Open House

Caleigh was excited to go meet her teacher for Kindergarten!

The first thing she noticed was that the teacher spelled her last name wrong on the board outside the classroom!

Here is the first pic of Caleigh and her new teacher.

She got to color while I filled out all the necessary paperwork.  While coloring, she met one other person who will be in her class.

She's pretty excited about starting school.  She has told me the past couple of bedtimes and mornings that her stomach hurts.  I believe it may actually be that she is nervous to be starting at a new school with new teachers and new friends.  I know she is going to miss the comfort of her preschool.  I know I already do miss it!  But, here's to a new adventure for the both of us.

Kindergarten, HERE COMES CALEIGH!

Chad's Last Two Summer Days with Caleigh

Chad's last two off days before Caleigh starts school were on a Wednesday and Thursday.  We had made some wonderful plans to take her to Six Flags and out for special treats but the weather had other plans.  It decided to rain storm for pretty much the entire morning and afternoon.  By 6pm it was sunny.  : /

But I didn't want to let the weather spoil our fun so, I embraced the weather.  By lunchtime I was hoping the rain would stop but when it didn't I decided to make the best of it.  I told Chad to grab our Slip N Slide and set it up in the back yard.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  His response was, "It's raining."  

And I said, well the slide should stay nice and wet then!

Meanwhile, I blindfold Caleigh and dress her in her swim suit and she is totally confused.

We take her outside and reveal our plan to her!

She thinks we are crazy but she is excited and runs right out into the rain!

We recruited the neighbors to play in the rain as well!

And they all LOVED it!

The following day brought enough sunny sky to head to the pool.  We grilled some bratwursts and then swam until Caleigh was tuckered out.  We then headed home and got ready to head to Caleigh's school for Open House to meet her new Kindergarten teachers!

Teen Beach Movie

Caleigh has fallen in love with the Disney Channel Movie, Teen Beach Movie.  She has memorized all the songs and loves every second of the movie.  She has watched the original movie, the sing-a-long version of the movie, and the dance-a-long version.  

The dance-a-long version has a step by step video that teaches the dance steps to the finale song.  Meggie loves this movie too so she was more than willing to learn the dance with Caleigh!  They had so much fun and it was so fun to watch!

The best part isn't on this video.  It happened right before I took the video.  Megan and Caleigh had been practicing the steps and the video does everything at "half-speed" and Megan heard the instructors  announce that they were going to now do the dance full speed!  The following then took place!

More Fun With Buck

It is hit or miss with Caleigh and Buck.  One day she is terrified.  The next day she is in command and loves him!  On this day, she is all about Buck!  They played and played and moved so quickly my camera blurred most of the pictures!  I did get a few that captured the fun they were having together.

As an added surprise, Mish invited Caleigh's friends over for dinner and to play with Buck too.  These girls wore this puppy out!  The three of them played with him until well after dark and there was lots of running, giggling, and barking involved!  

Sisters/Cousins @ Six Flags

We put our free Six Flags tickets to use and had a girls day at the park.  Mish got off work early and caught up to us on the interstate and we all arrived at the park at the same time!

We mainly stuck to rides in Bugs Bunny World and rides that everyone could ride together.  The park was more crowded on this day than I have seen it all summer long!

I still managed to take a few cute pics of the girls!

I think Shelby rode these "pigs" which are actually bulls 4 times.  I think I would have been throwing up by then but she just kept saying "Again!"

And Megan watched her go round and round and round and round and round and round and.....

All the girls on the swings!

Since they skipped naps, they were tired but both girls refused to fall asleep.  Kota threw out an attitude and refused to even acknowledge the presence of other people.  She crashed in the car after they left early to go home. 

They were all very excited to ride the train.  Every time the whistle sounded they were screaming with delight!

I got some great pics on the train!

And did I mention that it was incredibly HOT this day as well!

Sweet Shelby did NOT want to miss anything by falling asleep.  Her mom could not believe that she stayed awake the whole day and did not even nap in the car on the way home!

Right after Kota got off this horse, she pets it and say "Bye Minimus"  I laughed and said is that what you named your horse while you were riding it?  She said, "No, Minimus is Sofia's horse and he looks like him!"  Oh yeah, right!  I knew that!  LOL

Shelby didn't care that she had to ride the horse that didn't move up and down.  She was just happy to be riding!

The second ride, her mom wanted to ride a horse that went up and down!

CAUTION!  Crazy Caleigh driving!!!

UP UP and AWAY!  Up and down and round and round!  Fun stuff!  I won't post the pic of Megan turning green!

All in all, it was a fun, hot day.  Caleigh didn't get to ride any roller coasters this day so as a consolation prize she got to ride the Log Jamboree with Mish right before we left for home.  I told her not to get wet!  That didn't work! LOL!

IKEA Family Reunion

IKEA is awesome.  They have some awesome things.  Their storage solutions sometimes border on genius!  Hence why I like going here!

In all honesty, I like going here for the shopping but I LOVE going here for the smell!  I highly anticipate the moment when the doors to the parking deck slide open and the sweet aroma of freshly baking cinnamon rolls blasts me in the face!

Caleigh loves going here because she doesn't have to shop.  They have a Small Land play area that she can be checked into and we can shop for 45 minutes child-free!  She loves this area!  

We recently joined the IKEA Family which sends us monthly discounts and offers.  One of the standing offers is 30 extra minutes in Small Land!  Yay!  1 hour and 15 minutes of whine-free shopping for me!  

We were recently made aware of their IKEA Family Reunion Day!  It was held on a Wednesday from 1pm -5pm.  They offered free gifts, a raffle for $10 gift cards, free meatballs, frozen lemonade, face painting, tattoos, a magician, and free popcorn, cookies, and other drinks!  We wound our way through the store and participated in every booth be came upon.  Chad and I even participated in a bed making contest.  He would have won but Caleigh destroyed his bed so I could take the lead and WIN!  We won a free comforter!  

We also ate lunch in their cafeteria!  It was great!  Caleigh ate a kids chicken tender plate.  Chad ate a half rack of bbq ribs plate.  I ordered a herb crusted white fish with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.  I ate it but Chad and Caleigh ate from my plate too!  I think they liked their food but loved mine.  Next time I will make them order the fish too!

When we left, we took home a box of cinnamon rolls to have for breakfast the next day!  A big fat cinnamon roll and a hot cup of coffee were the perfect way to start my next day!  

We waited in line for an hour to have this face painted and then she complained that it was itchy and wanted to take it off 10 minutes after she had it done!  But she didn't take it off.  She kept it on for the rest of the day with no problems once she got used to it!

Our free loot.  Minus the two giant IKEA reusable bags!