What I Love

What I love right now about Leah:

She says "here mom" when she hands you something, even if you're not mom, like when Jake demands she give back the toy she swiped from him, or dad says "what do you have, Leah?" and she hands over the pen she just used to decorate her legs with.  "Here mom".  I think she thinks that's just the words you say when you give something to someone.  It's so cute.

She is just starting to give kisses with her mouth.  She opens up wide, looks like she knows, "this isn't right," then puts her lips closer together and goes in for the kiss.  Today when Brian got home from work she went back and forth between me and Brian giving kisses.  She thought she was pretty cool stuff.

She takes handfuls of dirt from the garden and sprinkles them on Jake's head (or Kennedy's head, or her own head, for that matter). 

Her tip-toe run.  Even though her feet point inward a little, she has the fastest little run ever; and a pretty cute little waddle to go with it.

Every morning when I go in to get her from her crib, she assails me with a whole slew of words and exclamations about all the goings-on in her room, pointing this way and that.  It's like she's been waiting all night to talk to me.

(He tucked himself in like this for his nap-one lion under each arm)

What I love right now about Jake:

He tells me I'm "so cutey cute," even first thing in the morning, when my hair is less than beautiful (Kennedy said I had a "horn" on my head the other morning.  Hmm.) and my mascara makes me have dark circles under my eyes.

He tells me how "adorable" Leah is, and how she has "adorable cheeks."  He calls her Grinny because she's always smiling when we go get her from the crib in the morning.

If he accidentally hurts me, or makes a mistake, he is so quick to say "I sorry, mom."  It's so hard for me to stay upset or flustered when he says that so quickly.  Then he always gives me a hug and says, "I love you".  I wish I could say I do the same thing each time I mess up.

He inititates loud sound contests with Leah.  They pick some random noise to make, then they go back and forth, saying it louder and louder and giggling the whole time.  It's pretty funny, at home.  Not so much in the grocery store.

(First day of 1st Grade, waiting for the bus)

What I love right now about Kennedy:
She wants the world to be perfectly just and fair.  Me too, but then life wouldn't be a learning process, I guess.

The way she plays with Leah, and loves her and smiles at her, makes me think about how they will be years down the road.  I hope they will always be best friends.  I know that Kennedy will always take care of her.  That's just the kind of person she is.

The notes she makes for me.  Just last night I went to bed and found one on my pillow that said simply, I love you, Mom. 

The way she loves school and learning.  She soaks it in like a sponge.  At her back-to-school night for first graders, her teacher wanted me to fill out a form that asked me to circle two words that describe her learning style the best.  It had about 8 options, and I honestly couldn't decide which two to pick because she excells in all of them.  Then when it asked her favorite subject I asked Kennedy and she told me Social Studies and Science, then when I asked her for her least favorite subject, she thought for a minute and just smiled and said, "I like them all!"  I knew she would say that.  It is a surprising joy to be able to relate so well with my daughter in this area, because I was exactly the same way growing up. 

Her confidence.  In many ways we are alike, but in this area she far outshines me.  While I was a bit nervous for her on the first day of school, especially when I realized I had no idea where she was supposed to line up once the bell rang, or what door to go in, she cooly told me where "all" the first graders go.  She had it all figured out.  She's great at making new friends, even on one-time-only excursions like the park.  I guess she has no reason to doubt herself, and I hope she stays that way for a long, long time.

Settler's Park

We took the kids to Settler's Park in Meridian a couple weeks ago after work.  They have a little splash pad area and a huge playground area.  It took a while for Leah and Jake to decide the fountains were okay, so they spent the first part of our time there splashing in the puddles and around the drains.

Jake got braver and decided to stick his chest in the water.  Notice how Leah is watching carefully...

So she thought Jake was drinking the water, and figured that was a great idea!

She was quite proud of herself.

More drain-sitting and splashing.

This was Jake's favorite fountain.  He made himself the official "button-pusher" when the fountain would shut off so that all the kids could play in it. 

Kennedy leaned over to kiss her Dad when he got there and in doing so pushed her very loose tooth out!  You can see the hole on her bottom front.

The park also has these fun outdoor musical instruments you can play.

This was a really neat cloud that we saw on our flight down to Utah a week ago.

And this is how Leah spent her first flight.  She was wired in the airport for an hour before the flight, got all excited and a little nervous when we sat down in our seats on the plane, and then as soon as the engines fired up for takeoff, she nodded off to dreamland.

Preece Family Reunion and Utah Trip

Jake and Leah are both napping, so I figured this is my best time to keep blogging! (who wants to do houswork, anyway?)

July 17th weekend we headed down to Utah to visit our families and go to the Preece family reunion held at Brian's parents house.  The big attraction?  The giant water slide on Grandpa's hill.  From top to bottom are Brooklyn, Kennedy, Emily, Rachel and Allie, all waiting to go through the shoot of Uncle Michael's legs, where they get an extra push to the bottom.

