Ode to John and Kaylin

We had Friday all to ourselves and we made the most of it! We decided a couple weeks ago we were going to have a bye-bye party and this was the day. I documented it well. I am not sure why I took so many pictures, maybe because I knew it would be the last ones I would take with them as part of our family. 158 pictures is plenty. I narrowed it down to 42. Here goes.

The start of our day. We headed to Grandma Ribs house to go swimming. I took them myself and was a little nervous because none of them really know how to swim.

I had nothing to fear as John and Kaylin were as scared of drowning themselves as I was. Kaylin was wearing just a life jacket and wanted to jump in. I helped her and she couldn't stay upright (which totally freaked the heck outta her) so we added another life jacket and she added the floaty. Just in case. :)

For the first little bit this was the only way she would move.

John acted like he was so ready to swim. He wanted to attempt the slide. He totally chickened out and this is what happened.

As you can tell Dane is a little dare devil.

He did finally get in after about an hour but not without a floaty. And he did end up enjoying himself.

Jase is not scared of the water because she has had swimming lessons but they however haven't really helped her learn how to swim. She is not opposed to wearing a life jacket thankfully. Look at this hang time. Makes me proud!

Jayda is also sooo not scared of the water. She freaks me out. Totally wants to do anything and everything and without ANY help!

Swimmin with my girls!

I finally put on a life jacket to because I got so tired of catching everybody and swimming them to the edge for hours.
John finally did go down the slide. We told them it was time to get out and I guess he figured it was now or never.

After we took warm showers and dried off we had pizza. John and Kaylin looooove pizza so pizza was meal of the night. They can sure chow it down.

After pizza was cupcake making and decorating. Complete with candles and singing Happy Bye-Bye party to you.

Then it was on to present time. We got them a couple little things and then let them open the big ones.

I love this one you can see him saying "Ohh, yaaa!"

They loved them!!!! I had been looking for scooters at garage sales this summer but hadn't found any in good shape. We finally broke down and just went and bought them. $70. Ouch!

We got home and talked about their life with us and their life to come, shared memories, read some special books and didn't get in bed until 11. We had a very fun, very exhausting, well worth it day! Saturday, moving day, was the 4th. We moved all their stuff outside. Man it took me longer to pack their stuff than I thought it would! Now you can see why. And that's not all of it. Can't say they weren't spoiled.

After moving stuff was done we lit off some fireworks which I forgot to take pictures of.Then we ate popsicles. By far one of the kids' favorite things to do!

A 4th of July picture. You can tell John wasn't enthused with what was coming but he did pretty good considering.

Our last family picture with John and Kaylin. It was a sad day but we really tried to make it exciting and something to look forward to not something to dread.

John and Kaylin were a prominant part of our family and we will miss their fun, their attention, their passion for cleaning up and them as our children. We love you kids.