FIRST lost tooth & FIRST day of FIRST grade!

It was a close call, but Alli lost her first tooth before the first day of school! (within a couple weeks I should say) She was so sad in Kindergarten when all the other kids were losing teeth and she wasn't. But now she gets to start first grade with a cute hole in her mouth. She is so proud! How the tooth came out...Ryan put on his head gear, tied dental floss around the tooth, gave it a pull, and out it came! Personally, I wasn't fond of this method, but Allison didn't think twice and she said it didn't hurt at all. This is a perfect dad job!
Here is the tooth hanging from the floss!

The proud smile! (Her teeth are a little yellow...maybe lighting from the camera, maybe not!)

First day of school pictures to follow!

What's your cell phone story?

I didn't have a cell phone story until today. I have heard some funny ones...like my mom dropping hers in the toilet at work and it was an automatic flush and it flushed before she could get it out! I don't think mine is quite that good but now I at least have a cell phone story. Today I was outside with Josh (we were watching the chickens) I was talking to Nora on my cell phone, and Josh got distracted by something in the pool. So, I followed him near the pool and as I was standing there a gnat flew in my nose. I'm not sure why I didn't swat at it with my other hand, but with the hand I was holding the phone with. The phone went flying into the pool and all I hear come out of Joshy's mouth is "UH-O." It's is favorite thing to say right now. For a split second I thought about diving in and getting it (like it was my kid or something) but I went for the pool net and grabbed it out. I let it dry out and it seems to somewhat be working. Certain numbers are not, but maybe it just needs a few more hours to chill out???? If you need to get a hold of me, call the house phone! What is your cell phone story?

Where's Zachary?

The other day we were out swimming and Zachary need to use the bathroom. I told him to get out, grab a towel and them come back out. This is pretty much a usual occurrence even though I make him go before he goes outside to swim. Why is that? Anyway, it was taking him a LONG time to come back out. So I went in to check on him and this is what I found! He didn't even make it to the bathroom. I could tell because his wet footprints went straight to the bed. He was also barely on the bed and with even a twitch would have fallen off. So the second picture is after I pushed him over so he wouldn't fall off the bed. It had been a long day and Zachy is my one who likes his sleep! I wonder if that was his plan all along...

Fourth of July

Fourth of July this year was fun as usual. We had our second annual bike/bbq/parade party down in Huntington Beach. Nora has a nice friend who lets us come, crash on her lawn, and watch the parade. There is great food, an awesome parade, and great company. This year David and Kenna joined us with little Addie who at one month enjoyed her first bike ride. Uncle Stevie was down and of course Grandma, the Kochs, and us!

The Gang!

Josh LOVED the parade.

This was Alli's first time riding her two wheeler down to the parade. She did a great job keeping up with all of us. She is getting so big!

Zachary was bumped out of the trailer and rode on the bike attachment

Joshy was buddied up with June bug and kept taking her paci in and out of her mouth. She didn't seem to mind. It was better than the alternative of Charlie riding with Josh. Charlie was originally placed with Josh, but within seconds Charlie was whacking away and Josh was in tears. So..."solitary confinement" it was for Charlie boy!

Father's Day

Father's day landed the day before Ryan and I left for our big trip (I will post about it soon) so I was busy getting things ready for us to leave. I did make a nice dinner for him, but the only "presents" Ryan got were these cool ties the kids made for him. Alli and Zach were so proud of them and couldn't wait for Ryan to wear them to church. He had to wear both of course!

Last day of Kindergarten

The last day a Kindergarten was harder for me than the first day. It was saying goodbye to so many things. No more eating lunch separate from the rest of the school, a separate play ground, a special pick up and drop off area, an awesome teacher... it is making me tear up as I write this. Allison had a great Kindergarten year and I am sad to see it end. Allison on the other hand is more than excited to be in first grade. She is ready for the big playground, eating lunch with who she chooses and just being a bigger kid. She is ready, and I guess I have no choice in the matter! This year Mrs. Mitchell, Alli's teacher, was just perfect for her. She was loving but firm. She had so many great ideas and project and I know Allison learned a lot from her. We couldn't have asked for more. The day before the last day of school, her class had a teddy bear picnic. Each family brought food, we ate outside and the kids sang a few songs and poems for the parents. It was a great way to end the year.

Disneyland

In June, Emily came home with her family for a visit. The highlight of her visit was taking a trip to Disneyland. The whole gang went! I'm a little disappointed because for some reason my camera did not have a lot of pictures on it ( I think mom has ALL the pictures on her camera!) For having two infants (June & Abby) three toddlers (Grace, Charlie & Josh) and two "kids"(Alli & Zach) we had a great day. With Em, Ben, Nora, Adam, Grandma, Ryan and myself, that makes 14! Nora and Em were troopers with breastfeeding their babies on It's a Small World.! The highlight for me was watching my kids faces when I surprised them with cotton candy. Any place we ever go that has cotton candy they beg to have some. They are very good when I say no. They have been turned down countless of times! So, I thought I would surprise them at Disneyland. The look on their faces was priceless! I love the simple things that make kids so happy. It was a super day!

Zachary went straight for it!

Two happy kids!

Joshy meeting goofy (a perfect character for him to meet!)

It's a small world (Nora and Emily are hiding in the back!)