Fun Friday

I have known for a while that Legoland was free the last hour of operation. You can drive right in and walk right in. Although I have known these things for some reason I have not take advantage of it. Well today that all changed. When I got home from picking Riley up from school I packed up all the kids and we went to Legoland. We had a blast!! We were a little late getting there due to lack of planning. For some reason I am doing things VERY spontaniously this week. We only had half an hour in the park, but that was enough for a lot of fun.

We started out with fairy tale brook. Sydney was loving every minute of it. Carley wasn't so sure. To Hailey and Riley this was old news, but still fun. They are both old enough to remember when we had season passes. Oh the good old days!!



Look at Carley's cute little face. Doesn't it just scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME MOM??? Poor little thing.

Next we visited the safari ride. Carley wasn't big enough to go on this one, but I don't think she minded. Riley got to ride it twice, onece for each of his sisters. I love how he takes care of them when we are on an outing like this. I gave him the camera, and we got some pretty fun pictures.

Isn't Riley a great photographer?!!

After that we had time for one more ride. Hailey and Riley both really wanted to go on the dinosaur roller coaster, so we headed over there. I was really hoping that Sydney was going to be tall enough to ride. If she wasn't we were going to have a melt down. She was so excited. The top of her head hit the right bar, and we were in business. Hailey cried the first time she rode this roller coaster because she was scared. I was interested to see how Sydney would react. My little adventurer, snuggled between her older brother and sister couldn't have been happier. Since they were the last ride of the day the operator let them go around one extra time. They all had a lot of fun.



Waiting to go. Sydney was so excited.



Catching them as they zoomed by.



My favorite picture of the week. Sydney getting off the roller coaster and letting me know how much fun she had.

When we got back to the car I said, "Anyone who had a good time say OH YEA!!" I think you could have heard them from where ever you are if you had known to listen. We are defently going to have to do that again. In the words of Sydney, "It was todiwy FUN!!" She todiwy wants to do it again.

After all that we came home and had a picnic dinner. I put an old blanket out on the floor and we had pizza and chips while we watched Alvin and the Chipmonks. It was a very fun Friday!!

My Sunbeam and Her First Talk

December 28, 2008 Last day of nursery for Sydney.

OOH!!

Last Sunday was Sydney's first day in Primary as a Sunbeam!! Sydney was sad all week. She kept telling me she was going to nursery not primary. She did not want to move up from nursery. She was perfectly happy in there with the treats and the toys. I was a little surprised that she wasn't more excited. I never anticipated that this would be such a hard move for her. She is my tough girl who can do anything. She even cried and clung to me when I dropped her off last week. For any of you who know my children very well this is very unusual behavior for our family. Usually they barely wave at me as they run off to play with or sit by their friends. By the end of church she was completely happy and didn't want to leave primary. Our primary leaders are so smart. They give the sunbeams a little beanie baby to hold and keep quiet to help them sit still and be quiet themselves. For Sydney this is the stuff of genius!! She loves babies and stuffed animals. She cried at the end of primary last week because she had to leave her baby lamb there. What a tough day!! It was wonderful this week though. She couldn't wait to get there so she could hold her baby lamb again. Back to my tough girl who can handle anything....

January 4, 2009 First day of Sunbeams for Sydney.

....speaking of handling anything, today Hailey was supposed to give a talk in primary. Admittedly I did not prepare her as much as I usually do. I usually work on it with them so it is in their own words and have them practice it a few times so they are comfortable with it. Well this week I dropped the ball and Ryan did the talk this morning with a little help from Hailey. She didn't get to go over it and was a little nervous about it. I thought it would be fine. This is where mistake number two comes in. I was thinking it would be fine because it wouldn't have phased Riley. Well, Hailey isn't Riley. My first clue that everything may not go as planned was when she refused to sit up front. Instead she wanted me to hold her. When it came time for her to give the talk she clung to me and Ryan had to pull her off and push her up the isle. When they got to the front she planted her feet a few feet away from the podium, folded her arms, and wouldn't move. Ryan tried bribing, coxing, anything he could think of, she wouldn't move. At this point I got a brilliant idea. I walked up to the font and asked her if she wanted Sydney to help her. She said she would do it if Sydney helped. Sydney was happy to help. Good, things seemed to be looking up. Well then Hailey refused to do the talking, she only wanted to hold up the pictures. Sydney my new little sunbeam who cried the week before because she didn't want to go to primary was supposed to give a talk the second week she was there, YEAH RIGHT!! At this point I was willing to try anything so I held Sydney up, she is about 6 inches too short for the podium even with the little step stool, and started whispering in her ear. She did beautifully!! She held onto the mike with one little hand and her beanie baby with the other. Hailey held up the pictures and Sydney gave the talk. What team work, and what a nice little sister to be willing to help her big sister. Who knew Sydney would be giving a talk her second week in primary. I guess it goes to show she really is my girl who can handle anything, as long as she has a beanie baby to hold!!

Sweet Sisters!!

Oh The Things They Say

Sydney sitting at dinner,
"When I am a mommy I will make my kids ice cream for dinner."
Mom, me, "Oh, really. What will you give them for dessert?"
"Take (cake)"

Ryan, "I can't stop thinking about that job!"
Hailey, "Just shake your head, Daddy, and it will fall out!"

Gotta love it!!

Every night Riley and Hailey have to read for their homework. I have been telling Riley for a few years now, basically since he could read, that when this time came it would be his job to read to his sister. Now please understand that I am not trying to get out of one of my motherly responsibilities. I love to read to my kids and most nights end up reading to them myself. There is a mission in this madness. I was hoping that (1) this would improve Riley's reading. Riley loves to read and is already a great reader, however when you hear how the words sound and how you say thing while you are reading you improve even more. (2) That Riley and Hailey would find something that they could do together without fighting. I am excited to say that so far it has worked. I think because Riley is a great influence on his sister. He has a great desire to get his homework done each night so he can play 20 min of video games. If homework is done with no fighting this happens. If there is fighting it is a no go. Riley will find Hailey have her pick out a few books and sit down to read. Pretty soon the other girls climb up to listen too. I love that they are doing this together. It is one of those moments that makes you stop and be grateful for the beautiful little blessings they are.