Elise and Brennan

These two are such joys to me!  Now that we are together all day with the big boys gone we get to spend lots of playing time together.  Brennan always wants to put together puzzles and play games.  He is getting to know the computer a little better and enjoys pbskids.org.  He starts pre-school in a few weeks and we bought him new school shoes which look adorable on him!  He has a backpack with supplies and his "book Max gave" him (his friend who he is doing preschool with--Just three of us ladies switching around our three kids; a little home preschool thing).  He is very good about playing with Elise, even when she gets crazy and bites (poor boy--he has some nasty bruises).  He is a good brother all together because he always makes treats for the brothers for when they come home from school.

Elise is silly.  She is starting to become wary of strangers, so is rather clingy lately.  Plus she has moved from two naps a day to one.  She is much more interactive though and loves to sing and dance and point to various things (nose, toes, eyes, hair, and "bee-bo" --bellybutton).  She loves putting on my shoes, but her favorite is to try and put them on me!  She likes to put one on me and one on her and then she grabs my hand and we go for a walk.  It is a great mother-daughter moment.  We've been trying new and various things to improve her hair style... poor girl.  (We did cut some bangs) But she is darling anyway!

School begins 2011

I was so excited for school to begin because I thought I'd have more time... I was mistaken. Just because two kids go to school all day, does not mean I have less to do! From after school til I go to bed there is NO resting--we are doing homework, music, soccer, scouts, dinner, reading, and chores! And while they are at school I am doing laundry, cleaning, playing with E and B, puzzles, games, we run errands, shopping, and so much more!

Weston is now in third grade! He has a male teacher --I am happy about that. I had Mr. Bowen and he was so much fun, I really hope Weston enjoys his teacher just as much as I did. I have just voluteered to be the room parent for the class and I am glad I'll be in there seeing what is happening. Weston doesn't share lots of info of what goes on at school, and this teacher (so far) does not have homework! But I know they are doing a lot--he is learning how to use Excel! By the end of the year he will be doing Power Point. I can't believe what they learn at such a young age. He is also doing multiplication and lots of reading and writing.

Aidan is in school all day for first grade and so far it isn't too hard for him. At first he was too scared to use the bathroom and he would come home in dire need... But, he is feeling more confident about things. He has made a lot of new friends, but feels discouraged that he can't play more--he is really busy with homework! He has spelling words, math activity and a page of homework each day, plus 20 minutes of reading. It is so much work for him--and ME!

Aidan has also started his music class back up--Green Turtle Shells is the name of this semester. He is learning about intervals, notes, and they start playing on the keyboard this year. He goes to class weekly and practices daily. I go with him to class monthly, so it keeps us busy, but I really love this program. During the summer Aidan would just sit at the piano playing for an hour a day. He has music bursting out of him!

Both boys have started soccer. They have practice once a week (at the same time which is really helpful to me!) and games once a week on the weekend. Weston is really talented. He is getting better and better. At the last game he played the goalie and did a marvelous job (and they were playing a really good team!). Aidan is loving it this year as well. He has a new team and coach, but he has jumped right in.

Weston earned his Bobcat and received it at the last pack meeting. We are proud of all the work he is doing. He is very responsible. He has been reading his scriptures nightly--working on the Doctrine and Covenants. Aidan is also VERY good at wanting to read scriptures. He got a little calendar thing to mark off every day he has read the scriptures and he has done almost every day! He is now marking off a Book of Mormon booklet trying to read the entire book.

Other summer things

I don't know why, but I hardly took any photos of the millions of things we did this summer.

In the month of August, Thanksgiving Point has two dollar Tuesdays, so we take a yearly visit to the gardens.  I love it.  It is beautiful, easy, not crowded, and the kids enjoy it.  We went with a few friends and walked for a few hours.  There are other things to do  as well (Dinosaur Museum, Farm Country, etc), but those usually are a lot more crowded.  The last week of August, tradition school had begun, so I took the kids to the Dino Museum, hoping it wouldn't be as crowded.  It wasn't, but it was still more crowded than I like.  At least it was only two dollars!  I only took Brennan and Elise (since W and A are already in shool) and we went with some friends and then after got some ice cream, too. 

We decided to take a trip up to Idaho to visit the Barkers during the International Dance Festival.  I have such fun memories of that as a child, and I wanted my kids to know what it was like for me.  They had some fun little classes for the kids--learning about different countries and learning some of the dances as well.  Then there was a performance and the kids got to be a part of it!  We got to meet Heidi's dancers from Belgium--they were so nice!  I wish we could do something like that here!  What a great experience to have people from another country stay in your home!  Then we went to Rexburg Rapids and floated around the lazy river 300 times...  Although it was short, it was fun!

We have a little resevoir here that wasn't open at the beginning of the summer, so didn't get a lot of visits, but we did go once and play in the sand and water for a few hours.  It is fun, but a lot of work to get stuff put together.  The kids did take private swim lessons and that was a huge success.  Weston is now knee diving off the side and Aidan (with little arm floaters) is all over the pool!  We'll do it again next year for sure!

I think we did more lemonade stands than ever before.  Once they even made cookies and sold them.  We live on a great street with lots of fun friends--in fact, in Weston class at school there are three friends from up the street!  The kids play almost daily on their bikes, playing soccer, or pokemon, etc. 

During the summer the kids get to bowl free at the local bowling places, so we took an afternoon to throw down the ball.  We also took part in the summer reading program at our local library.  Weston finished the first Harry Potter books!   Now he has started the 39 Clues series.  We love visiting the library (especially because once we get home the kids sit and read for well over an hour!). 

At the Cabin!

Some friends of ours have a family cabin up in the mountains (on 1,600 acres of land!) and they invited us up for a weekend.  Our dream is to have our own cabin, so it was very fun, but also very tempting!  The cabin was huge with lots of rooms--it could easily fit 50 people (mostly kids...).  They had a big shed with several four wheelers which we rode for HOURS.  Literally.  Elaine took us out to see the mountainside--we had views of several different little valleys and tons of just green.  Amazing how much land there is in the world.  And how beautiful it all is.  The boys were a little hesitant at first, but quickly realized how much fun it could be.  Brennan and Aidan especially loved it.  They wanted to go faster and faster.  While Weston liked it, but he wanted to drive himself! 

Elaine (above) is special friends with Elise.  She is the nursery "singing lady" and is the only reason Elise will go to nursery.  This is Norma (below).  We love these ladies.  They are wonderful!  They sit near us at church and are always willing to help out, plus they give the kids treats and toys! 

Here we are near Heber.

Elise took a few trips around the house with daddy.

This just made us more excited for the time we have a cabin, but we also had a great time (and very relaxing).  The kids played in the dirt and rocks for hours--we found lots of different types of rocks and made huge piles of "junk".  There was a big hole from where they are digging up some stuff and they thought it was heaven--getting dirty and not caring.  We played card games and ate good, good food. 

Not at the cabin, but still on summer fun:  We have tried to have a fun filled summer and I think we did a good job!  We took an afternoon to make our own ice cream in zip lock bags.  If you haven't done this before, you really should.  It is easy and fun to do for kids.