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. 

Elise Speaks

Elise is behind a bit on speaking...  Which is fine, she still communicates in her own way.  She does say "da" and "ma" (more like "muh") and today she said "bear" (more like "buh").  She is parroting and yesterday she was parroting "bear", but today she actually picked up her bear and said it on her own!  She is parroting other words: hello, shoe, etc.  Her most used word is "muh", she uses it for Mom, Milk, and More.  So when she says "muh, muh, muh" she is saying "More Milk Mom!"

Peter Pan

Aidan was asking why I was up so early and I explained what I do early in the morning.  His reply: "I'd much rather be a kid than a parent."

Door stops

For years we have had a few doors that slowly swing closed, or just won't stay open.  So we have been creative keeping them open.  I had a old rice baby that we used for one door, a footstool for the other and the last door, we used our "Tickle Me Elmo"...  Finally we broke down and bought a magnetic door stop--it is great!  What a wonderful invention!

July

Because summer is short, we really try to cram things in! For the Fourth of July weekend we decided to enjoy the sun in the mountains and went hiking to Lake Mary with Scott's parents and brother-in-law. Then we had a wonderful BBQ with Matt and Barbara Brown family--with Adam and Janet, too. I am so glad we have family nearby to do things with!

I tried to get in lots of crafts, and one that I thought would be fun this year is fingerpainting with pudding.  There is a new pink strawberry pudding, so we used that and a chocolate (and they taste good together...) and invited a friend over and they had fun (and got full)!  The boys have endlessly played with stuff from the recycling bin, and we have a nice drawer in the pantry with lots of craft supplies (thanks Ali for organizing it for me!).  I have realized that I really need to just let the boys do what they want when they "craft" rather than trying to get them to do things "my way".  Then they get so creative!  They are also really into paper airplanes and we have thousands of them littering the house.

Something else we did but didn't get photos of is a neighborhood "Backyard Battle".  We invited over all the neighbor kids with any "battle" toys--Beyblades, Kung Zhu, Pokemon, etc, and everybody battled!  It was great til it started raining...  I would have made them just tough it out... but it was a downpour.  So instead I had 21 kids run through my house and down to the basement!  We didn't fit well, so it didn't last long, but fortunately, neither did the storm and they quickly went back out.  But it was fun!

Elise is so fun to dress in the summer with cute flowery and bright clothes.  I got some fun photos of her with some daisies--she is so happy.  She is so much fun.  She loves her brothers and especially looks to Weston for love and comfort.  He is very caring of her. 

We had the "Summer of Sisters" this month--Ali and Heidi came to visit.  Heidi and I took some of the kids to a swim park and it was a blast.  Then we did some shopping at one point (too much).  We went to the aquarium and a splash park and did some crafts (fun hats!).  Another day we picked up Hilary (we all got to meet her cute cats), but unfortunately life got crazy with the kids and we didn't get to do much, but we still had a good time talking.  Then, all my kids got sick with the flu and life REALLY got crazy...  So we stayed at home for awhile.... and threw up.  :(  It was still nice to be together, and I apologize to all you girls for the sick house.  I am sure the sisters will do a much better job telling the details of it all.

Weston went to cub scout camp for the first time--so much fun!  He went swimming and fishing and made some fun things.  I was a scout leader for awhile, and although it was hard, I wish I could do it now with my boy! 
He just couldn't get enough of the outdoors, so we went camping!  Our annual trip to Wasatch Mountain State Park over the 24th weekend.  We went hiking, roasted marshmallows, rode bikes, fished (Weston caught two!) and got reallly dirty!  It is a lot of work to prepare to go camping, but it is so much fun!  We get so many scrapes and cuts, but we have such great family time.  Elise loved it--she felt so free and loved getting dirty.  Brennan loved the treats and bugs.  Aidan practiced riding his bike over and over and loved the marshmallows.  And Weston was so big and responsible and raced around on his bike!  Plus it was so fun for him to catch fish! 

We ended July with Scott doing a triathlon--what an amazing althete!  He has just been training for a few months, but he is a natural.  He got 15th in his age group (out of 60+) and blew past everyone we knew that raced, too.  Way to go honey!

I have just been keeping the kids busy with activities:  lemonade stands, walks, crafts (wait til I post photos next month of our current project!), library trips (Weston just finished the 2nd Harry Potter!!!! He is an amazing reader!), riding bikes, playing at parks, making banana bread, swimming with friends...  it goes on and on.  We only have 2 weeks left so I am going to do as much as I can to get more in there before they are back to school!