August

Benton County Fair!  It.Was.Hot.

Jaxon loved the rides.  He wanted to go on every single one.

Sierra went down the slide and carousel and that was pretty much it.

 

These kids love the garden!

It's full this year!  But our well is low because of lack of rain, so I really haven't been able to water it enough.

Sierra lost her first tooth just a few weeks after she turned 6....

And lost her second one at the end of the month

It's been a hot one!  And I've loved it.  We did miss out on some fair time this year because of the heat.  I usually take the kids almost every day but this year it was just too hot so we only went only went twice.  Jaxon loved the rides and we bought wrist bands on one day for both of the kids.  Jaxon got his money's worth.  He went on the roller coaster with his hands thrown up in the air and a giddy smile on his face, and went on as many rides as fast as he could after that.  Sierra went on one ride with him that went up and down and she ended up in tears after she got off.  After that she refused to try anything else besides the slide and carousel.  Jesse always works a lot during fair week, which is why we get in for free, but it's always a very long week.

Sierra continues to struggle with separation.  I signed her up for a 3 day dance class put on by the high school dance team that she was very excited about.  But when we got there she froze and started to cry when they tried to get her involved in a game she came in late on.  It's like she's a totally different child from last year.  It breaks my heart.  She ended up really enjoying the class but I had to sit there the whole 3 days and watch her for 2 hours, so she had enough confidence to stay.  I'm starting to worry more and more about school starting.  But I was worried last year, and she went to Kindergarten without any problems, so hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.  She's supposed to do a dance that she learned for the first home football game during halftime.  She seems excited about that.  So despite her need for me to be close, she is still not paralyzed by fear the way I was/am about being in front of people.

She did discover about a week into this month that 1st grade will not be half day, and she freaked out.  She apparently thought I was always going to come pick her up at lunch, and when she realized that wasn't the case we had some very rough and emotional days.  Finally Jesse was able to get her to calm down by explaining that it's not much longer than Kindergarten (to me 3 hours seems like a long time).  But she's started waking up at night with bad dreams as school is nearing.  Poor kiddo.  It's so rough growing up.

Jaxon and Sierra play so much together I wonder what his reaction will be to having her gone all day.  He's more independent than she is, so it might not be an issue, but a big change in schedule always takes some time to get used to.  I'm hoping once we get settled in to the fall schedule that him and I can do some fun things like swimming lessons or tumbling, especially once the rains start in.  We spend so much time outside it's always really rough when it starts raining and we are stuck indoors all day.  

Right now Jaxon loves playing with cars and monster trucks, riding his tricycle which he still wants to push with his feet instead of pedal because he can go faster, play with Sugar the dog, and swing and slide.  He eats almost all fruits and veggies (except tomatoes and broccoli) loves yogurt, lentil soup, bacon, and pancakes.  He doesn't eat much meat so I make a lot of meals that involve bacon.  He still will not touch noodles.  We worked hard and he got over his aversion to berries and now he eats blackberries and raspberries like nobodies business.  But he never got past his aversion to pasta.  I still work hard to try to get him to eat more things and he is finally starting to try things but still won't each much of anything new.  I'm hoping he'll be like Sierra someday and try anything he sees.

Well, school is here, ready or not.  Wish us luck!