Kindergarten Round 2

After a very long week of waiting, Ryan has entered the school system. After the open house I think things got more real to him and he was a little nervous. The morning of I found him and Nathan playing downstairs and asked Ry if he was excited. He said, "yeah" but quickly Nathan informed me that he had told him that he wasn't very excited. How sweet, that he can talk to his brother. I assured him that it was okay to be a little nervous, since it was such a BIG change.
Luckily he had big brother to walk with him into the school. I barely got a hug before they raced in together.

Here are some of his thoughts after school:
"Play-doh! We got to play with Play-doh!...I made a meatball"
"I liked singing songs...I love that song (On top of Spaghetti)"
"We only had a short recess because 1 kid was SO bad at school-he stayed on yellow. I stayed on green ALL day!"
He was all smiles and was anxious to go again today. I love that my boys enjoy school. Go Mustangs!!

My Snow Loving, Pickle Eating, Ballerina

Sometimes I wonder where Annabelle came from. She is so girly, but so feisty with her brothers. She had her first ballet class this week and has been looking forward to it for weeks. She was a bit shy before the class started, but as soon as Miss Rachel called her to come dance, she was ready. I watched for the first 15 minutes and it was so cute. I was impressed that Annabelle didn't look towards me once, although her friend, Hattie, had to say her name louder for the teacher to hear. When I picked her up she told me she wanted to "dance all day long."

I should have token a picture but the other day Annie got down all of her winter clothes and tried things on. She would proudly show me sweaters and pants that she, now, can't wait to wear. She told me "I can't wait until it snows!" That is definitely not something you will EVER hear coming from my mouth.
Now for pickles. I have never been a huge fan of the things. I definitely like our homemade ones better than store bought (we made bread and butter ones and I can't wait to try them), but regularly I don't eat them. The other day I offered Annie a sip from my Smoothie King smoothie which she turned down and asked for a pickle. Where does she come from??
Despite her craziness, I love her to pieces and can't believe how grown up she is.

Bragging Rights

I don't know where he gets it, but Ryan is one awesome soccer player. In his first game he scored 2 goals. In his second game, three. Tonight he scored 5 goals!!! He is quite aggressive and although tonight he did steal the ball from a teammate once to score, he loves it. Plus, it is really fun to watch. Go Ryan go!!

Preschool Field Trip #1

We did a little kick off to preschool today with a field trip to Macey's. Annabelle was REALLY looking forward to it. When we first arrived she saw her friends and got a little nervous, but luckily she warmed up and had a blast. They got free ice cream cones, cookies, and a goody bag. They got to go back in the restricted areas because they had their "special" stickers on. It was cute to watch all the kids interact.

We were going to go to the splash park after the tour, but due to weather we just ended up going to another park. However, after we played for an hour with everyone and were heading home my kids asked about the splash park. Reluctantly I headed up there and to my joyous surprise it was empty (2 other kids). It had warmed up so we had a blast for awhile before heading home. Annabelle is definitely the youngest in preschool, but I think she will have a blast.

Bowling '09

I think it has been at least a year since we last went bowling, but thanks to some free game coupons from our cardboard frozen pizza (they may taste icky, but they fill the stomach some nights), we were able to play without it costing too much.
Everyone had a lot of fun. And we all scored really close. Greg of course took home first though. The kids still agree that Wii bowling is much easier, but it was Saturday afternoon with not much else to do and we all wanted to get out of the house. Plus we hit Rib City for dinner before heading home-YUM!

2nd Grade

I think we survived our first day of school, at least he wants to go back tomorrow. Both Nathan and Ryan skipped up to the front door of the school, happy to be there. After dropping him off with his cute new teacher we had a much quieter day (next week will be even more so). Here are some of his thoughts after day 1:

"The red building we go in is really a trailer with wheels, but they are glued to the ground."
"We didn't do much."
"I wrote 1st day of school poems...we didn't really write them, they were already written."
"I didn't get to play on the big kid playground." (Apparently this was devastating.)
"I climbed the spider toy...went to the top of the ladder and slid down."
"Our teacher showed us a special/important chart with green, yellow, orange and red on it. Red means she sends a letter home. You want to stay in green everyday."
"Today we did independent reading and I read a whole Magic Tree House book, Dinosaurs in the Dark!"

I tried really hard to get something out of him. Basically he had a good day. Hooray for school!

Birthday Girl!

On the 14th my baby turned 3! Hard to believe, but we are all getting old over here. She has been waiting for this day ever since her brothers had their birthday. I tried to make the day as special as I could. Greg and I decorated the house with streamers, balloons and butterflies for her the night before. After the gym I picked up donuts and she got to lick all the frosting off all by herself. She got to open a few presents in the morning before Greg headed off to work. She made the beautiful necklace above and got to pick what we did all day (sort of). We went to Jump on It in the evening since after the one time going there months ago, she can't stop talking about it. We all had fun and were exhausted by the time we got home.


On Saturday the 15th we had a birthday party. I originally wasn't going to do a party, she IS only 3, but she has been wanting a party ever since February and I didn't want to let her down (now I wish I had somehow skipped it). We had 8 little friends or cousins over for games, crafts and yummy cupcakes. Annabelle had a little melt down when it was time to pin the heart on the butterfly, but other than that she did great. 9 little girls is a little much for an hour and a half, but we did it, it is over, and we survived.

Lemonade and Swimming

This last week we have had some crazy weather, but some fun times! The boys set up a lemonade stand and were happy with the $1.65 they each got (though teaching them about tithing was a little tricky for Ryan). We also have had swim lessons this week. Being a swimmer I tried to teach my boys how to swim but realized that it just wouldn't happen. I wasn't too impressed with their lessons (more games than swimming) but at least they have learned the basics. Plus, they had a LOT of fun.

