Braska Bear

Braska reporting: A couple weeks ago after we went to Bears Sunday at Grandma C’s house, we went to another place. Mommy and Daddy didn’t say where we were going. We fell asleep on the way, and when we woke up, we were at the place where we have done some cheer competitions, so we thought we might be cheering. But nope. It was Disney on Ice!  We were so surprised, and very excited!  It was a little cold in there, though. We’ll show you more pictures later, but here’s a couple for now. We LOVED the princesses!

Mommy reporting: Check out this link for a story on a Special Olympics event Braska was a part of yesterday morning.  She got to skate with some of the cast of Disney on Ice… and Mickey Mouse!!  I saw this reporter there with a camera yesterday, but I didn’t know her and just assumed it was SO promo stuff.  So when M was walking through the waiting room at his office and saw this on TV today, he called me. “Um, I just saw Braska on TV!” She’d never been skating before, and I was amazed that she could even stand in the skates on the carpet.  Once she got to the ice, it was a bit more challenging, but they were great. The coach of the SO hockey team that was there ended up skating around the ice with her for almost an hour, holding her. (photo by www.algiepix.com ) And she LOVED it!  She begged to go back out when I would take her for a break.  “Mom, I wanna skate more!  Mr. Tim, take me back to skate, please!”  It was plugged as a Young A...

The day didn’t start out on a perky note for Braska. She did not feel well and just was so pathetic to see. The classic front porch pics were a bit uncomfortable for Kinlee.  But still, a photo must be had. Even if it’s an unhappy one. Braska went with Daddy to school, 13 minutes east of our house, and I took Kinlee 10 minutes west of the house to her school. And I kept thinking “the juggling has begun….” While dropping Kinlee off, I was still in her school, Braska’s school called (8:20 am) to tell me she was feeling worse, and asking if I thought I should get her.  We discussed, and they felt that wanted to allow her a bit more down time to adjust, and it turned out she did perk up and did well for the rest of the day.  Belly issues, apparently. When it was time for Braska to arrive home on the bus, Kinlee and I went out to the porch to wait for her. She got off that bus, happy as a clam, and marched independently up to the house with her monstro...

  Me and KiKi are going to church camp this week with Grammy and Auntie Ju.  We went to see Grammy and Papa this morning so we could get in Grammy’s car. Here’s Kinlee with our Papa.  She’s looking funny because it was bright outside and she smiles weird lately.   I don’t think Daddy liked that we were leaving on Father’s Day, but he knows we’re gonna have fun with all those big kids.  And Mommy had to have a goodbye picture, too, before we left for 6 days. We’re gonna play outside A LOT and swim and play with little kids and big kids and sleep in a great big place with lots of bed.  And Grammy and Auntie Ju are gonna be there the whole time.  Kinlee was sad that Mommy would miss us, but I think they’ll be alright.

My class is going on a field trip today. And we get to ride the big bus from the high school!!  I love riding a bus so much! This is me and two of my friends. Both their names begin with A. I say they are awesome!

Me and mommy are watching LOTS OF PEOPLE come in to this place called Family Arena to watch Tobymac. I keep telling Mommy and Daddy, "I am SO excited!!!"   KiKi and Daddy are walking around looking at stuff. Mommy and me are taking cheese pictures before it get really really loud in here!!

KiKi’s class must have heard how much fun we had at the pumpkin patch yesterday, because they went today!  Mommy went both times, so I’ll let her tell you about their day today… Déjà vu. We loaded up the van with cute little girls. Yesterday it was only Braska and a friend and the friend’s mom, today it was Kinlee and 3 friends plus 1 other mom.  Kinlee has a serious selection of shades that live in the van, so everyone chose a pair for the ride. KiKi’s class went to the same place, but a different location.  So it was similar but different.  Keeping it interesting, which was ok since two field trips in two days could get boring… Climbing the big hay pyramid… ”Ta-Da!!” For the most part, Kinlee was pretty excited about the whole event. She liked the swing, of course. The zipline was a BIG hit! A little video clip of the zipline… She kept refusing to take a picture with me… showing once...

