Kauai Academy of Creative Arts

Kyleigh spent four weeks this summer at the Kauai Academy of Creative Arts. It is a summer program that has various types of creative classes to choose from. You can go in the morning, afternoon or all day. Kyleigh went for four hours every morning from 8-12. Her schedule included three classes and a snack break. She had to move from one classroom to another to get to each class. I was really nervous about sending her. She has never been to public school, she was going to be switching classrooms and she was the youngest age you could be to attend. They don't separate age groups so her classes were filled with kids several years older than her. On the first day I went and helped her map out her route and meet her teachers. When we were done we still had some time before classes started. She made her first two friends waiting outside the classroom and politely told me she was just fine and I could go now. I waited anyway. I couldn't make myself leave. She chose beading, airbrushing, and draw and paint for her three classes. Her favorite was beading, but it didn't beat airbrushing by much. She made lots of earrings and necklaces in beading and she learned how to sew beads onto fabric for larger beaded pieces. She made a heart necklace piece by sewing beads onto fabric. She also made a really cool 3-D beaded gecko. For airbrushing the teacher encouraged them to bring anything they wanted to airbrush. Kyleigh made shirts for herself and Katelyn and Ridge. They were pretty much the cutest, sweetest shirts ever. She also airbrushed some pillowcases and their final project was a lampshade. Draw and Paint was kind of a bust. They didn't really learn anything about drawing and didn't get much time to paint. The picture below was one that they worked on for almost two weeks, but Kyleigh finished hers in the first day so she didn't get a whole lot out of that class. It is a cool picture though. They had an open house at the end of the four weeks where we got to go have dinner and see/get the projects Kyleigh had been working on. The whole thing was a great experience for Kyleigh. They had to fill out a survey at the end of the four weeks and one of the questions was whether or not they would like to go for 5 weeks instead of 4. She has told us about 6 times that she answered with a YES on that question. She made lots of friends and can't wait until next year.

"I love my bruthr and sistr."

"I love you sis."

"I love you kutee"

The draw and paint picture.

Kyleigh's beaded items.

Father's Day 2010

Per Rusty's request our Fathers day dinner this year included steaks, salad, potatoes, jello, homemade rolls, and 2 apple pies (so he could have the leftovers for breakfast). Mike and Holly joined us for dinner. Rusty spent Friday and Saturday of Father's day weekend hiking to Kalalau so I had plenty of time to make pies, rolls,etc. I took some new pictures for Rusty's frame. I thought I was being so organized but I forgot the D-A-D letters for the pictures so they will have to wait until next year. It is fun to have three kids, one for each spot in his frame. I called Rusty's boss and had him bring the frame home from work on Friday so we could take the pictures while he was gone and have them printed and in the frame for Father's day. We had a great Father's day. Fitting, because we have a great Father!

Ridge's first food

Ridge is a solid little guy. We thought he would be so excited to try rice cereal for the first time. Wrong again. The pictures tell the story better than I can.

We waited a week to try again. The second attempt started a little better....

and ended about the same way.

We have continued trying to feed this little guy rice cereal and his reaction is about the same. He does like bananas though. Could it be that we have a picky eater?

Orange Juice Stand

Kyleigh had her first taste of the life of an entrepreneur. We had a big cooperative garage sale a few weeks ago. She sold banana muffins, orange juice and golf balls (fill a bag for a buck). She even used her cash register for the occasion. She made $22.50 and was flying high. She put the money in savings. She gets that from Rusty. I would have been down at the gas station buying $22.50 worth of candy. She and Katelyn have been dying to "sell things."One night they were down at the bottom of the driveway selling rocks and filled water balloons. Katelyn was in her underwear SCREAMING at cars to stop and buy a rock. Katelyn didn't get to help with this sale because of the lack of supervision (Daddy and Mike were hiking to Kalalau and Holly and I were manning the crew), but I'm sure she'll jump in next time. Kyleigh's friend Haley helped her most of the morning and they had so much fun. I think she's ready to start her own business.

The girls got haircuts

The girls got super cute new haircuts. Huge thanks to Heidi. They go to sleep with wet hair, then wake up and look cute with just a little comb. It's fabulous and it's off their necks for the summer.

A day in the life of a red headed 3 year old...

The day starts with a quick potty accident on the bathroom rug. Katelyn knew she had to go, but when she got to the bathroom she felt it was more important to organize the bath toys...atleast that's what she said. Bathroom rug #1-dirty.

Later in the morning Katelyn got a plan. As soon as she had the chance (my attention was diverted) she holed up in the bathroom and concocted "minty soap." Her ingredients included a gatorade bottle, soap, toothpaste, and water. And thus minty soap and a new mess were born. Bathroom rug #2-dirty.

She appropriately used the phrase "in the meantime."

In the afternoon she was playing outside with Kyleigh. When they came in Kyleigh was clean and fresh and Katelyn looked like she had rolled through the mud. Katelyn explained,"well I wanted to be a puppy and puppies roll in the mud." It's not like Kyleigh is all innocent, she made the mud.

It goes on during an impromptu afternoon bath. I leave and the all the toilet water comes out. Literally. Clear out on the carpet and wall in the hallway. Bathroom rug #3-dirty.

When Rusty came home she convinced him that he needed his toenails painted, which she graciously volunteered to do.

On a walk around the block she wore a pink ballet tutu backwards with orange flip flops on her feet and purple crocs on her hands. She kept running ahead of us so she could stick her fingers in her ears and say "nanynanybooboo."

To accessorize her pajamas she put two pairs of socks on her hands and four pairs of socks on her feet. Then played patty cake during the prayer.

These really all happened in one 12 hour period.

P.S. We have 3 bathroom rugs.

Ridge's Blessing

Our little Ridge Michael Cook was blessed on May 23, 2010 in the Kalaheo Ward, Kauai, Hawaii Stake. He was blessed by his Daddy. Others standing in were both Grandpa's, Merrill Cook and Denton Graves, namesake Uncle Mike Cook, Bishop David Herr, Will Summerhays (counselor in the Bishoprick), John Giles, Shawn Keep, and Jeff Peterson. We blessed both of the girls at home, with members of the Bishoprick presiding. We loved blessing the girls at home, it was such a sweet quiet experience both times. We didn't think we would want to do it any other way. The reason we blessed Ridge in church is because of our ward "ohana." A big group of us moved over here for the same reason at the same time and we are all in the same ward. We are so blessed to have Mike and Holly here, but because most of our family isn't here we are lucky to have good friends. My baby shower was stuffed to the brim of all the "Layton friends" and lots of other people from our ward ohana. Also in our ward we have lots of "Aunties" that love Ridge so much. I just didn't feel like we could keep his blessing to ourselves. Rusty gave Ridge a beautiful blessing. Afterwards Shawn told me that Ridge was awake the whole time staring up at Rusty while he was recieving his blessing. My mom bought Ridge an outfit for his blessing. It was a little one-piece white linen short suit and jacket made for a 6 month old. We figured since Ridge wouldn't even be 4 months old yet that a 6 month outfit would be fine. Wrong. You couldn't button the bottom buttons without totally hunching over his shoulders. We ended up having to leave the buttons undone and covering him up with a white blanket. Regardless, he looked fabulous. When the blessing was finished Rusty held him up for everyone to see. He held him up Rusty style by lifting him up over his head. It was so cute. It is always special for a mom to hear her baby blessed and have his name put on the records of the church. Even more special to have family and friends to share it with.