Kindergarten, Dance and So Much More!!

**Disclaimer** I just realized how many exclamation points are in this blog post...Prepare yourself. In my defense, it's been incredibly overwhelming the last couple weeks...! :-)

Wow, it has been one heck of a couple weeks for us! I started school two weeks ago (after a frantic search for a sitter), Kylee started kindergarten on the 30th, and dance on the 2nd. Dance lessons were her birthday gift from us, so let's hope she continues to enjoy this extremely SPENDY birthday present!

Kylee and Aedan on her first day of school. She was so excited she could hardly stand it!

And of course, with her ginormous backpack. (By the way, I think I have the prettiest little kindergartner around!)

Can't leave Aedan out! He was going to "school" at the ELC in Pocatello for the first time too! The poor kid can't make up his mind about all this. He's always terribly sad when we leave Kylee at school. Then he gets excited to go to his school, until we have to drop Brianna off at the neighbor's before heading for Pocatello. Then he bawls for 20 minutes about wanting his baby back. He's usually okay once we get to the school, but by the time I pick him up, he's ready to get his sisters back! Look how grown up he looks...it could almost be him going to kindergarten!

After we all got home on the first day, Kylee and Aedan were inseparable! They literally sat on the couch like this, hugging and snuggling, through an entire movie! They're not used to being apart all day like that.

Now we are always hearing all sorts of stories from Kylee about what she did in school.

Kylee's new dance class started the same week as kindergarten. She has one class each week, and she's going to be learning Jazz, Ballet, and Tap. They're starting with Ballet, and it is SO stinkin' cute to watch them! The first day they had to try and skip, and it was perfectly sweet to see them running and hopping! Today, they tried to learn how to use a hula hoop...and I'm pretty sure we will soon own a hula hoop or two!

Kylee gets even more girly and posey when she's in her dance clothes. Grandma Kathy (and Grandpa Will, indirectly :}) bought her the dance clothes, and she gets to twirling and wiggling her hips as soon as she has them on!

With all the excitement about Kylee's new adventures, we've had to really try and spend some time talking to Aedan about his day as well. He and Mom are getting to spend a lot more time together than normal. After we drop Kylee off at school (if we don't have to go to Pocatello) we have almost 3 hours to run errands or go home and make breakfast. Today Aedan decided he wanted Pig Pancakes, and he got to make them! We also spend lots of time together on the days we go to Pocatello. His favorite thing to do in the car lately is to make me pretend that he's the dad and I'm the kid. :-)


Brianna is growing up so fast! It makes it terribly hard to leave her each time I go to class. I never had to leave Kylee or Aedan for this amount of time or this often when they were babies, and it's really been difficult for me. But it makes the time we are together that much more special, and I haven't even found myself getting frustrated when she's fussy. So maybe it's a good thing, I don't know.

Thanks to the Bumbo we borrowed from Grandma Kathy's house, she gets to sit up by herself several times a day. She absolutely loves doing it, but she can only last for maybe 20 minutes each time before she's pretty much wiped out.

We get lots of smiles out of her, especially considering that she has two willing entertainers!

One of the best things about the Bumbo is that Brianna can sit on the kitchen counter and help me cook (or clean)! This makes an incredible difference on the amount of work I can get done! Isn't she beautiful?

So, that's what the kids have been up to. We've been incredibly busy since school started. I've started my last year of school before I finish my bachelor's degree in Business Management (Thank Heavens!). Along with spending two days on campus in Pocatello, I have two night classes here in Idaho Falls that are 3 hours each. So between my classes, FHE, and Brett's Elder's Quorum meetings, we are completely booked each and every night of the week! No wonder I wake up on Fridays with a huge grin on my face! (Okay, maybe that's exaggerating, considering I still have to wake up at 7 to get Kylee to school on time.)

Brett has also had his nose to the grindstone the last few weeks. He's studying for his Professional Engineer's Exam at the end of October, which will finally complete his training and certification to become a licensed Professional Engineer. NINE years to get to this point is definitely not something to throw away, so he's studying as much as he can to make sure he passes the EIGHT HOUR exam!

On top of school, we are still busy at church. Brett continues to serve as the EQ President in our crazy ward, and I'm still in the RS Presidency. It certainly makes for some hectic Sundays, but I'm pretty sure our Bishopric and their families have to put in far more time, so I won't complain. We really do love our ward, even though it is one of the strangest wards we've ever been in! (Statistics, not people) :-)