Raspberry Picking - September 6, 2013

While Brandon was at Comic-Con, Lucy, Grey, and I went down to Emily's so we could go on our annual raspberry picking outing. Emily already blogged about this and took many more pictures HERE.

We remembered to dress ourselves in long sleeve shirts and long sleeve pants after making that mistake last year. But even better, the owner had planted some thornless raspberries and allowed us to pick in those rows. It was wonderful. I know the boys got a little hot but I was on a mission and picked 5 lbs or raspberries!

I was so busy picking, that I didn't bother taking pictures until we were about to leave and the girls starting helping themselves to the free flowers on the way out.

I'm so glad that these two cousins are such good friends.

We relaxed the rest of the day at Emily's. Grey was almost 6 months so I'm obviously feeding him solids in these next pictures but I can't remember if I let him eat any raspberries that day. I think I tried when we were actually picking and he might have choked a bit.

Looking forward to going raspberry picking again this year! I love this annual tradition!!

Lucy's First Homework Assignment - September 3, 2013

Who gets homework the first day of school...in pre-K?!

Fortunately, it was a really fun assignment and Lucy and I got really into it and spent a ton of time doing it together. She received a letter "L" for her name and had to fill it with pictures of other things that began with "L". She did a really good job finding things in magazine that began with L and did a lot of the cutting as well. Here she is with a classic Lucy expression.

A close-up of the finished product. I wish I knew how to rotate this picture but I'm too lazy to figure it out. You get the idea, though.

 And this is where Lucy got a hold of the camera again. Brandon was getting ready for Salt Lake City's first comic-con so he had his art strewn everywhere.

 
Her awesome scooter we got for her birthday. Seriously, best toddler scooter ever. I know that she would have preferred a pink scooter but it won't be long until Grey will inherit this thing so I wanted to get it in a gender neutral color.

 
Our mess of shoes...

More mommy and Grey (and I honestly don't know what was going on with my hair...)

Happy baby!

Look! I cleaned off the television stand...a little bit.

Some of Brandon's art for Comic-Con.

Lucy is already doing selfies.

 
And apparently felt the need to capture the ceiling fan.

We ended up cutting out so many things that began with L and couldn't really fit them all. But it was really fun.

And that pretty much sums up any given night in the Dayton household.

First Day of Pre-K - September 3, 2013

 So Lucy's first day of pre-K kinda snuck up on me. I meant to print out one of those cool first day of school printables from Pinterest that was all cute and had a date and age but Brandon just ended up throwing this sign together really quickly morning of. I guess it gets the job done and at least I can blog about it with the date and all. And, there is always next year!

It was a bit sunny on the front porch so we moved to the grass.

Just don't pay attention to our awful grass...or awful painted porch. Why does every picture on my blog remind me of how much work I still need to do to my house and yard.

Silly, Lucy face.

And there is Grey with his chunky thighs and chubby cheeks!

We had a struggle getting Lucy to wear close-toed shoes to school (like, almost everyday). She prefers sandals but they are against the rules there. Here she is last year at her first day of school for her old preschool. What a difference a year makes! Her hair was so much shorter but she still didn't like wearing shoes then either.

Random Saturday at Home - August 31, 2013

This girl is such a ham. Underwear on her head, gloves on her feet, and doing that silly thing where you punch your fist under your shirt while simultaneously holding onto your sleeve with the other hand (I think I taught her how to do that and she thought it was the best idea ever! - - CORRECTION: Brandon informed me that HE taught her how to do sweater pumps as a reward for good behavior. Of course, daddies always think of the best ideas and considering that I didn't even know what the name of it was, makes sense).

And this boy is such a cutie. I love these Winnie the Pooh pajamas my mom got him from Japan. They even come with a matching vest (not pictured).

Such a baldie like his sister was.

I think this is the part where Lucy got a hold of my camera...not bad for a four year old photographer.

And these pictures just remind me how cluttered our house was (and still is but improving!). We got rid of the television stand. Our TV is mounted to the wall so it's not like we really needed it. It just became a place to accumulate "stuff".

We also got rid of that nasty area rug that was all stained and the play mat since Grey became mobile a LONG time ago. Boy, I have some catching up to do. I will have to post some updated decor pictures to show the serious improvement we have made in getting rid of clutter.

Pre-K Orientation - August 29, 2013

How exciting for Lucy (and us) to start Pre-K! She had already done a year of preschool for 3-4 year old kids the previous year but that was just twice a week. Her new Pre-K would be four days a week from 8:05 am - 11:00 am!! Some parents get a little misty-eyed about their kids going off to school but I was elated to get a little break (and for Lucy to learn new things, make new friends, have a new experience, etc).

Lucy Gets Her Ears Pierced - August 14, 2013

Lucy had been wanting to get her ears pierced for months. Brandon and I didn't have strong feelings about her NOT getting her ears pierced (even though Brandon's mom never had her ears pierced) so we figured that we could use it as positive reinforcement (aka: bribe). It seems like such a coming of age ritual although I can't remember how old I was when I had my ears pierced. We told Lucy she could get her ears pierced if she saved up her own money for it and also if she could earn $20 in play money from her rewards chart (5 tokens equals $1 but $1 could "buy" a tv show or $2 could "buy" a movie for the day so it was easy for those play dollars to go fast).

The real money wasn't hard to earn - she had about $60 of birthday money saved up (cause she doesn't really know how to use real money yet) and it's a good thing she had that much because it costs A LOT to get your ears pierced now. We brought her to Claire's (cause where else do you go) and of course, she wanted the more expensive pink studs and it cost $56!! I swear, when I got my ears pierced, it only cost about $8, maybe $12.

The workers there were prepared with a stuffed animal for Lucy to hold on to for comfort.

She was a little apprehensive because we kept telling her that getting your ears pierced hurts but she still wanted to do it.

Putting on a brave face.

Rowe waiting so patiently in his stroller.

The suspense is killing me!

And Olive too!

I almost thought she would chicken out...

Here she is getting her ears cleaned before they marked the skin.

And here she is with her new earrings and McDonald's ice cream as a treat for being so brave.

A closer look...

And a silly face!

I'm so glad that Emily got video of the whole thing. I love Lucy's reaction when it finally happens and am amazed that she didn't cry! Looking back, I wish I had checked with her pediatrician first to see if they offered ear piercing services but it ended up that they didn't. However, when I told her how much we paid at Claire's, she thought that maybe they should start offering the service. But the girl at Claire's was great and I'm happy that Lucy set a goal (of earning money for it) and achieved it.