The first day of school

The kids have all been going to the same day care for just about their whole lives and this year we actually had to send our baby off to the first day of school. Jon reached that magical milestone and he is a little peeved that he doesn't get to ride the bus, he has to go in with Jenni since they are in the same building. And here is Mommy dropping that little boy off at his classroom door.

She told me she didn't cry...she teared up, but didn't cry.

The flower girl made her daddy cry

It's true, the flower girl at a wedding we went to recently made her daddy cry....but that isn't saying much her daddy is kind of a pansy. Jenni's cousin, Charley, asked Kayla to be her flower girl for the wedding and of course Kayla said yes. So we made the trip up to Nebraska for the event and went through the normal wedding weekend hoopla. I had dropped Kayla and Jenni off at the hair stylist early in the day and then went back to the hotel to kill some time with Jon and Lily until it was our turn to participate as guests. I had seen Kayla in her dress at home and yet I still wasn't prepared for what I was about to see when I got to the church, my little girl was a little princess. She had her hair done, her dress on, her high heels, and all I could think about was, "What am I going to do when this is Homecoming, Prom, or HER WEDDING?!?" I was a little over-whelmed and teared up a little, just look at her, I'm sure you understand.



The events did wear her out a little, she took a quick snooze at dinner with her God-mother Ashley.

Friendship Festival 2009

"Cruisin' Through Lathrop" was the theme of this year's Friendship Festival and once again it was an activity that the entire family thoroughly enjoyed. I think that we participated in more of the events this year than we have in the past. For example, this year I braved the Children's Day in the Park all by myself with all three in tow. I'm glad I did. They had so much fun! They had horse and pony rides, a moon walk, various little games where the kids could win little prizes, and a hot dog lunch followed by a ventriloquist act. I could have probably done a better act....let's just say that there was a lot of lip moving! But, alas, the kids really enjoyed it and that is all that matters! Jon and Kayla's favorite part of the day in the park was the Smoke House that the Fire Department put on. They actually got to go into a small mobile home and hear a presentation about how to be safe if you are in a fire and other various safety things. At the end of the presentation, they filled the house with smoke and let the kids practice crawling out of the house. They talked about the things they learned during those 20 minutes all weekend long! The only down side to the activities in the park was that there wasn't a lot of stuff for Lily to do, she just knew that she was at the park and wanted to swing and slide! But we did have our own little snack picnic under the trees while Jon and Kayla were in the Smoke House. That's where I got the cute little picture of Lily by herself!

Friday night we upheld our promise and took the kids, along with Grandma and Grandpa, to the carnival. They had a BLAST! Kayla was not quite big enough to ride on the rides without an adult, and I wasn't quite ready to let Jon try them solo.....(I know, I know!!) So, we got three all you can ride bracelets and let the kids go wild. I was the one who ended up with the third bracelet. We rode everything!! I personally think that their favorites were the "Umbrella" and "Sizzler", which I have to admit went a lot faster than I remembered! Everyone made fun of me for that statement until Grandma and Grandpa rode the "Sizzler" with Jon and Kayla. They said it was faster, too!

Lily really enjoyed riding the on the Super Slide and Motorboats. By the end of the night she had even made a new friend. I think that Daddy is in BIG trouble!

After all of our carnival fun we settled down with some ice cream and listened to our favorite performers of the festival, Soca Jukebox, the steel drum band. Then it was a walk back home in the moonlight and a REALLY late bedtime for everyone. But it was well worth it!

The three R's......

.....could stand for so many things. The three little Rineharts....(sure)...... In the life of a teacher we could be talking about Reading, Riting, and Rithmatic (but hey, it's still summer...so we are not going there!) No, today the three R's stand for Rollerskating, Riding Bikes, and playing in the Rain.

After receiving roller skates for his birthday Jon could not wait to try them out. And, like any normal little sister, Kayla saw how much fun Jon was having and had to have a pair of skates for herself. They both got to try them out today and they had so much fun! They really did catch on pretty fast...but, we still had our fair share of tumbles.




