The Green Lantern

Will has been into super heroes lately so when Bo brought home a Green Lantern mask Will was really excited. This kid makes us laugh a lot.

 I found this idea on Pinterest and it is awesome! Just make a road out of masking tape for your kids. We played with this for like an hour. (The white thing in the middle is my sewing machine cover that Will constantly uses as a car garage.)

First Day of Preschool

Will had his first day of school this week. We have been counting down to preschool since September so when I told him on Monday that school was the next day he was so excited. I had no problems getting him to take his bath and go to bed. On the way out the door Will said "Mom you drop me off and then leave ok?" He was so serious it was funny. Last year it upset me that he wasn't clingy and wanting me to stay, but this year I happily left while other kids had death grips on their parents. Will and I both love our time away from each other he has fun with kids his own age and I enjoy a nice long workout, a shower with no interruptions, and I get some housework in before I have to pick him up. When I pick him up he runs to me and yells out "Mom I missed you!" which more than makes up for the lack of love during drop off. I would suggest preschool to everyone, it has been good for Will to learn that he needs to take direction from people other than Mom and Dad. I think it also has given Will confidence that he can survive without Mom always by his side. 

Cheesy first day of school picture.

After preschool I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "Go to the park!"

this is one of our favorite parks it has really cool toys I usually end up playing there and when Bo comes with us he and I do a really good job at embarrassing Will.

After the park we went grocery shopping when we got in the car Will started complaining about being hungry. I realized I hadn't fed him lunch and it was 3 so I gave him a bag of cereal while we drove to the other stores Will thought it was the best lunch ever! Since it was the first day of school I let Will pick what we had for dinner and he picked pizza which made me feel really guilty since it was pretty much a junk food day, but whatever it was a special day. 

My Mother Cut my Hair.

Recent conversation with Will after Bo took him to get his hair cut.
Will: Look Mom my mother cut my hair and now its Brown.
Me: Thats right your hair is darker because the lady cut off your sun streaks, but she isn't your mother I'm your mother.
Will: (giggles) No Mom my mother cut my hair and it turned brown!
Me: She is not your mother I am your mother.
Will: (giving me attitude) No Mom, Mothers cut hair your not my mother your my Mom.
I'm not gonna lie the conversation made me a little sad and not like a complete Mom since I don't cut his hair. That is until later on that day when he asked to watch Tangled. The lady who cuts Will's hair (a miracle worker who knows how to cut all 4 different cowlicks on his head so his hair lays down) looks a lot like this

If Will's definition of a mother is someone who locks kids in towers for her own selfish reasons I guess I should be glad that I don't fall into the mother category. I'm very happy to be just a Mom. :)

PS The lady who cuts Will's hair is very sweet and ONLY looks like the young version of Mother Gothel she has no other shared characteristics with her.

Blog Update.

I did 11 posts to catch up with all the blogging I didn't do this summer. I really suck at this! Sadly I am better at this than keeping a journal or scrapbooking.......

Silver Falls

We did a day trip to silver falls in the middle of August it was an awesome day. We took our bikes and biked through the bike trails and then hiked around the falls as well. They don't allow bikes near the falls for obvious safety reasons Bo was bummed I was relieved.

Wildlife Safari.

The moment we moved to Salem Bo's Grandma Nyleen was insistent we go to the Wildlife Safari. Since we were planning a trip to the zoo this summer anyways we decided to do the Safari instead and we are so glad that we did. These animals are actually happy! I don't know if I will ever be able to go to another zoo and enjoy it. We decided to pay a little extra and get some tickets to feed the giraffes because I have always wanted to do it. Once Bo read the brochure he wanted to do everything so I allowed him to pick one thing and Will got to pick something. Bo picked camel rides and I think the only reason he picked that was because he wanted to see his Grandma on a camel and Will of course picked the train ride around the park. It was funny because the train was full of little boys all about the same age.....gotta love the train stage. 

 Bo really wanted to do this but I said no.

 Will wanted the lama to lick his hand it was kind of gross

 I find it odd that Will has ridden a camel before a horse...

 "This is like riding a board over the ocean" -Hazel Nyleen

Thanks for being a good sport even though your grand son is evil!

 Hazel feeding the giraffe she did not want to have any of these interactions, but Bo guilted her into it

 Will was in love

Favorite picture because it looks like they are having an intense conversation.

Kaaen Family Reunion

We really enjoyed being with my family again. The reunion consisted of eating, talking, running, hiking, biking, feeding wildlife, swimming, fishing, huckleberry picking, and we road the tram which Will thinks is an airplane. The only regret is I wish more of my family could of came maybe next year.

 We stopped about an hour before we got there and went grass hopper hunting

 "I got Gramma flowers and Grandpa a rock because he loves black"-real quote

 Bo being a good sport.

 Feeding Bambi

 Wallowa lakes in the background

 Puppet show before bed.

 Hiking to a waterfall

 At the waterfall

 Picking Huckleberries

Will was a trooper with all the Hikes and did really good

 Breakfast

 Feeding the chipmunks

 Snowball fight in August

 I love how these kids had no fear of the tram.

 Riding up the tram

Will didn't trust us that the tram was going to be fun so he went to Grandma for comfort. Once he was on the tram he thought it was so cool. He just didn't like the noises it was making while we were waiting in line.

Independence day.

We had a wonderful Independence Day. I found this book at the library that was awesome at explaining to Will why we celebrate the 4th which made it it so I didn't feel guilty about not explaining things right (I feel guilty about that a lot) Anyways we went to our Ward's breakfast which was a lot of fun and decorated so cute (Good job Deckers!). I wish I had the talent to do what they did (sigh). Anyways after breakfast we loaded up and went up to Portland. We went to Bo's home stake celebration which was awesome as well (Good job Zellers!) and afterwards we went to the Happy Valley fireworks with the Zellers it was fun poor Will looked like the walking dead he was so tired and actually slept through most of the fireworks which I find impressive. I am proud to be an American and I'm very grateful for the men and women and their families who sacrifice for our country!

What we did this summer....

 We went to the dentist

We went to the park

 We looked at the waterfalls in downtown Salem every Wednesday

(we went to the park a lot)

 We made tie died butterflies or if your will pterodactyls 

 We painted and made glitter pictures

 made ice cube paintings 

 Somehow climbed into Jake's cage

 We all got new bikes and did tons of bike rides

 We camped out in Will's bedroom

 We did homework

 Played with trains and legos

 Went to the spray park

 Will found a new spot to nap

 We ate ice cream while spying on neighbors

 Watched movies in our underwear.

And we went on hikes. I feel like we actually did a lot this summer, but not as much as we wanted to. Like we haven't been to the coast for a year and we only live an hour away I think that is a crime! Anyways we had a fun summer and we hope you did too. :)