Little update....or a downdate?

Not a lot going on around the Flynn household.
House is still for sale.
Do you want to rent it? Email me!

Hockey started and the first home game is tomorrow, so I got me and the Hubby some tickets and we are having ourselves a date night!

Stella is growing up too fast. She turned 9 months and is 20.5 lbs, and tall....I can't remember her height measurement...but it was in the 86%. She has 8 teeth, crawls all over everything, is in to everything and is a lot of fun! She's standing on her own now and I am NOT, I repeat, NOT looking forward to walking. She is very clumsy and has had her fair share of bumps and bruises. When she begins walking, I only see her clumsiness peaking.

Livia is doing preschool studies with me at home. She isn't what you would call the fastest learner, but she sure has fun. I really am loving having more one on one time with her. Livia is such a sweetie and has been a big help with Stella when Gracie is in school. She is dead set on being Dora for Halloween, so I am contemplating cutting her hair for it. We'll see.

Gracie is still loving Kindergarten and has 3, yes 3, boyfriends. Ian (who wears Chiefs gear to school....LOVE him), Melvin , (yes, MELVIN) and Joey. Kill me now. I know I was considered boy crazy when I was younger, but this is insane! I am talking to her DAILY how it's nice to have friends.....but you don't really need boyfriends right now. Her teacher has had nothing but praise for her and is not looking forward to when we have to move. Gracie is learning to read and loves it. I hope that she keeps that up.
Oh, and she's still obsessed with horses.

First day of Kindergarten

Let me tell ya.

I was not prepared for this day to come.

Gracie woke up for her first day of school soooo excited. She wanted to wear her new outfit she picked out and Stella wanted to help her.

Trying on shoes. This girl likes shoes!

She's so big! Where did my little Crazy Gracie go?

Outside the school.

In her class, getting settled in.

(This is the 'What's wrong with this picture?' picture. Click on the picture to make it bigger and then read the mom's shirt in the background. Go on. Do it.)

We missed the day where the kids can come and check out the school and parents are told what to expect.
So I didn't know what to expect.
But I expected to stay longer.
School starts at 9 am. I swear it was 9:10 when her teacher announced "Okay parents, time to say goodbye!"

EXCCCCUSE me? What?

Don't I get to stay and check out her classroom and help ease her into this new, huge world of school?

Don't I need to stay and wipe away her tears when she begs me to stay?

Nope.
"Bye mom!" is all I got.
No tears. I can't blame her. There was so many fun things in there, I wanted to stay and play.
Which I know I should be thankful for, but couldn't she muster up one tear just for my benefit?
Instead, I was the one fighting back the tears.
As soon as I left her class, I let them go.

Wasn't I just bringing her home from the hospital? Wasn't she just learning to walk and tugging at my pants to pull herself up?
Now she's such an independent little person. She picked out her own outfit. She picked out what she wanted for lunch. She told me how to do her hair.

Where did the time go??

We love ya, Gracie girl!

A day for 8

1. I broke my computer, so I have been using my parents computer as we save to get it fixed. I am a dork and dropped it a couple of weeks ago, and the glass in the monitor shattered internally. Lovely.
2.My 10 year reunion was this weekend and HOLY COW. It was sooo much fun and I am so glad it's over. I helped plan it, since I was a class officer, and now know what to do for our 20 year! It's so funny to see how people have changed, and how some people are still the same. With technology now, like Facebook, it feels like we are able to reconnect that way, but it was great to see everyone in person. I got to see my best friend, Janelle, for the first time in like 3 years. She looks amazing! It was good to catch up with her. Pictures will come at some point!
3. Stella has received 2 more teeth. It's really odd, because she has her bottom two teeth, and then she cut two top side teeth, her incisor's, I think they are called. I am praying she gets her two top front teeth soon!! Otherwise, she's going to have a funny smile!
4. I am staying with my parents this week. My sister gets married this weekend, and then I will stay at her house while her and her husband go on their honeymoon. It will be a nice mini vacation!!
5. There is still a lot to do before her wedding. I need to dye my hair, get it cut, get a pedicure, trim the girls' bangs, paint their nails, get her gift, etc. Fun.
6. About dying my hair....I found 3 gray hairs this morning and when I put it up in a ponytail, an discovered more gray hairs. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?? I guess I should have seen it coming; my dad started going gray at my age (a young 28, mind you).
7. Our house still hasn't sold. Boooo.
8. I miss my husband.