It really makes me laugh to think back to Tracey and me roller skating on the small cement pad in the back yard. We always pretended that we were ice skating and tried to do all the tricks that we could copy: turning in circles, skating backward, trying to lift our leg behind us....(roller skates are HEAVY!) I know that there is no way that Mom and Dad could have gotten us to put on all the safety gear that I piled on the kids...helmets and elbow, knee, and wrist pads....they must have had a heart attack every time we put those silly skates on!

Just as Jon and Kayla were getting the hang of rolling around on their skates it started to rain on them. At least it was a nice summer rain without the lightening and thunder of a storm. So instead of calling it a day they decided to play in the rain. They rode their bikes and all three of them found some puddles to splash in. I think the puddle splashing was Lily's favorite part!! They were soaked, but had a great time!

Getting Older

The boys in family keep getting older and older. It is hard to believe that Jon is now 6 and Jamie is solidly in his third decade!! At least he will always be older than I am....that makes being 30 a little easier to swallow.

Jonathon got to have a small celebration on his actual "birth" day and got a new Dinosaur DS game from Mom and Dad. However, we saved the big party for Saturday so that we could celebrate both Jamie and Jon's birthday together. We had a great time. The party was at Jim and Debbie's and the majority of the family was represented. It was so nice to hang out and talk with everyone.

Jonathon wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday...which took the pressure of baking a cake off of my shoulders. Probably a good thing since the family isn't big into cake but can eat our weight in ice cream!



So who exactly is turning 6 and who is turning 31? A little hard to tell the difference!


Jonathon got his own little birthday cake on Wednesday so that he could blow out the candles on his own.


The one thing Jonathon really wanted for his birthday was a pair of roller skates. They were repeatedly asked for and moved to the top of his birthday list. Great Grandma and Grandpa Rinehart made his wish come true. As you can see he just lit up when he saw them. Not to worry for the safety conscious....he also got all the safety gear that goes with them!


Jonathon was spoiled with so many great gifts. He is still into Star Wars (much to Daddy's delight) and got some cool new toys to add to his collection. He also got lots of new clothes, video games, toys, and some of Grandma's homemade chocolate chip cookies. Now we just have to find room for all of his new stuff.


Happy Birthday Daddy and Jon!

And the winner is......

So, Jonathon won the prize for "First Visit to the Emergency Room", Kayla got the prize for "First Surgery", but Lily had to push the envelope and surge ahead of both of them, not only did she receive the prize for "First Extended Stay in the Hospital" a mere week after she was born....oh no, that wasn't enough for her!! Today she shoots to the head of the pack and wins the award for "First Child to Get Stitches".

After her shower this morning, Lily was playing in the living room on her little purple chair, when she got a little over excited when Clifford came on. She started rocking her chair and over it went! Her poor little face went straight into Jamie's tuner. She totally split her lip open. Blood everywhere and me wrapped in my towel!!! Why is it that these types of accidents never happen when you have two parents at home? Nope, it's me all alone trying to figure out whether I am over-rereacting and her injury isn't really that bad, or if she really does need stitches. I hate making decisions like this!!

I ended up taking Lily in to the Emergency Room (we finally get to use the accident insurance that I signed up for and Jamie has to stop giving me a hard time!) and she did have to get stitches. Four of them. Two on the inside of her lip and two on the outside. She handled it like a trooper and got lots of compliments from the hospital staff. She even got a new teddy bear out of the event. It has lovingly been named, Stitches!

The worst day....

Today was one of the worst days I've had in a long time. It all started early this morning when I started off to work and got a mile or so from home and realized I forgot my sunglasses and eye drops at home, so I went back to get them. I then got to work and broke one of the kids toys I was giving to my boss as a hand me down, literally as I was handing it to them. A canceled testing session that ended up in me calling into an executive meeting via video conference. My golf cart ran out of batteries in the middle of the street on my way back to the shop. And Jenni called me about Lily's accident (read the post above). I got home and started cooking dinner on the grill, Jenni walked into the room and said, "ummm....the grill is on fire." I through the lid open and it was seriously on fire, some of the built up grease from the hamburgers the other day lit on fire. So, I turned off the gas and taught Jenni how to use baking soda to put out a fire.

All in all, it was a pretty crappy day.