McKenzie and the Sheep Farm

Kenzie in front of the stinky cows-seriously.
Whitney, tagging along on Kenzie's preschool field trip to the sheep farm.

The nice Farmer who let us come to his farm . . . and Kenzie's preschool class!

Love ya sis!

Kenzie getting to bottle feed a lamb.

Still feeding the lamb.

Whit and Kenz on the fence watching the lambs and their moms.

Baby Lambs.

Just this week McKenzie's Preschool class got to go to a Sheep Farm to see all the baby lambs! She was so excited to go! She got to see lambs that were only one day old! She also got to help feed a lamb. She was very interested in the sheep, but thought that the farm smelled bad. That was probably her biggest comment about the whole experience. She is funny. A few weeks ago Kenzie went in for her "Pre-Kindergarten" screening. She sat down with the teacher's aide and went through a little questionnaire to just see where she is at . . . she breezed through the whole thing! She got a perfect score, without any hesitations! I was so proud of her! The smart little thing! She is very ready for Kindergarten! She will be one of the oldest in her grade and I am very glad that we waited to send her. She was not ready last year. But she is now wanting to write her letters and her name and sound out other words. She is very into coloring and art projects. I am so happy that she will start Kindergarten right on target or possibly a little ahead, both of which are better than being behind. I honestly think she would have struggled through Kindergarten, had we sent her last year. I think that being the middle child is difficult for McKenzie. When things get busy, I know she feels lost in the shuffle. She has been throwing tantrums lately. She is 5 1/2 far too old for this kind-of behavior. I know that it is mostly a dramatic show-- complete with kicking, wailing, and lots of forced tears-- which all dissolve as quickly as they came . . . fake, but still there is something behind it all . . . I know she is craving more attention. Bad. Good. Or otherwise. Scott and I both try to spend good time with her, especially Scott. He has taken her out to breakfast for a Daddy-Daughter-Date and he is very good to work her through her tantrums. I still feel that Kenzie's self esteem is fragile. I try to build her up so much with lots of specific praise and attention, but it seems that the moment things do not go her way, she dissolves . . . I am just going to have to keep praying for her. If anyone has any advice on self esteem and little girls or tantrums and 5 year-olds, I would love to hear it. I feel like I don't have the answers or maybe that my answers are not being as effective as I want them to be.

West Yellowstone for Spring Break

Sam and Kenz in the pool!
Whit getting ready to get in.

Sam's muscles. Scott's man chest.

Kenz coming down the slide and me (yelling at Scott to get Whit before she jumps in . . .) getting ready to catch Kenz.

Me and the girls at the top of the slide.

Doughnut holes on toothpicks. They were pretending to eat them like suckers.

Whitney.

In the morning playing with their McDonald's toys.

So when we asked our girls what they wanted to do for Spring Break, they all said that they wanted to go swimming! Well there is still snow on the ground in April and not many places for swimming. My brother told us about a hotel in West that has an indoor water slide and pool! So that is where we headed for Spring Break! It is truly the "off season" up there. The Park does not open until May or June and snowmobile season is ending/over. MOST everything was closed. There were 2 souvenir shops open and we got the girls cute T-shirts and some polished rocks. There were about 3 restaurants open, one of which was McDonald's (it cost us 3x as much to eat there as it does in Rexburg . . .oh well). We seriously had the place to ourselves which was pretty cool! Everyone working there really catered to us! The pool was a blast! It was only 3 feet deep for most of the length and only got to be 4 feet right where the slide came out. So it was perfect for our girls . . . they could touch nearly everywhere. There were also 2 hot tubs and that was nice! The hotel is not the fanciest, but it was clean and nice! We would totally go back again.

The 3 Piggy Opera!

Sammy as the "Mother Pig" singing to her 3 little pigs
Sam with her pig nose and "Mother Apron"

Sam singing with part of her class.

Whitney, Samantha, and McKenzie

So about a month ago Samantha's 1st grade class put on a play called "The 3 Piggy Opera." It was the cutest ever! Sam played the "Mother Pig" (which is right up her alley) and she even got to sing a solo! She made a very cute pig!

The Wiggle Cars!

Scott on a wiggle car! These were a gift from Nana and Pa to the girls for Christmas, we didn't get them put together until Feb. . . But everyone has had so much fun riding them around the kitchen and all around the table. They make a terribly loud noise bumping over the tiles, but they love riding them. (I can't wait until they can take them outside to ride)

Sammy and Kenzie

Whitney

Everyone, Don't Crash!

Spring Fever. We need to get out of the house!

This is what we were up against!

