Back To School!

It's that time again. The kids are back to school! Matty is a 5th grader this year! Her teacher is Mrs. Ann Hinckley. Anastyn is a 3rd grader in Mrs. Jamie May's class. And Mason is off to preschool at VIP with Mrs. Carol Fink and Mrs. Lori Scheffler. Mason and Gracie are in the same class this year! How fun! ....And believe it or not, I'm going back to school too! I will be working at Lovell High School as a special ed para, which I am really excited about! 

Happy Things!

I know. I know. I should be ashamed of myself. It's been, well......a while. I do have excuses. Busy summer. Busy kids. Books to read. House to clean. Places to go. Things to do. You get it. And we are still busy. Even now as I write this, I am also chasing around a turbo charged toddler, trying to explain directions for a packet of worksheets to an information hungry preschooler, and I'm pretty sure I am going to have to stop what I'm doing here for a sec and change a poopy diaper. And the only reason I am making myself do this now is cause of the Aunt. The Aunt that would like to see some pictures of her nieces and nephew. So - this one's for you, Aunt Chels!! ;)

What's new with the little dude? Well, he is a typical toddler. He likes cookies, dancing, balls, being outside, getting dirty, rocks and sticks, climbing, food, sips of pop, kitties and puppies, and his dad.

 On our way to and from the Leithead reunion this summer we got to look around Yellowstone Park! It had been such a long time since we had been there. It was so fun to see all the animals and sights...nature is so awesome!!! 

It has also been a very long time since we have made it to a Leithead Family Reunion. We are glad we were able to see everybody this year! The girls had so much fun camping and playing. Lots of wonderful memories were made!

One of the biggest highlights of our summer was that we broke Anastyn of her thumb-sucking habit! Way to go Anastyn!!! Thank you to the genius who invented the Thumb Guard. Anastyn was such a trooper wearing these little things for five whole weeks. But I think we all agree that it was well worth it. And now we have to start saving for that trip to Disneyland that we promised her!!

 Matty started first grade! She has really taken to being a "Meeteetse Longhorn", and she LOVES her new teacher, Mrs. Horsen. She is a super-fun lady and I think Matty is going to have a fabulous year!! Isn't she a cute little first-grader????

And, thanks to Grandma-Great, we had the pleasure of taking care of seven...uh-huh, I said seven...cats this summer. They provided many, many hours of entertainment for the girls. Thankfully, we found homes for them all and kept our two favorites, Cupcake and Mittens. Anastyn loves to take care of them. She makes sure they have food and water and plenty of attention and love. She likes to carry them around in baskets and is thrilled that they are finally getting playful. She loves to tease them with balls of yarn and crumpled paper. Cute, cute, cute!

And last, but not least, we signed Matty up for soccer. She is so excited to be playing. She loves getting all dressed up in her soccer clothes and heading to Cody for her games. Mainly she chases butterflies and chews on her sleeve. But once in a while she actually kicks the ball!! It is such a hoot to watch these little guys play! Yay Matty! Go Strikers!!! 

My Super Heroes

This is Anastyn "flying" around the house in the exact cape that I used to "fly" around in as a little girl.

Super heroes never go out of style!!!

 Today Matty was supposed to dress up as a "cowgirl" for school! Now, the average student here has to look no further than their very own closet for their costume. We had to raid someone else's closet! :) And I still didn't get it right! Notice (unless you are as clueless as I) that the chaps are on backwards! Fortunately, Matty's teacher fixed her wardrobe malfunction as soon as she walked in the door!

This and That...

There are so many things I want to blog about. Just not enough time in the day. Lots of things going on around here. My baby boy is growing up. He is sitting up, on the verge of crawling, has been issued two brand new teeth, and is a pure joy. He is so fun. One of his newest mannerisms is sticking his tongue out. When he is smiling he likes to stick it out the side of his mouth and curl it up. It is adorable! Everybody loves Mason – and he is getting so big. He is starting to look more like a little boy than a baby….

Matty is doing GREAT in school. I was so worried to leave Lovell Schools and wondered if Meeteetse would be a good place for her. But I haven’t been able to complain one little bit. The teachers are AWESOME!!! The school has made sure that she has everything she needs. They communicate with me. And most importantly, Matty is happy. She loves it there! We couldn’t be more pleased. Recently the Longhorns celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Matty is a huge fan of Cindy Lou Who, so naturally we had to fix her hair accordingly. She was the Cat in the Hat’s meow at school!!!

And then poor Anastyn nearly got her eyes scratched out. We won’t mention who did it. Because even though there was some shrieking and a lot of tears involved, Anastyn was very quick to forgive. She has a big heart and is such a good sister….I mean person. And "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" was really, truly sorry. She even said so.  :)

Here, Anastyn is cheering on her sister - who made a CIRCLE out of her play-doh! An amazing feat, I know. But apparantly they thought it was a really big deal! Yay Matty!!!! :)

Life is Busy!

