Savvy September

Army crawling baby

Kallie learned how to ride a bike! 

First day of preschool!

First day of preschool!

They both love preschool. They go to Byu-Idaho "child labs" which means elementary ed and child development students teach them. Kallie goes 3 days/week in the afternoon and Jayda goes 2 days/week in the morning. I can stay and watch them from the observation room if I want (they have those one-way mirror windows).

Saw Inside Out at the drive-in! So much fun. At one point it rained for a bit so we had to close the back gate and watch it through the window but it stopped and we opened it again.

This is exactly how I found her...

Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot

Kallie and Grandpa

We actually bought a Bosch standing mixer + blender at the fair. We knew we wanted one eventually but weren't expecting to get one now. But hey, state fair prices are best prices! Every family in the McGary clan uses a Bosch mixer. Therefore we are finally and officially part of the family.

This was right before we thought we lost Kallie. Brad and his parents split up to look for her. No luck until Brad checked the shop right across the aisle with a tree house. Who do you think was in it?

Kallie and Jayda started gymnastics! This was their very first day; a trial class to see if they like it. Obviously they're both in love. Now they go once a week.

Performing a puppet show. 

Kallie also joined Let's Play Music.  The puppet show was only her second class but she started five weeks late, at the last possible time to join. I didn't know about the class until then so we were lucky we barely made it! It's a three year program that teaches note reading, ear training, chords, scales, solfeggio and piano by using singing, dancing and classical music. It's really cool, I've never seen anything like it. It prepares kids to learn instruments later and they make it so fun. 

So far it's been quite the learning experience for me to help Kallie practice at home in between classes. Teaching does not come natural to me. It's taken a few times to figure out how Kallie learns and practices best. The first couple times left me worried that I already ruined her interest in music and she'll never want to practice again. 

Luckily I was wrong, she still loves it and I know how to better help her practice. This parenting stuff is crazy!

It was really cool to be with her the first time she tried the class. At one point the kids went from one room to another so they got in a line but before each child crossed through the doorway they had to repeat a little song after the teacher. I thought Kallie would be shy and not sing by herself but she did. Kallie and one other girl were actually the only ones that sounded in tune.

Brad took the girls on a walk to the ropes course on campus. It's just down the hill from our house

This one week was chalk full of tender mercies from Heavenly Father.  I was getting really sick of getting up in the middle of the night to put the baby's pacifier back in her mouth. I was in such a deep sleep every time it happened. I just wanted to sleep through the night with no interruptions. If I had already woken up with the baby I'd ask Brad to get the pacifier for her. Of course the times he tried to do it, that wasn't enough for her and I needed to get up and nurse her anyway. I was thinking and praying about it one day. I told Heavenly Father I really wanted her to sleep through the night without waking up but if she does, I'll do it myself every time without complaint and I won't ask Brad anymore. Just give me more energy please?

The very next night Taylor woke up even more than usual AND so did Kallie a bunch of times because she felt nauseated. Throughout all of this, however, I felt unusually awake; not dragging myself out of a deep sleep. The night after that, Taylor got sick so I stayed up late with her and then put her in bed with us. I barely slept the first half of the night because she was smack in the middle of my pillow on my side of the bed so I laid on the edge with a little sliver of space. This is why we hardly ever let our kids sleep with us. I would never sleep! I've done it a couple times and I just stay awake either uncomfortable or paranoid I'll roll over baby. If we had a bigger bed, my opinion might change.

Sick babies break my heart but melt it into a puddle at the same time with the extra snuggles!

The kids were all recovered in time for Jayda's birthday. That morning my mother-in-law wanted to make applesauce and asked me to go outside and pick some apples from the trees. I filled up a big bucket pretty quickly so I took it inside and got the apples all ready to be cooked. I went back outside and decided to climb the trees so I could reach more. I picked both threes almost clean. I brought in about six buckets of apples and soon realized my mother-in-law did not want that many apples at one time. She thought I was gonna fill ONE more bucket and we'd be done for the day. Haha I had no idea, I thought I was supposed to pick all of them. 

Look at me! I'm three!

Jayda's 3rd Birthday Interview

The next day was Saturday and we HAD to take care of those apples or else they'd go bad by the time we got another chance. For hours Debi and I made apple sauce, apple pie filling and apple butter. It was a crazy mess in the kitchen but we got most of them done. I felt fine the whole time. I had lots of energy learning how to do it all. Another tender mercy was that Jayda and Taylor both napped for three hours. We wouldn't have been able to get all that work done had I been tending the kids.

As soon as we finished the apples and cleaned the kitchen the babe woke up. I nursed her and suddenly felt completely exhausted and a little sick. It had been awhile since I ate a meal so I figured I just needed some protein after snacking on apples all day. Even after eating dinner I continued to feel gross. Then I started feeling cold. I wrapped up in a blanket and just wanted to lay down. Finally I put the baby to bed and asked Brad to put the older girls to bed. A little while later I threw up. And then Brad started feeling queezy. We caught what the kids had and spent the entire night puking. Then we spent all day Sunday napping and watching movies with the kids.

Even though it was horrible getting sick, I'm so grateful it didn't hit me until after Jayda's birthday and we finished doing apples. I'm amazed to think that  my kids napped for so long and I had so much energy for all that and then immediately after finishing I got sick. Heavenly Father knew we needed to get those chores done.

Jayda cut her hair!! 
(More than what's next to those scissors).

My finger is at how long all her hair was...

One last picture before I cut the rest!

And the hair cut

Waiting for Alex Boye to start the concert

He's a great performer. He's awesome at dancing and a very optimistic, positive and uplifting person. He makes everyone around him feel great about themselves and feel like they can do anything.

She is gonna be a stellar makeup artist.

The Fraileys came to Rexburg just for us! Well, they came to see the kids. I guess they had to hang out with Brad and me too.

Took them around Byu-Idaho campus...
This is especially fitting because students aren't allowed to wear shorts or flip-flops to class.

We love our Fraileys. It was absolutely wonderful to see them.

My in-laws reserved the apple juicer on campus so in addition to the apple sauce, apple pie filling and apple butter they took tons more apples to make juice. And they still had it coming out of their ears.

Man, Kid Quotes are my favorite but I never remember to write them down anymore! That's my new goal. Figure out a fast way to record the funny things the kids say.