Yes, take in the lovely "cottage and tree" lacy curtains. --Notice the late 80's country blue and peach wallpaper (also sporting the "cottage and tree" theme) --all so coordinated and all SO NOT ME!!! This is what our basement family room first looked like when we moved in-- July 2007! Wallpaper and wood paneling. After LOTS of hard work we have made it more our style. I am still not completely done. I have (since these pictures) painted the entertainment center black (which I love and it looks awesome) and we have re-arranged the furniture and I am going to paint the bookcase black as well (it also needs a new back on it, because one of its previous owners punctured holes all over it). I will post the finished product soon . . . But I wanted to document stage one of the transformation!! These walls were a (pain-in-the-butt) 3 step process. On the upper half of the wall- we scrapped wallpaper off, then Scott textured, then we primed, and then we painted! On the lower half- we sanded the wood paneling, primed it, and then painted! It sounds all so neat and easy. It wasn't. But it is finished. I love it.

Before. With wallpaper and wood paneling. (I can't change the 70's, river-rock, and gold fireplace---so it stays. But it is slightly less hideous with the green paint and black accents) I had to work with what I had! After. Hours of hard work after. But after none-the-less.

The back-wall

Same back- wall

Entertainment center and busted-up book shelf. More paneling and Wallpaper.

Green paint and book shelf not pictured.


I am excited to finish it all up and I will post more pictures when I am done! I love having a house of my own that I can fix up, change, and paint!

Curtains For Whitney

I love curtains! You would never know that looking at my house, because I have only had one window with curtains on it. . . . Until now. I finally hung curtains in Whitney's room! I have been wanting to since we moved in (like a year and a half ago). Just simple curtains, but then I bought big Gerber Daisies to dress-up the ends! I thought they turned out cute! Now when I say I hung them, I actually mean I hung them! Me, myself with Scott's screw gun (which looked easier to use than it actually was . . .) I was fantastically awkward at it! It took me twice as long as it would have taken any normally coordinated person. I was secretly glad that Scott was not around to see me. I am very pleased with the finished product, but I will not be attempting to hang curtains alone again!

Madison State Basketball

These pictures are all out of order! I don't know quite how to load them and rearrange them . . . So I will label them, and just know they are in random order! This past weekend we went to Boise with the Madison Boys Basketball team for the State Championship! The boys fought a mighty battle!! We had lost 2 of our tallest and best players to injuries during the season; so we were really quite out matched at State. The boys played Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. and won. Then we played Post Falls on Friday night and won, in over time. Then we played Saturday night against Lewiston and lost by about 6 points or so--but we played our hearts out! The boys really dung deep and got at it, but Lewiston just had a great team with all Seniors and lots of height! (Out matched) But Hey, 2nd place in 5A ball for the State of Idaho, is not too shabby!

We only brought Samantha with us. McKenzie decided that she really didn't want to spend 3 days at the Idaho Center watching multiple games of basketball and Whitney was simply not invited----I didn't want to spend 3 days at the Idaho Center watching multiple games of basketball with a 2 year old. (I can't think of anything I want to do less than that . . .) So Scott rode down with the team on Wed. and Sam and I drove over on Thursday! Sam and I did make it to the mall on Friday!! We shopped the whole day until both our feet hurt! (It was wonderful!) We had a lot of late nights and were in bed by about 1:00 a.m. every night ?(Even Sam)!! Scott stayed up even later helping Travis run stats on all the players and type it all up! He didn't get to bed until about 4:00 a.m. most nights! Crazy! Scott has loved coaching basketball this year and he is definitely on board for next year! We have enjoyed getting to know all the coaches and their families. They are a great group of people.

The coaches wives (minus coach Mathews wife--she was sick). Peggy, Andrea, and me. We took this the last night after we had lost the Championship Game.

All the coaches. Isaiah, Bill, Travis, Scott, and Rob! It takes a team to coach a team!

Scott and Rob. The main J.V. coaches!

Scott, the team, and the trophy.

Scott, me and Sam after we lost the game. I think we look tired. I know we feel it.

Scotty and Sammy.

The team holding up their 2nd place trophy and the crowd cheering them on!

Madison going to congratulate Lewiston.

Scott before the game started. Nervous. Excited.

Our Cheerleaders introducing the team.

Introducing the Seniors.

Sam in our hotel room, hugging her tiger.

Me and Sam---My State buddy. I was really glad to have her with me. Scott was so involved with the team and games . . . I would have spent a lot of time alone. I enjoyed the one on one time with her.

Sam and Scott's adjusting table.

Scotty. Coach.

Madison Fans. Decked in Red and White. Go Cats!

This was during our game on Friday night.