Today we took a field trip. My first one in kindergarten! My friend helped me do lots of things. Like climb WAY to the top of this hay tower. Mrs. E was up there and we waved to Mommy from across the way. Since it’s Mommy’s birthday we stopped for a smiley picture together. All my school friends are so nice.  There are 7 other kids in my class.  They’re all way bigger and faster than me, but they always help me and invite me to go with them.  My friend E is one of my favorite buddies. We went around and did some fun things together. She even was my car buddy and her mommy and her rode with me and Mommy in our car. (Mommy note: I can NOT say enough things about the kids in B’s class. They are just amazing.  That has a lot to do with a superb teacher in a really great school.  But the kids themselves are just so sweet, so wonderful with B.  Patient but not too patronizing. They just love her and want her to be doing things w...

I’m tired.  It was a fun day but it was a lot. So here’s a movie of my cheer routine and one of Kinlee’s too.  I’ve got lots more pictures to show you and we’re doing another one tomorrow, so there will be even more.  Then I’ll be ready for a break! Here’s me.. BOMB squad. I start out right in front with my buddy Olivia helping me. Here's TNT... KiKi’s in there, 2nd from the left.

I went to my new school today.  I went to my new kindergarten class.  I like my teacher a lot. And I like the new friends.  There’s 8 of us in my class.  They are all way bigger than me though.  And everything there seems big, I think. Like my backpack hook. It’s WAY up there.  I can’t quite reach it but there are lots of nice people who will help me when I’m reaching high as I can. We will show you more pictures and tell you more stuff about school soon. But there’s a lot to do when you’re a big kid like me in kindergarten. Even homework. So I have to come back later to finish more stories.

We’ve got lots to do before school starts.  So we went shopping.  We got pencils and crayons and markers and paints. But first, we looked at the fish. And then we got to pick out our own backpacks.  We have to get the big kind now, and we only have the little kid kind.  This is the one KiKi picked. I picked one with a frog on it… but I’ll wait to show it off til my first day of kindergarten! 

Since our van needs a new music player, Daddy thought he would give us his super cool one from his car.  Then he could pick another one or something… So Daddy went out to work on it tonight. And KiKi wanted to be Daddy’s car buddy.  First she held the cup with little pieces in it. But then she got to REALLY help.  She’s a pretty good car buddy afterall!

KiKi went to the dentist for her first cleaning.  I was at school, but Baby Patrick went with her to make sure she was ok.  Mom will tell you about it… ___   ___   ___   ___   ___   ___   ___   ___ Braska does NOT do well at the dentist.  That is a massive understatement. So I had high hopes for Kinlee and her first cleaning.  She went last winter for the counting of the teeth, etc, but that was before she turned 3.  So now we were ready for her first real appointment.  She remembered going in December and knew there would be a treasure chest and goodies after she was done.  We practiced lying down and saying “Ahhhhh.”  We counted teeth, and she’s great with brushing, so I figure we were good to go. First they did her x-rays.  She was ready to go in the big chair with the heavy “bib” on. Then she got a little less ok with it when it was time to bite on the...

Our Great Grandpa Rod went to be with Jesus a few days ago.  Daddy and Uncle Ethon decided to go to Oregon to visit their family.  We didn’t get to go because it costs A LOT of money to ride in a plane.  I didn’t mind very much.  But KiKi was really REALLY sad when we took Daddy to the airport.  He told her he would talk to her a lot, and he would send her messages.  But she still cried pretty hard. After we dropped Daddy off, Mommy took me to school. After a quick stop at QT to try to help KiKi get a little less sad, she went back to the airport so they could watch for Daddy’s plane to take off in the air. First they went to one place to watch planes.  Mommy climbed in with KiKi in the back so they could watch. But apparently they picked the wrong place to watch.  There were only planes coming TO the airport on that side.  So they moved and found another spot to sit in where they could see planes going A...

A guy from school called Mommy the other day to ask if I could let him take some pictures to use for a big school party later this summer.  So this was the day I went to play dress-up for the pictures. First they gave me some fun things to put on.  But I thought we were going to see the beach. It was just a blue curtain… bummer. There was a neat shiny thing that they held by me.  I liked to watch my shadow in there… But once Mr. R started taking the pictures and telling me what things to do, it was lots of fun!  Mommy was surprised at how well I listened and tried to do the funny things he asked. Sometimes I just did my dancing.  I love to do dancing.  Mommy played some music on her phone and we all danced around. After all that dancing and smiling, I needed a drink when we got finished. ( Mommy note: Since we’re a little late with the post, we can also include the “finished product,” as in a couple of...