My First Field Trip

I went on my first field trip with my preschool and it was so fun! We went to a pumpkin patch that looked like this:

There was tons of mud and puddles to stomp around it. And it rained the whole time we were there. Awesome!

When we first got there, we spent 40 minutes waiting outside under a little covered area. My friend Amelia and I had a blast.

Apparently some other preschools got there before us, but they were late, so we had to wait for them to get done before we could start our tour. The people who worked at the patch took us into this room to wait. It had hay bales and corn stalks and pumpkins and scarecrows. We got to stay in there for at least 15 minutes. How fun!

After that they took us in to see some animals. These baby chicks were so cute. Silly Mommy said she wanted to crawl in there with them to sit under their warm light.

Check out the size of this turkey!

It kept making funny noises and sticking it's neck out at us.

After another 15 minutes, the workers told us that the tractor was ready to take us to the pumpkin patch so we could pick out a pumpkin. That was what I wanted to do most. So we sat in a covered area outside on hay bales for another 20 minutes wondering where the tractor was. When it finally came, it was totally worth it! The tractor ride was definitely my favorite part.

At the pumpkin patch it only took me about a minute to find the best pumpkin there. I was so proud of it and couldn't wait to carve it later with Daddy.

After picking our pumpkins, we all ended up skipping the corn maze and heading straight back to our cars. What a fun trip! I hope we do it again next year!

Arnizona: The Desert

Mommy and I got to visit Arnizona last weekend to see Aunt Kari, Aunt Denise, Grandma and Grandpa de Jong, and Mommy's friend Liz. Arnizona is far away in the desert and REALLY hot. Mommy was just glad to get away from the clouds and rain in Seattle, but we did lots of fun stuff while we were there.


We went to the Children's Museum with Mommy's friend Liz and her daughter Lauren. We got to paint this cool blue castle.



We put on a puppet show.

Lauren and I made a good team. She drove the car while I pumped the gas.

The museum had my favorite thing--a grocery store with carts just my size!

I also got to bake a pizza.


Mommy and Liz have known each other since their freshman year at BYU--that was a loooong time ago!

Aunt Kari and I played a Toy Story memory game that she gave me as a present. She was pretty good at remembering where the matches were--but I was better.

Aunt Kari showed me how to get Riley to shake.

I also got to play different instruments Aunt Kari has collected during her plane trips around the world. I played this xylophone and those drums in the background.

I also showed off my skills on the ukelele.

For some reason my aunts and Grandparents loooove to hold me any chance they get. So when I climbed in Aunt Kari's lap while watching a movie, she made Karin take a picture so she could always remember it.

Aunt Denise gave me a super fun piggy back ride. She runs a lot faster than Mommy does.

It wasn't too hot to go outside as long as we were out there before 9am. Aunt Kari let me throw dirt balls against her back wall. I love dirt balls. (Just ask Daddy.)

Have you ever laid in a hammock? They are so comfy.

But a little hard to get out of.

The only time we headed outside during the HOT afternoon was to go to a splash park. It was so cool.

They had a fun little water slide to go down.

There was also a party going on at the park with lots of rides. Aunt Kari and I rode in this dragon's belly and Aunt K made it spin really fast.

I also got to ride a bulldozer!

And eat my first shaved ice. This pic was taken long before I finished eating it. My mouth was totally blue by the time I was done.

Taking Riley for a walk--at least, that's how it started out. Half the time it seemed like he was walking me because I had to run to keep up with him. Of course, this was before 9am.

I don't have pictures of the last cool thing we did. Aunt Kari works at the airport and while we were waiting to get on our plane, she took me for a walk--into the aiplane's cockpit! There were buttons all over and the steering wheel isn't round like in a car. Instead you use your feet to move it around. And...the plan was wearing sunglasses!

I loved everything about Arnizona--even the cactus! I really wanted to stay there, but Mommy made me come home. I can't wait to go back.

I *heart* reading (and toys)

I got a magazine in the mail the other day because sometimes Mommy and Daddy buy me toys. (Well, mostly Daddy. Mommy usually says we can look at them but we're not going to buy anything today.) I love reading my new magazine.

First Day of School!

I had my first day of preschool today! Well, the first day without Mommy. Last week I got to go check out my new class and play with the toys for a little bit and Mommy hung around the whole time. But today it was just the kids and teachers. So cool!



Mommy surprised me with a First day of school breakfast. She decorated the table just like school.



We ate Applesauce pancakes with cinnamon syrup, sausage, and orange juice. It was so yummy.

I could hardly wait to get out the door and get to school, but Mommy wanted to take a first-day-of-school picture first.

My friend Amelia is in my class. We might be a bit of a handful for the teacher when we're together. But we were both super excited waiting outside the classroom.

We couldn't go in until the teacher opened the door, and as soon as she did, I practically ran inside. Mommy was somewhere close behind. I got to hang up my backpack on a hook and there was a tag with my name on it!

Then the teacher told us to come sit on the rug for circle time.

We sang "Open them, shut them" and I actually did the actions like the teacher was showing us.

After that, Mommy and all the other parents left. I waved good-bye to her and gave her a big thumbs up so it wouldn't be too hard for her to go. I hope she didn't get too lonely while I was at school. She said she was going to do some cleaning while I was in school.

When the moms and dads came back at the end of school, we had to wait on the rug until we saw our own mom or dad. I got so excited when I saw Mommy that I yelled, "Mommy!" and ran over and gave her a huge hug. Then I told her all about my day:

I painted and did circle time and played outside and played with toys and danced to music on the radio and we laid on our bellies and sat on our bums and I went potty all by myself and didn't pee my pants and washed my hands and we had snack time but Mommy gave me the wrong snack which was a fruit roll up and the teacher read the book from the library that I've read before and said that was a rack truck and when I put my fingers in my nose the teacher told me I had to wash my hands and my teacher tied my shoes in a double knot and Mary bonked her head and I was so glad that Mommy came to get me in my preschool.

I can't wait to go back on Thursday!

Random Naps

So, I'm in the random nap stage right now, which can drive Mommy crazy. Sometimes I nap, and sometimes I don't. But I will never just lay down in my bed for naptime. I usually fall asleep in the car driving somewhere and Mommy has to turn around before we get there and go home so she can put me in my bed. She loves it when I take a nap and she can get things done, but then if I do take a nap, I stay up longer at night, which she doesn't love. And what really drives her nuts is when I fall asleep from 4-6 and she doesn't have any time to do the stuff she wants to do because she's making dinner at that time, and then I'm up until 10 after that. Fun for me, not so fun for Mommy.

A few days ago I randomly fell asleep before noon. I was laying on the counch looking at pictures on a box that one of my new toys came in. Mommy ran upstairs to do something and when she came back down, she found this.

Luckily I slept from 11:45 to 2:30, so Mommy got lots of her own stuff done, and since I napped early enough, I still went to bed at a decent hour. She wasn't so lucky yesterday when I fell asleep at 4pm. If she would just play with me all day long instead of making me play by myself once in a while, this wouldn't happen. So technically, it's her own fault.