Here they are coming out the other side!

Kennedy had a ball this year on the water slide.  They probably spent a couple hours (or more?) going up and down, up and down.

The grown-ups got in on the action too, although I don't think any of them actually changed into their swimsuits.  Hmm.

Jake wasn't ready to try it out this year, but he had fun anyway being co-captain at the head of the slide with Grandpa.

Kennedy, Brooklyn and Emily going at it again!

Best cousins.  Kennedy is always telling me how much she wishes she lived closer to Emily.

This is fun!

Jake's favorite thing this summer is the hose, so any time he gets to man one, he's happy.  It's even better if he's with his Grandpa and only boy cousin, Hyrum!

Grandma Preece sneaks a snuggle with Jake.  He's lovin' it!

We also took a visit to the Layton park to feed the ducks with cousins.  It's a good thing Aunt Amy brought a whole bag of rolls, because Jake threw them pretty quickly and usually in only two pieces.

Emily, Jessica, Allie, Kennedy, Rachel and Jake.

I feel bad I didn't take too many pictures while we were there, but I was trying to just enjoy the break!  We had a great time at Grandma Peterson's house too (a.k.a. Grandma in the Rock House), with the kids sleeping out back in Grandma's tent with the Page cousins.  Brenna came over for breakfast and a day with Kennedy too, and they always have fun.  Jake walked Grandpa Peterson into the ground and gave him a hero's welcome everytime he walked into the room.  Leah held out on everyone and refused to let people hold or snuggle her.  Aunt Michelle was the only one who got her to sit on her lap!  But Leah had a blast playing with her cousins and flirting with everyone who talked to her.

We also went with the Page cousins to see Toy Story 3, the final Toy Story movie.  Jake is obsessed with all things Toy Story right now, so it was fun to take him to the movies.  He liked it, except the scary part where they are falling into the burn pile at the dump; that's when he got out of his seat to head for Grandpa's lap, where he stayed until it was over.

Kennedy had fun taking Grandpa Preece's tractor for a ride and even scooping some dirt with it.  Jake liked watching (maybe next summer he'll get on it!)  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Taggarts with Grandma and Grandpa Preece before we headed home to Idaho.

TVDSA Picnic

The Treasure Valley Down Syndrome Association puts on a summer picnic each year at a member's ranch near our house.  It's always a lot of fun to see how much the kids have grown that we met four years ago.  They have face painting, ponies, games, and big bounce house toys for the kids.  Jake and Leah really enjoyed picking the grass to feed to the horses.

Jake smiling when he saw his dad appear.  I love that face.

Independence Day 2010

We started our day out with the Annual Ward Breakfast and kids parade.  Here's Kennedy with her good friend Kamille. 

Getting ready to start the parade.  Kennedy was so excited because she brought some candy in her bike basket to throw to the crowd :)  Leah and Jake rode in the wagon that Brian pulled.

Here comes the parade!

Leah and Jake were content to watch the parade as long as they had suckers.

The Bishop gave all of the kids either sparklers or pops to do later that night, which was really fun.

Later that morning we took Kennedy's good friend Camden with us to the Melba parade.  This is a tiny farm town south of Nampa that puts on a huge Independence Day celebration.  I think these two came home with about five pounds of candy.  (I guess the pops didn't last until night time).

This was the other way to pass the time waiting for the parade to start: attack Brian!

I don't know how many pictures we have of this boy in this exact position...if he has a dirt pile to sit in, he's happy.

Finally, the parade begins!  Brian and I were cracking up because we cold hear Kennedy and Camden formulating plans as to how to get the most candy.  I guess it's good they're still little and cute, because it worked!

Leah was a little unsure of the really noisy floats, but overall she did great.

Jake showed Leah what to do, and they were so cute waving to everyone, especially the horses.

Lakeview Park Swim

We took an evening visit to Lakeview Park here in Nampa on July 1st for a swim.  It was kind of nice to go in the evening because Brian could come with us and the pool wasn't as crowded.  Leah and Jake spent most of their time in the shallows, trading off sitting on the wall and splashing their feet with shouting at Kennedy in the deeper end with dad.

I just can't get enough of this girl's little chubby body.  She moves at a million miles-per-hour and I love it.  She really loved the pool and stayed in until her lips were purple and feet were raisins.

Kennedy was just happy to finally go swimming at a real pool instead of the backyard.  She pulled dad all around the deeper parts, having fun getting splashed by the toys that collect water and dump it on your head. 

Gearing up for some feet-splashing.  No obstacle can get in Leah's way.

Just had to get one more shot in of those kissable cheeks and chunky legs.