Bye-Bye Bradford Pear

We dropped this Bradford Pear tree on Saturday, 10/17

The front face of our Bradford Pear tree didn't grow. It was in the growth path of 3 Aspen trees, (which we dropped earlier this spring). Aspen trees are dominant trees, and therefore the Bradford couldn't branch out like it should have - like a pear. When we dropped the Aspens - they were diseased & were being eaten from the inside-out - this Bradford just became an eye sore for us. I am going to miss the shade it provided, and I'm going to miss watching the Robin's lay their eggs & raise their little hachtlings each spring too. My front room (and whole house for that matter) is going to be bloody hot in the summer!

Lovey took all of 5 minutes to drop the tree,

and it only took 10 minutes for us to load it in the trailer. Amazing!

And for his brother, Pat, (if you're reading our blog at all) Tony said, "Pat who?!"

Daddy's little helper...

We ended up cutting down another Aspen in the back yard (it too was diseased - the truck was basically sawdust from being eaten from the inside), and an Apple tree that was never trimmed to produce properly. The neighborhood kids were a big help in hauling the branches to the front yard, and even helped me rake up some dead grass & leaves.

School Days

Rebecca & Mary-Gail LOVE going to school. Did I stress how much they love it? They L O V E it, and I'm thrilled that they do. Every Monday @ 10:25 am Rebecca & Mary-Gail put on their backpacks and we head to school. Several ladies in my ward decided to start "Joy School" for their 3-year olds, and although I didn't know what Joy School was at the time, I was adamant that I be a part of it too. Amy put together the school schedule for the year, rotating between 7 ladies who host the 8 kids @ their house (8 kids because of my twins), and they teach a letter, number, color, & shape.

Rebecca & Mary-Gail going to school @ Miss Holly's house (Oct 12th)

Miss Holly was teaching the colors ORANGE & BLACK,

so naturally I dressed Mary-Gail in those colors.

Becca was set on wearing PURPLE!

"Let's GO Mommy!"

Becca double-checking her piggy; Mary-Gail double-checking her backpack

Sisters walking to school @ Miss Holly's house

School started Monday, September 14th, but we missed it since were still in Walt Disney World. No worries! Rebecca & Mary-Gail loved WDW, and didn't know about school yet. Their first time at school was at our house (September 21st). I taught the letter C, the Number 1, the color BLUE, and the shape Square. It was so much fun having all these little girls at our house! I had everyone wash their hands right away (I am-and will always be-a stickler on that!), and then we mixed ingredients for cupcakes. I made up a song as we mixed the cupcake batter (of course!), and while the cupcakes were cooking we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We gathered in the kitchen,and the girls watched as I cut up an egg carton into 3-egg cup sections. I passed out crayons for them to color their egg cups (I didn't have paint, so they just used crayons - "C" for crayons!), then I attached pipe cleaners and viola! They had their very own hungry caterpillar. We went outside to see if we could find things a caterpillar would eat. We played outside for a little bit, and then came back inside for another craft. I prepared a Large Letter "C," which I glued onto BLUE SQUARE construction paper, and then had the girls glue cotton balls ("C" for cotton balls & clouds) onto their paper or on their Large Letter C.

We went back outside & played, then came back inside, washed our hands again, and decorated our cupcakes with icing & sprinkles. By then it was 12 noon, and everyone's mom was showing up to gather her little munchkin. It was a great 1 1/2 hours, and I couldn't believe how quickly the time went!!! Plus, I was grateful to have gotten out all the craft supplies & actually do a craft with my littles.

Here's what I teach next:

Nov 16th: Letter I, Number 4, Color brown, and Shape rectangle.

Feb 1st: Letter O, Number 8, Colors red & pink, and the Shape heart.

Mar 22nd: Letter U, Number 12, Color green, and Shape octagon.

May 17th: Review all the letters, Numbers 19 & 20, Review all the colors, and Review all the shapes. Graduation is the following Monday, May 24th!!!

P.S. I'm saving toilet paper rolls for my turn on Nov 16th. I hope my craft idea works out like I've planned...

SLC & Shoe Shopping

i'm driving to SLC this morning for my 3-hour appointment at the U. jojo, my favoritest person in the whole world (besides my lovey & my so, so, so cute girls), is coming with me. i hope to hear good news, and if so, i'll be buying a new pair of shoes. if i don't hear good news, i'll still be buying a pair of shoes...just more expensive ones.

for tony's sake (and mine) i hope it's good news

LOVES!