Thoughts for the day

I find it funny how yesterday I was thinking, "Maybe I could handle a fourth kid. It couldn't be too much worse than the craziness that three brings me, so maybe we could add one more and it would be a BOY this time..."
Then I didn't get any sleep last night thanks to Gracie, Livia and of course, STELLA.
I get the message Heavenly Father, I get it.

Kite flying

Yesterday was windy day. I mean windy.

When the girls asked to go to the park, I told them that it was too windy out.
Then my smart little Gracie remembered that she and Livia had received kites from their Uncle Shawn and Aunt Megan for Gracie's birthday.
I couldn't argue.

So we flew the kites yesterday!
Along with Aunt Ryanne, Javin, Orissa, Aunt Megan, Shaylee, and Liam!

The kites and kids did pretty good! We only had a kite runaway from us once, but Aunt Ryanne saved the day!
Then we hit up the park, but it was just too windy.
The kids got to run around for a bit and burn some energy.
Apparently, Stella had already burned all her energy.

4th of July

Warning:

This is going to be a picture happy post. Because I am in a picture happy mood.

We went to the annual 4th of July Weller Family Reunion held at my Great Grandma Weller's house outside Coeur D'Alene. It is bbeeeeeeeeautiful out there. I was really looking forward to going up there and letting the kids run around in the hot sun!
Wait.
Hot sun?
Not so much.
This is how we spent the day:

Bundled up and trying to keep warm. Stella snuggled up with my uncle Joe, who, after 5 boys, never had any girls. Instead he gets his baby girls fix from my girls! They just love their uncle Joe!

I had gotten the girls all patriotic outfits, but they had to stay covered up and warn instead.
It was chilly!
Livia is the free spirit, who I can never get a good picture of. This is what happens when she says "Cheese!"
Oh well.
Cute top, eh? (That's the Canadian in me)
Gracie kept warm with my Grandma Peggy. I love this picture!
Stella's cute dress!

We spent a lot of time inside, and all of a sudden, I felt compelled to take this picture:
It's my Great Grandmother's living room.
Don't you just love it? From the green shag carpet, to the 80's plants, it's so homey and grandmotherly to me. I love it there!
I wish I would have taken a picture of the mug that was behind me on a plant stand. I can't remember what it said, but I remember thinking: That's my grandmother alright!

Stella loved playing in that shag carpet. I think she thought it was grass....

Outside, the girls still ran around and played with my cousins. I am one of the older grandkids.
I love this bench swing.
Sisterly love
I knew this was coming. Some of my cousins had started playing hackey sack and Livia and Gracie tried to join in. Didn't work out so well.
Stella performing a trick
She loves it!
Some picture of my Great Grandmother's property.
I like how Chad is pretending he doesn't see me taking pictures in both these pictures. LOL
Friends and relatives chatting on the back porch
This one made my think of my sisters in law, Carrie and Ryanne. They have awesome high tech camera's that would have done this picture more justice.
I just liked how it looked!
Oh yes. And this is the toilet. The inside bathroom was out of commission, so this is where the girls went potty. If you were a boy, you got to use the bushes.
My grandmother lives with her son and his wife, because at 95 years of age, she is unable to take care of the house by herself. Plus it is safer for her in case she fell or something, so the toilet in the house hadn't been used for quite awhile.
We decided to take a short walk over to the pond.
Gracie hopped on Papa's shoulders.
And Livia hopped on mine!
This seemed much bigger to me when I was younger. There used to be catfish in there, so I would always have dreams that the catfish would start biting my toes.
That must be why I have this fear of buying my kids a pet fish.
Gracie and I
Wondering about this picture?
Well I saw this happening:
Love how my cousin doesn't even care? He jumped in the boat and started playing around, as I am freaking out and telling the girls to stay by me.
Papa chased them away.
Gracie and Nana
Later, we headed home, but not after we bought some little fireworks in Coeur D'Alene.
They are outlawed in Spokane, so we had to break the law.
Shhhhhhh....
It was all in the name of pleasing the children.

Then we headed to find a place to watch the fireworks at Riverfront Park. We didn't end up going to the park, but we found a good place to watch them from. This is the first year we let the girls stay up to watch the fireworks!
I don't think they were too impressed.

Gracie and uncle Chad
Gracie was so scared of the noise.....even though there was hardly any noise because we were like 5 miles from the fireworks!
We had a great 4th and enjoyed all our time with our crazy family!