I am still here! Lots of things going on in our family at the moment! I sure do love my children a lot....but I was so ready for school to start! Matty is finishing up week #1 of kindergarten. This being her second year of kindergarten (and going to three sessions of extended school year through the summer), it hasn't been as big of an adjustment as it was last year. She is so good at being a school-girl...I am proud of her! And the house is so much quieter between 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. without the girls fighting and master-minding terrible messes, etc. :) Anastyn is enjoying having mommy and Mason all to herself. She is a pretty good helper.

Kyle has accepted a new job with Marathon Oil, which we are super-excited about! The only bad part is that we will have to re-locate. He will be working in the Spring Creek Field just outside Meeteetse, Wyoming. I'm not sure how I feel about moving...very mixed emotions. We haven't started checking into housing just yet...so I don't know if we will be living in Meeteetse or Cody, but we will keep you posted. :)

Mason is growing like a weed. He is such a good baby and still sleeps quite a bit. We sure are enjoying him. He is so snuggly! He is a very serious baby - we really have to work to get a smile out of him...but when we do it is heart-melting!!

I don't think I have any more updates, but I wanted to record some of the funny things my kids have said lately before I forget. Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside their cute little heads. :)

• For some reason, every time Anastyn is thirsty and wants a drink, she says the following as fast as she can, "A lot of apple juice in a sippy with a lid!" It is the weirdest thing. It is as if she is worried I will only fill the sippy with a tiny amount of apple juice! And if I wasn't going to put a lid on the sippy, why would I even put the apple juice in a sippy cup at all??? I can't figure out why she says it.
• Matty has been funny with names lately. If we call her a nick-name or use a term of endearment like sweetie, or stink-butt (is that a term of endearment??), or cutie-pa-tootie...she gets all upset and says, "No! My name Matty!". And Kyle likes to call Mason "Turbo". She doesn't like that one bit because his name is not Turbo....it is Baby Mason Beau! Too funny.
• Anastyn likes to call people names - names that she has made up. She will call someone a kook-a-look, shibby-shab, goob-a-doob, or shy-la...what ever pops into her head. Sometimes I get after her and tell her it isn't nice to call people names. Oh well...it's not like she called the person an idiot or stupid-head, right? Hmmm...

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas was great this year. Crazy, but great. The Season was filled with decorating, Christmas programs, parties, family and friends. There was a lot of going here, there and everywhere. Very tiring, but so very worth it!

Matty's Elementary Christmas Program was adorable. The music was wonderful and Matty did such a great job! We were very proud.

We had a couple photo shoots. One for our Christmas cards, which were late coming in. So those of you who received one probably got it well after Christmas. Sorry. I actually still have a few sitting around that never got mailed because I ran out of stamps and never remembered to go to the post office to get more. Sorry!! The other shoot was for Leithead family pics which were long over-due for an update. :)
The girls were spoiled by Santa, their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles of course. I'm not so sure this is a good thing. But they had so much fun!!!
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

First Day!

Well! We made it through day 1 of kindergarten!! This was a big step for Matty and me and we both had to be really, really brave! Surprisingly, neither of us shed any tears and I wasn't as much of a nervous wreck as I thought I would be. :)

So far I am very impressed with her teachers and all the people that are helping her out while she is there! She needs quite a bit of extra help and everyone seems more than willing to provide it for her. I am confident that she is going to LOVE going to kindergarten! And it is going to be such a good experience for her.

I took some pictures of Matty in her new clothes before we left for the school. She looked so cute - and so BIG. Sniff, sniff. :) After school she came home and immediately took off the outfit I had carefully put together for her big day and...well, you can see for yourself. Quite the fashionista. :) Oh - and the Bermuda Triangle stuck again!! We finally had to buy that 6th pair of glasses!!

While Matty was at school, Anastyn and I were able to spend some one-on-one time together. We had so much fun baking cookies, dancing, and making funny faces for the camera. Anastyn did miss Matty quite a bit. She kept asking if we could go get her from school! It will be good for us to spend a little more time together - just the two of us!!

Life is flying by. My little babies are gowing up. It is exciting, but when I stop and really think I get sad. Potty training stinks (literally) and chasing kids is exhausting. But those sweet morning hugs and those angelic voices calling me "Mommy" are precious and treasured. And probably before I know it, will be replaced by rolling eyes and slamming doors. Can't wait.

VIP Graduation!

Yesterday Matty graduated from VIP. It was a great ceremony - they marched out to Pomp and Circumstance, said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang songs they have learned recently, received their diplomas and had some amazing refreshments! These ladies go above and beyond and make everything so special. They even made a scrapbook for each child full of pictures throughout the year - I was really touched. We didn't even have to be too sad because Matty will be attending VIP again next year!!

Singing Songs

Receiving her diploma

Matty between her special friends, Haleigh and Alyssa Rael. They were so sweet to take care of her this year!

High Fives from Grandma Marla!

Sharing a plate of yummies with Anastyn!