Kayley's birthday and more

So I was doing so good at blogging things on time and then life just happens and you get behind again. So here's a catch up post on the last couple of weeks. As some of you know August is our mega-month. Three birthdays, our anniversary, and now the start of school! So needless to say that explains why I'm just now posting about Kayley's birthday and other events from August.

Kayley had a very fun birthday. She had to go to school that day, but that's going to probably be the story of her life from now on with her birthday being on August 19th. She picked out her birthday outfit (just an outfit she had never worn before so it was a new one), she woke up and like Cora, I let her chose one present to open before school. She picked the one I didn't think she'd pick, the smallest one. But she was a bit more patient than Cora was for waiting to open her presents. Then I took her to school. Later in the day Cora, Rex and I were able to take treats to her school for her birthday. Then I went ahead and checked her out for the rest of the day because we were down to one car that day and Nick had taken the van to work and let's face it, it was blasted hot walking to and from school, so by the time I left from snack and got home we would have to turn around in 10 minutes to go back and pick her up for the day, so I just checked her out and saved us that extra time in the heat. Then the plan was to go eat out somewhere fun that night with her, but plans had changed with us being down to one car and we were going to go look at a truck we had found on craigslist in Topeka, KS. Before that however, Sarah and the girls came over for Audrey to drop off something for Kayley for her birthday and we had them join us to open her presents and eat cake and ice cream. Kayley was excited to have her cousins over for her actual birthday. Then we headed to Topeka to look at the truck, which we ended up buying the next day. But we ended up having a fun road trip for her birthday and they got to watch one of her new movies she got for her birthday in the car. I think she had a great birthday overall. She is so grown-up now it's hard to believe we have a 6 year old now. Kayley is very smart and always wanting to learn and know everything about something. She amazes me on a daily basis on things she knows that maybe I don't think she knows yet. She also is very willing and loves to learn anything and everything about the Gospel. Ever since our trip to Nauvoo she is very much into learning all about our Church's History. She is very willing to help out with her younger brother, although she is still the older sibling who likes to pick on her siblings every now and then. She is such a good student at school and always willing to learn there too. She loves arts and crafts and is very timid on trying anything physical. I asked her earlier this year if she wanted to do soccer. An immediate no was her response, not even a thought about it. However, this year she has seriously made leaps and bounds in swimming at the pool. She not only learned how to go all the way under, she has learned to jump off the side of the pool and go under all by herself without us catching her and without any type of floatation device. I'm very sad the pool is getting ready to close and hope that we are able to swim in hotel pools throughout the winter year so she doesn't forget this great accomplishment! Maybe swimming will be her thing!?! We love our Kayley and seriously can't believe how old she is getting and how much she has grown and we can't imagine life without her.

Little Rex is starting to introduce me into boyhood little by little everyday. I thought the only thing I had to keep the trash away from was Einstein...apparently not. I had pulled out the trash sack to fill it a little bit more before closing it and Kayley came running into my bathroom, "Mom, come quick and look at Rex!" This is what I found...this cupcake was in the trash sack. He was going to town on it! I took it away and he actually wasn't as sad as I expected him to be. But how do you germ-x a mouth!?! That came from the trash!
And I mentioned that we ended up buying that truck in Topeka, KS...well the first day we bought it we all rode around town in it running our errands and the kids loved riding in it. We decided to do pizza that night and brought it home and did a pizza party in the bed of the truck. The girls thought that was the coolest thing ever! Rex of course realized how much he loves playing in Daddy's truck bed! It was a fun memory to be mad!
Here's another reason why Rex loves the truck bed...he can play in it without us hovering around him constantly because it's basically like a big play pen. The picture is not that great as it's from my phone, but here is Cora and Rex playing in the truck bed while Nick and I cleaned it out.
Then we had Nick's birthday. His birthday was pretty low key, but I think the older you get the more you live for those low key birthdays right? His celebration lasted two days long as the day before we cooked him cashew chicken...a birthday must for him! The girls were ecstatic as they absolutely love cashew chicken too. Then we went swimming that night and I finally got some pictures of Kayley jumping in by herself (top left) and her going completely underwater (top right) and her coming up from the being underwater...it's really a funny site because she comes up like she's been holding her breath forever and she comes up almost like Ariel does when she has legs? Know which part of The Little Mermaid I'm talking about? Anyway, it's the middle picture and little Rex is just cute to take pictures of at the pool. He's also getting pretty brave walking around, getting out and into the pool just because he can now. Cora has also made leaps and bounds this summer in jumping off the side every now and then by herself, but with a floaty thing on. She has also gone underwater a few times, not as much or as long as Kayley, but she has gone under much quicker than Kayley ever did so that's impressive in itself.
Then last week we went to Silver Dollar City for the last time to go during the hot weather. It was hot that day, but bearable at least in the shade. So hot that I couldn't believe we did, but we got on a water ride! We usually avoid these because we don't want to be walking around in wet clothes the rest of the day and because usually our girls freak out about getting wet for some reason. Well not this time around...we rode the new Huck Finn's water extravaganza or something like that. Basically you ride this little boat that goes as slow as molasses and you get to squirt water guns to objects around the ride as well as people standing around the ride. The kicker is they are standing at water guns too that shoot at you. They can move and dodge our water sprays, you on the other hand are helpless on this very slow moving boat! Cora, Rex, and I sat on the very drench able side. Nick, Grandma and Kayley were able to avoid the sprays a little bit more than us. Kayley wanted to ride a second time and had a blast on the ride. We didn't necessarily want to ride again and luckily the line had gotten a little bit longer after we got off so we got out of riding it again. Instead we let Kayley stand at a water gun to shoot all the upcoming riders and of course get shot at herself. Cora joined in a bit here and there, but Kayley probably could have stood there all day. She was getting drenched and even while she was getting soaked she would just keep shooting her gun even though she couldn't see who she was shooting towards. It was funny! Check out her expressions on some of these pictures! Then we also let Rex play in the sandbox..he didn't eat too much of it and I was reminded why I hate sandboxes myself. And we all rode the carousel. Rex LOVED the carousel!! He kept looking at the bears on the carousel and barking like they were dogs so he was in 7th heaven! Also this weekend trip was when he decided that he would take more than just two-three steps at a time. He's definitely loving to walk and it's really cute to see him toddler around! He's growing up so fast!

Oh..and I can't forget a big moment for Kayley that happened this same weekend, she lost her 6th tooth. It had been loose for a while but she wouldn't let us pull it. She would randomly get very upset about it but still wouldn't let us touch it. We were eating dinner that night at Freddy's and it came right out. She almost didn't eat anything else because in the past when she's lost a tooth while eating she's thought the reason why it fell out was because of eating and she didn't want to loose anymore teeth. But she got over it pretty quickly and finished her dinner. The tooth fairy was even good enough to visit her at the Condos in Branson, which she was really excited about!
And remember me telling you Rex is introducing me into boyhood little by little? One of his new things is to climb onto the girls' little tikes table and look out the window in our living room. Today he went from the table and climbed right into his toy box. He was having a blast for a while having all his toys at his finger tips, till he was ready to get out and couldn't figure out how. Cora luckily came to his rescue. The other funny thing he's been doing lately is pictured in the middle picture below. His feet are flat on the floor and he leans over and puts his head flat down on the ground and just stays there, will sit up and do it again! It's hilariously cute!