Daddy, I Want To Go Bowling!

For our date-night two weeks ago (10/9), Lovey took all of us bowling! The girls had a great time, a really great time, but when it was time to leave, we had to pull Becca away from the bowling alley...Literally. I mean we had to pull the child from the seats, the table, the hand railing...anything Becca could grab onto on our way out - she was out-of-her-mind screaming & crying. And when Lovey told her, "You have lost your little baby mind," it only fueled Becca's outburst.

We had a similar outburst from Becca tonight - Becca was begging us to go bowling:

"I wanna go bowling, Momma, I wanna go bowling!"
And when she didn't like my response, Becca begged Daddy,
"Daddy, I want to go bowling!!"

The only way I could get her to stop crying (and breathe) was to promise that we'd bake cookies after dinner. Becca mustered a barely audible, "OK" and then sniffled and sobbed all the way home from our trip to the Post Office. Becca's sad, sad cries and crocodile tears dried as we mixed & baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. (When I suggested we take a break from mixing the batter and eat our noodles, Becca's cries & tear-faucet turned on again. Sometimes it's OK to skip dinner & make cookies; tonight was that night).

Becca was completely happy breaking eggs, sifting flour, mixing the dry ingredients together and dumping them all in the KitchenAid. Her happiness reminded me of our bowling night. Here are the pictures from our date-night on Friday, 10/9:

Here's a "happy Becca" getting her bowling shoes on

Piece of cake!

Rebecca was so, so, so happy! She jumped up & down after every bowl

"There it goes!"

Rebecca is jumping again!

Miguel acted like she had done this many times before - it was funny to watch her,

& her attitude was like, "It's no big deal - I'm good!"

Looks like Lovey snuck in a turn - he got a spare

(We let the girls have our turns, which was great for them)

Miguel & Becca ended up carrying their bowling balls to the ramp! Strong girls

We had a great night bowling. Looks like bowling will be a frequent outing for the Kemp Kuties. And if we can't go bowling, baking cookies will be the alternative :)

Wanna hear something funny?

Rebecca, Mary-Gail & I strolled down to see Aunt Carol this afternoon. Mary-Gail & I were visiting with Carol & her daughter, Amy, while Becca was in the kitchen playing with Amy's cat. Becca stood at the top of the stairs (Carol's family room is sunken 4 steps below the kitchen) and said:

Becca: "Hey, Everybody! Everybody look at me! I just tooted!"

We all busted up laughing, and laughed even more when Mary-Gail climbed the steps to Becca and said,

Mary-Gail: "Tell me how you tooted."

Those are my girls!

Halloween peek-a-boo!

I just learned the sign for Halloween. It's like you're playing peek-a-boo: cup your hands over your eyes, then open your hands and "peek." Do this twice as you say, "Halloween."

And now, here's our Halloween Peek-a-boo

Happy Halloween!

My Lovey had a birthday!

10 years ago Tony & I took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday. We had just begun dating, and Tony wanted to go away for the weekend. We left after work; I forgot the directions to our hotel; we almost drove to California; we finally arrived in Las Vegas and decided to walk the Strip until the wee hours of the morning. We ate dinner/breakfast @ 4 am at Denny's (on the Strip), before finally heading back to the hotel to sleep.

It was on this weekend trip that I held Tony's hand. And now, 10 years later, Tony is now "Lovey" and we have 4 beautiful girls, 2 of whom are technically dogs.

Tony - 10 years ago

Rebecca LaRae & Mary-Gail Darleen

This year we split Lovey's birthday into two days. Friday night Lovey treated me and the girls to a date night. He took us out to eat, and then we went bowling (more on that later). On Lovey's actual b-day on Saturday, (10/10), he went to a shooting competition in the morning through 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and then had a relaxing night at home with us. While Lovey was shooting, the girls & I cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, and wrapped his presents.

Presents had to wait because Lovey had to read "The Little Mermaid" to his two princesses.

And now, present time!

Rebecca was twirling while Tony opened his first present

(She's in a mid-twirl in this picture)

Mary-Gail was focused on the present (she knew it was Candy)

Lovey got a target shoot & target stickers.

Did I mention that he just received his 3rd shooting award?

He's good. He's real good.