Kathryn's in Preschool

I can't believe I've let a whole month go by without posting.

First big thing since I posted last was that Kathryn started Preschool. She Loves it! We goes Wednesday and Friday afternoons for 3 hours. I have lots of art all over my walls because she's in school. She has become quite the artist. Her favorite is drawing people.

Matthew heard her the other day talking to one her little drawings and it talking back. The drawing said,"no I don't want Brown hair", Kathryn says back your going to have Brown hair", then the drawing says "Noooooo' as Kathryn draws on the hair.

So cute.

She also got featured at church yesterday for being confident with yourself. She walked or rather danced into church yesterday with her purple tutu dress and awesome Pink sunglasses on. Now I wish I would have gotten a picture. But the Young Women's teacher saw this and after Sacrament meeting she came up to Matthew and asked if she could come to her YW class on being confident and loving oneself. Kathryn was asked to do some dancing with her sunglasses on and just and a fun time.

She sure knows how to have fun! I love that she's so much into drawing and coloring right now. She now colors within the lines now. does patterns too. She is growing up so fast.

Charlotte's Cruising

Charlotte gets her braces this week. Dafo's they go just above her ankles. Pictures will come soon. They are pink and purple. I know Kathryn will love the colors so I picked some she would like as Charlotte hasn't yet given me a preference. She's pulling to stand all over the place and is doing so well with the little bits of walking she's doing.

So fun to share in light of it being Spina Bifida Awareness month. This is what Spina Bifida looks like for us. A Beautiful, happy, determined girl.

Love ya Charlotte Bee!

Happy Balloon Halloween

Cox Farms 2011

Girl mischief

Kathryn really likes coloring on herself.

"pot head"

Kathryn thought it would be fun to color on Charlotte. Isn't she a cutie!

Shake your body. Charlotte finally gets into at the end.

First day of school

Happy 6:35 in the morning!

Skyline Caverns

We went out on Labor day to drive down Skyline Drive but saw the signs for the caverns so we followed them instead.

The caverns were awesome. Matthew made an awesome video of the whole affair. Charlotte decided she didn't like the idea of being in a cave so screamed the whole time. I asked to be escorted out half way through and I took her to the car and ate some yummy cherries. Anyway Carolin really liked it and Kathryn liked it too. There was some amazing rock formations and the fun colors they did for lighting was fun. They say that using colored lights helps make it so no growth happens with plants and algae. White lights are more like the sun and cause the growth. We took stuff for a picnic afterwards and just had a nice time. it was a nice end to a summer vacation. School started the next day! 6:45 to the bus is really early!

Here's the video that Matthew made enjoy. Right in time for Halloween scary shows...

Life with our Exchange student Carolin

We are a family of 5 for the next 10 months! Carolin joined our family from Germany on September 28. She'll be here for the school year. We waited at the Airport for a few hours and then she and Chiara the girl I'm coordinator for came out and we rushed home. It was certainly a long day for these girls. They got up at like 6 in Germany meaning midnight here. They are 6 hours different. We got home I made some yummy taco's for her first meal in our home and then we took her for a walk down to one of the parks in the neighborhood. We couldn't let her go to sleep to help with the jet lag. She finally said she was tired about 8 and we let her go to bed.

Monday we just hung out at the house called to get school appointments and got to know each other more. She played with the girls a little bit.

Tuesday we went out to the Manassas Battlefield after a little Shopping. It was fun and I think she was interested in the things we saw. Stonewall Jackson got the name Stonewall at this battlefield.
Stonewall Jackson

Union Officer Charlotte

Confederate Officer Carolin

Union officer Carolin.
Which is her color??? Grey or Blue???

Kathryn's the Unions lead for the Cavalry!

Wednesday we had the school appointment which took about 2 1/2 hours because all exchange students have to pass an English exam before the school will register them. She passed with flying colors. Then we got the appointment at the High school the next day. She's taking some killer classes if you ask me. But she's excited. I hope Matthew will be around for some of the hard classes she's taking...

Friday she did her student orientation with all the freshman. She found her classes and where all the main rooms at the high school were. She came home on a school buss. Her first ever time on the school bus. I think she had a good time. We went for some more shopping for some school things and had a nice evening home.

Saturday we were going to go downtown for some sight seeing of the capital but it was rainy all day. So we went out to Tyson's mall and walked around that for a good hour or so. We didn't get to everything but she was sure impressed. I'm impressed and I've been in some big Malls. This thing is enormous! That night we went to the Nationals baseball game at their big stadium. We got $3.00 tickets. I thought it was awesome. Kathryn slept through the whole thing, Matthew looked for the camera guys, Charlotte played around on the chairs, I watched and explained the game to Carolin and Carolin watched and then fell asleep for part of the game. She slept most of the way home too.

On Sunday she came to church with us and I think she enjoyed it. She said she'd come next week too and then let me know if she'll keep coming or just come once a month like I asked her too. I hope she does just so she gets to know the kids better. She got to talk with her parents on Skype Sunday afternoon. I think it was hard for her but She's doing a lot more with us and I think she's getting used to us more. I think she needed that with her parents to know she's not alone and she can be apart of our family too. She's really getting into playing with the girls and helping me out with cooking and doing dishes.

Anyway I think this is going to be a great year! I can't wait for all the fun adventures we're going to have and all the things we're going to learn from each other.

My goal this year. Follow her US history class and take her to see as many of the things she's learning about in her class.

The Girls get Away to AZ and the Heaton Ranch!

Rochester, New York July 13-17

The pictures are in reverse of what we did but here it goes.

