're wearing coke bottles! So, to the tune of $500, here are mine and Maisie's new glasses.

Funny how similar our tastes are; we both chose squarish, brown plastic frames. In the week since we picked them up, Maisie has lost them twice, and managed to bend both earpieces when she tripped while hanging the glasses from the neck of her shirt. She has now been threatened, on pain of death, to take better care of them, or foot the bill for a replacement pair herself.

Bayly Campout: Episode Two

A few weeks after the first go round, we headed back up to Lodgepole with the extended Bayly's for round two. We'd learned a few things after the first time, one being that we needed to do community meals, and another that we needed more stuff to keep the bugs away. Thankfully they seemed slightly better this time.

Teag's sister Tiff brought up her little chihuahua, Chico, and last time Rory chased him around all weekend saying, "Kitty! Meow!" Can't blame her for being confused, Chico is pretty tiny. This time, her cousin Conner handed him to her and let her hold him for awhile.

You can see the look of fear on Chico's face, but he was patient with her. I love how proud she looks. Teag and I bought a small pack of sidewalk chalk and were amazed at how much fun the kids had with that. We saw homemade drawings all the way down the road, through the campsites, all over. Rory liked to be really close to her work.

Last time a lot of the cousins had brought scooters to ride around, so we packed along Maisie's for this trip. She had a ball riding up and down the hills, and she's gotten really good at it.

Teag and I also bought a Ladder Ball set, and many a tournament took place with people of all ages.

One of mine and Teag's favorite activities was a new game Tiff and Tom introduced called Liar's Dice. We played game after game of it, and had such a good time trying to bluff our way to the finish.

Saturday night the plan for the community dinner was a baked potato bar, and Tom rigged up a pretty sweet briquette oven out of sticks and tinfoil.

It may not look like much, but the potatoes were tasty and nicely baked :). We had a fair few injuries this trip as well. Jordan sprained his ankle, and poor little Aaron took a spill on a bike, and ended up with a buckle fracture on his right arm.

Nothing like making an ER visit during your camping trip! You may notice that we don't have many pictures of our older kids this time. That's because we hardly saw them. They spent all their time running around with their cousins, having a grand old time, and crashing into bed at the end of the day. Can't wait til Rory is old enough to do that.

Thanks Bayly's, Milligans and Kings for a great weekend!

Pilatuses and Pirates

Teag needed to fly the Pilatus to Denver for a quick maintenance run, and rather than hanging out at an airport all day waiting for it to be completed, he got permission to bring the whole family with him. Teag's been gone so much lately, we thought it would be a great opportunity for some family bonding time. Sadly, what ensued was more like a lot of family shouting time. And whining time. And crying time. Oh well.

Rory, looking deceptively happy.

Denver is hosting a special exhibit at their Museum of Nature and Science about the sunken pirate ship, the Whydah (pronounced wid-dah). The girls love pirate stuff, so we thought we'd take them to see that, and fill the rest of the four hours looking at all the other exhibits there. It seemed like a great idea at the time; a great place to be able to keep the girls entertained for an extended period. And it would have been if Rory had cooperated and slept in the plane on the way there. They wouldn't let us take any pictures of the actual pirate stuff, unfortunately, but the girls got to touch actual dubloons, see real-life cannons and other ship paraphernalia, and read all about the doomed crew. After we went on the "treasure hunt", they got a little pirate hat to prove they'd completed it successfully. As you can see, Rory had a little trouble with hers.

But Dad helped her sort it out.

We forgot our camera, so all the pictures from this event were taken on my Ipad. The camera's obviously not too hot. After the pirates, we walked through a mummy exhibit, some animal exhibits, a butterfly and other bug exhibit, and an interactive body exhibit where you got to test all different things about your own body. One of the girls favorites was the Prehistoric exhibit with all the dinosaur bones.

Maisie and Dany holding their hands in a dino footprint

Rory seemed intent on trying to climb anywhere she wasn't supposed to be. Teag and I took turns chasing her around exhibits and pulling her off railings.

One of our favorite finds though, was the Discovery Zone. It's a place for kids to go and play and do little science experiments. They got to color and dance and even excavate a dinosaur skeleton, among other things.

We spent a good hour there, and it provided a much needed break for me and the Beagle.

The day certainly didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped, but hearing the girls go on and on about how much they loved the museum, and how they wish we can go back soon, helps us feel like maybe it was worth it after all.