Kelepouris Family: August 2019

We joined Grammie and Papa in Palm Desert for 4 days (Daddy for 2 of those), and had a great time swimming (especially Brooklyn - she improved so much and may or may not be faster than her big brother!) & trying to learn to dive, playing Old Maid (especially when Papa was the Old Maid)/UNO/Go Fish/Crazy 8s/War/puzzles/games, watching movies (especially "Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse), (adults enojyed reflexology massages!) and eating (especially our annual boat ride to Mikado teppan grill and snacks by the pool)! Just before leaving the hotel we discovered ping pong and an arcade, followed by aazing ice cream at Holy Scoops on the way out of town.

Daniel spent 9 days in Minneapolis for another work trip, refining his presentation skills and team-building. (Which means I became overly productive and got little sleep, as with anytime he is away. As I was "spring cleaning" the upstairs, Landon said, "Mommy, I can see you're working very hard. I think it would be nice for you to take a break and have a dance party with us. Maybe just one song?" Clearly I had been putting off the requests to play one too many times that day...and also, I'm not sure whether melting my heart was super sweet or quite manipulative, but it worked, either way...and the dance party was awesome!)

Meanwhile, Landon had an allergist appointment (where he got tiger scratches, yikes!). Unfortunately, the results of the tiger scratches showed that it's unlikely he'll grow out of his nut allergy.

After that appointment, we headed to the beach and had some fun playing in the sand.

The kids had a sleepover. They started in Brooklyn's bed, then moved to Landon's bed, then to the chaise lounge in our room, then to their own beds but asked me to move them both into my bed when I went to sleep, so that's where they ended.

Note the chair that they moved from Brooklyn's room with all of the "babies" and their "babysitters" keeping an eye on them.

"Mommy, I don't think it's fair that you always get breakfast in bed and we don't." For the record I've had breakfast in bed about 2 times since having kids, BUT that guilted me enough to comply.

Erin, Sydney and Mackenzie came for a pool party. The kids had a great time playing together and swimming!

We had Maris, Melis, Meg and Amber over with all of the kids for another pool party the next day. Landon and Smith had an awesome time together, and Brooklyn played with Haven a bunch.

All of the 4th of July boys wore red/white/blue swimsuits (uncoordinated)

After swimming, they loved dressing up.

We also had a pool (and Lego builing with the Legos the kids pooled their allowance to buy earlier that day) party with Jackson, Addy, Emma (and Shelby) and the (Murrieta Ranch Preschool class) moms. And one more pool party with Jack & Nate and their family. Landon could hardly contain himself by the time they arrived, and Brooklyn was close behind. We all had an awesome time, and by the time they left I don't know whether Jack & Nate or Haylee & Ashlee were the favorites.

Brooklyn wanted to wear her Polish soccer(?) jersey to Kids' Club one day, then the 3 of us painted the side gate and built a fort to put puzzles together in.

We attended Landon's Back to School Bash at Rancho, where we found out he would be in Ms. Rentner's class with several of his buddies!

The next day was both kids' first day of school. They started out the morning with good luck notes from Daddy (still in Minnesota) and a breakfast that would have frightened him (the kids still think it's hilarious when Daniel pretends to be aftraid of owls).

Starting first grade, Landon wants to be a Secret Agent when he grows up!

Brooklyn, beginning her second year of preschool, wants to be a Trash Collector AND Veterinarian when she grows up!

Brooklyn was so excited about an outfit that she picked out for the first day of school 5 days before, but when she tried it on that morning and looked in the mirror she was very upset "because it looks ugly with my short hair!" Luckily, she was happy with the combination of her second choice and short hair.

Landon came home from school loving first grade (particularly recess, lunch math and when Ms. Rentner reads, in that order) and his teacher, although he noted the days were SO LONG! Brooklyn started out with tears because she didn't have any good friends in her class (Zoe and Charlotte both started kinder this year), but she enjoyed the rest of the day once she befriended Indie. She made "Forky" (like in "Toy Story 4") and came home and played with him. And we had yummy cupcakes to celebrate the first day! Brooklyn also got to join Luke at the park (since now he doesn't have Zoe to play with during the mornings).

Auntie Gail, Uncle Fred and Katherine came for a visit. B skipped school, and they all picked Landon up from school, went golfing, got ice cream sundaes, played at Imagine Me Grow, came back to the house to open presents (robes and fun toys) and read stories, then met Daniel and me at BJ's for dinner & a pizzookie. What a day!

When Daniel greeted everyone at the restaurant, Spiderman attacked him with his "real web shooters" (just like he's been asking for and we didn't know whether or not they existed - thanks Katherine!)

They got cozy in their robes right away, and Landon, especially, has made good use of his already (sleeping in and with it several nights, putting it on first thing in the morning just to brush his teeth, playing his video game with it, etc.)!

Mikaela watched the kids and cousins during Back to School Night, and they set up an America Ninja Warrior course in the family room!

Brooklyn LOVES playing "babies!" Every night she wants to set them up in her "car" on her bed, put them down for their naps and have the bigger ones babysit the smaller ones. She wakes up wanting to play babies and does throughout most days as well. She carries them around in the front pack and recently found a fanny pack (mine from 30 years ago!) that fits the little ones below the front pack.

She learned to skip this month! She tried for about 72 hours straight and conquered the challenge!

Landon's new soccer team, the Red Sonics, started practices and their first game. He's really excited that his buddy, Tristan, is on his team! They goofed off the whole first practice, oops!

This is the first age group where they have goalies and aren't coed. He played goalie the second half of the first game. He is a natural defender and LOVED it! He did so well and was so proud of all of the goals he saved! When we got home he decided he wanted to get better at goalie so he would practice twice a week. He started diving on top of the ball and got more confident with it.

Landon started playing the Wii and recently stumbled upon Super Mario Bros. He is OBSESSED and wants to play it constantly, talks about it incessantly and even dreams about it. So we finally broke down and instituted a screen time rule. In order to get their screen time on the weekend they have to have finished all of their weekly chores. The first weekend Landon was disappointed to not be able to play as soon as he woke up Saturday morning because half of his chores were left...

...so he scheduled out his chores, goalie practice and screen time so it wouldn't be an issue the next week. (By the way, it's Saturday and he still has a couple of chores to do, but the planning was a good idea nonetheless.)

While we were at soccer practice, Daniel pulled out Brooklyn's trundle bed to surprise them with another sleepover. They were upstairs "getting ready for bed" for at least 5 minutes and didn't say a word, so Daniel and I were disappointed that they weren't all that excited about the sleepover. Then, all of a sudden, there was screaming and giggling and planning. :)

While Grammie and Papa were in town for Landon's first game, they got the Abbott tour that Grammie's been requesting. She loved it!

If Brooklyn's not playing babies, she is definitely drawing or coloring. She LOVES it just as much!

Brooklyn's drawing of herself and me going into surgery (with our hair nets on):

We spent an evening at Tristan's house with Christian's family as well. The kids played on the trampoline, dressed in costumes, played in Tristan's room and watched a movie while the moms chatted and dads played pool and darts. We all had a great time! (So much fun, in fact, that when "movie time" was announced, LANDON shoted, "nooooooo, can we play just a little bit more instead?" I'm 99.999992% certain that this wasfirst time he had ever prioritized anything over any sort of screen time.)