We left a day early so Matthew could drive through the night and not day! We got to Jolene's around 2 in the morning. It was a nice drive though. 8 hours on back country roads to avoid toll's. Now I want to drive it during the day so I can see the beauty of it. I'm pretty sure we drove all along the Susquehanna river for a long time. Anyway the girls traveled really well and even went back to sleep when we got there.

The first day was Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is in Buffalo, NY only an hour from Rochester. I've been to Rochester and seen Niagara Falls before but it was nothing like I remember. It was an amazing sight to see though. Jolene Paid for all of us to go on the Maid of the Mist. Wow you do get up close and personal with the falls, quite wet too. There is a reason they hand out the ponchos. You would be soaked if not for those things. It was really noisy down there too.

One of the facts about the falls that I thought interesting is that he falls that the falls erode 1 foot back each year I'm sure that's why it looks a little different as it's been almost 20 years since I was there last.

It was so beautiful and the day was beautiful. After Niagara we headed back to Jolene's for naps and relaxation. We got some pizza for dinner and just had a nice night. We went to bed early because of the short night before. And as we get up Charlotte throw's up all over the room. I mean all over the room. Matthew picked her up and she vomits over his shoulder and then he turns and the spews again on the bed. Then I yell don't turn so he turns back and she spew's again on the floor...

yes Charlotte caught a flu bug somewhere along the way. I was actually worried Kathryn would get sick as it was her usual time of the month for getting sick. (two months in a row with no fevers, for those who are also keeping track). We clean up Charlotte and have an easy morning. Charlotte seems to be doing pretty good so we head out to Palmyra to see the Temple, the Smith house and the Sacred Grove. It was beautiful as ever. Charlotte did good the whole time and even feel asleep the last hour or so we were there. We brought sandwich fixings and had a picnic just out side the grove.

There are a lot more paths then I remember when I was there last time. And there were tons more people but we were there for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. So there were a LOT of people there.

We decided to make it an early day for Charlotte's sake and went back to Jolene's and just let the kids play while Charlotte took a nap.

Matthew stayed home that night with her and Jolene, Deven, and Kathryn and I all went to see the Hill Cumorah pageant. It was really good. I really enjoyed the end when then preview all the prophets of the book of Mormon testifying of the truthfulness of it.

She didn't throw up at all that day but we couldn't get her to eat or drink much of anything. then the next morning She felt warm and then threw up more in her bed. So we decided since we couldn't' get anything down her and she had a fever we would try the ER. We went Saturday morning and they did an IV for fluids, a Shunt series to rule out shunt failure and urine samples. She was definitely dehydrated. So they finally said they were going to keep us over night at like 6 that evening. That was not the most pleasant hospital stays I've had... But she continued to get better and then after lots of begging on Sunday late afternoon they let us go. We left Rochester at 7pm for home. We arrived at 3 in the morning. And Charlotte was fine ever since. Jolene did call one of the members in her ward to have him come down and help give Charlotte a blessing. I love having men who honor their priesthood in my life!

Besides the hospital stay and the throw up that got all over Jolene's house It was a good trip. I'm glad we went. Kathyn and Deven were great together! They played and played. She sure does have some great cousins.

Pigtails

Adorable! Need I Say More!

Splash Pad- Play group

So Arizona has the right idea behind Splash Pads. This one in Fairfax well I guess it does the job but with no style. The girls liked being out though. I got my first sun burn here. Don't I have the cutest girls.

I have to have long pants and socks on Charlotte or she'll scrap up her toes and knee's real good. Not a great combo when it's blazing hot out.

This was our July Playgroup activity. I love that we have a different place to go each month. Thanks to Helen Oliver for putting those together. I at least can get out of the house for a little bit each week.

Fourth of July- I know it's WAY LATE

HOLY MOLY I haven't posted a little something on here for months. I'm so sorry. More sorry I don't have the last few months written down in a journal. Shoot. Why did I let myself get so out dated...

Anyway my first post will be our little Fourth of July celebrations.

We tried to go to a Fairfax County Fair and I say try because we got lost going and the van blew a tire when we were about a block from the fair. So Matthew spent the entire time laying in the dirt trying to get the spare on and I walked the girls down to this So Called Fair. It was horrible! plus it was HOT and HUMID! Kathryn got to ride all of one ride by her self. She loved it though. She rode it twice. Then we walked back and daddy was done so we drove on home looking for a tire place and lucky us there was one right across the street from Wegmens. So we went to eat lunch and walk the store. I like it and I hate it. It's big and has some awesome deals but it's always packed with people. Anyway the day was long, hot and not so very fair like.

For the Fourth we had a cook out with some friends. We brought our little charcoal grill and I grilled up all the hamburgers while the men enjoyed the cool indoors. then After dinner the fireworks were put together. We had like 100 little grounders. It was a show right before our eyes. We missed any big in the air fireworks cause I guess they like to do them the day before here and I didn't realize that. Maybe next year. Anyway Kathryn loved the fireworks. It's so fun now that she's older that she does and enjoys more things. Charlotte didn't know what to think. She didn't like the screamers very much but hey who does...

Kathryn loves the sparklers.

Lazy bums oh I mean my handsome husband and our friend Brent.

Kathryn's boyfriend Talon. Isn't he a cutie! Oh and can you tell it's humid as all get out. Kathryn looks like she just stepped out of the shower. but no that's just fun hot, humid VA!

Fireworks setting LOVE it

I made these yummy brownie's. Holy moly these were good. It was so hot out that the raspberries started to melt/juicy all over the brownie. it made it even better!

And last but not least my little Charlotte 'B'. Love the firework on her head.

(Disclaimer - Please do not try that at home. We are professionals)