Splash Park #2

We just can't get enough. This time we took some friends and cousins with us. The kids get a long so well here. Ryan and Annie were being dinosaurs in one picture, and all of the kids loved getting wet and soaking up the sun!

I know some of you asked for directions, but I would rather not put it on my blog. So, please call if you still need them.

First Game, Two Goals

Ryan has now entered into the realm of competitive sports. Greg agreed to coach his team the year (like he did for Nate when he was in Kindergarten). Tuesday was our first game and it was so fun to watch the difference Ryan is out on the field. He is so aggressive! He is always running, trying to stay with the ball. He scored our teams 2 goals and even though I missed both(keeping track of 12 kids and how long they have been out on the field is tricky), Greg was right there on the field to give him a twirl or high fives. I think this season will be a lot of fun.

One Amazing FHE

On Sunday Nathan cut out a bunch of hearts. I didn't really want a mess so I asked him to stop, to which he told me that the hearts were for Family Home Evening the next day. How could I say no? I didn't really see him work on anything all Monday, so about 2 hours before FHE I asked if he was ready. He said he was. I was AMAZED with what he did. (This is for memory sake, it may be long and detailed).
For preparation he put four hearts each on 5 different books, with a pencil next to each one, and he got out the Book Of Mormon Reader. When it was his turn he passed out the books to each of us and said, "Now on your first heart I want each of you to write a nice note to someone." Everyone secretly wrote notes or drew pictures. We had one to Nate, two to me, one to Nana and one to Hattie (Annie's friend). Then Nathan had us read them out loud.
Next he pulled out the scriptures and turned to the part after Jesus was in America and there was peace and happiness in all the land. He read that to us and then said, "Now on your second heart I want you to each write down something that you remember from the story." This time the responses were about peace, happiness, no poor. Ry drew a picture of Jesus and Annie a happy face.
Then Nathan instructed us that on our third heart we were to write down what we would do if Jesus came to see us. Here are the responses:
Dad: Ask Him everything. Kiss and hug Him.
Mom: If Jesus came to talk to me I would give him a hug.
Nathan: I wold say I love you and plis fogive mie!
Ryan: Drew a picture of Jesus and him holding hands.
Annie: Scribbles of Jesus
Finally Nathan asked us to write a letter to someone in our family on the last heart. This time Ryan got 2, Nathan got one, Daddy got one and Annabelle got one. Each note was so sweet and heartfelt. I was so impressed with my Nathan and his ability to create such a wonderful and spiritual lesson. I don't know what to do with the hearts, but I just can't throw them away. Not only was it such a good lesson, but it was so on topic for our family. Peace?! If only we could all have more peace like the Nephites after Jesus came. I think Nathan will be taking over for Greg and I more often.

Mr. Fix-It

I love my Gregory. He really is amazing.

This year we wanted to try pickles in our garden and have had lots of success. However, we were unsure how to take the cucumbers and turn them into pickles. We tried the easy way using a package of yellow powder from Wal-Mart. While they weren't terrible, the pickles just didn't feel fresh. I got a recipe from a lady down the street and we tried it last Sunday. She recommended leaving them for a week before opening. It has been a long week with those pickles on our counter. But they were worth the wait. As soon as we walked in from church today, Greg had the jar open and was handing them around. YUM!! The fresh ingredients made all the difference!

I have mentioned before how things seem to be breaking around my house. I had told Greg that my blow dryer was on its last leg but until the morning he wasn't sure what I meant. As I was drying my hair before church the dryer kept going on and off. Being the fix-it man that he is, Greg immediately wanted to solve the problem. The dryer was taken apart before church and before we left he assured me that he could fix it. Sure enough, after lunch he set about with welder in one hand and solder in the other, fixing my old blow dryer. I appreciate the $30+ I don't have to spend right now on a new dryer, and I appreciate Greg who is willing to try to make things better for our family in so many ways.

Sunflowers and The Clean-Up Crew

For any of you who saw my boys running around the neighborhood during the crazy storm yesterday and thought, "Emily must have lost her marbles, those boys could get hurt!", here is my reasoning:

As soon as the storm began they started to make each other, and Annabelle, scared. They ran around the house closing the blinds and huddling together. Since I like watching the storms and I don't want them to be scared of a little one, I had them open the windows and watch. That was when they noticed all the garbage being thrown all over the streets. Nathan got it in his head that he should go out and help. He started to get his coat with Ryan right behind them. They promised to stay close and Nate held up his bag and yelled, "We are the Clean-Up Crew!"

How could I say no? They were gone a little longer than I thought was necessary. Annabelle and I were starting to get our own coats on when I heard them yelling (we are still working on teaching them they don't have to yell to be heard) outside. I was relieved they hadn't been blown away, but I had to drag them in the house. They reported that they had fixed a lot of garbage cans and picked up a bunch of trash, but that there was a lot more. Somehow I convinced them to come in and be done. I am definitely proud of my 2 helpers.

And now my sunflower, well, Greg's sunflower. Of course it decided to bloom the day before the storm. Tuesday was a pretty crazy day for me and so I just didn't get around to taking a picture. This was taken Thursday and while it is blowing like crazy, it still brings a smile to my face. We have one more to bloom and I can't wait! Next year we will hopefully have a nice big row of them.

Surviving the Heat While Keeping it Cheap

Between our big trip and getting the basement finished funds are a little low this summer. Not to mention all the things that keep breaking (vacuum, blow dryer, kitchen aid...). We have been trying to have fun without spending much money.

On Saturday we were outside playing when Daddy decided to make a little spider on our BBQ our family pet. They searched and found a couple bugs to put on its web and then watching patiently as the spider emerged from its cocoon and wrapped the bug. I am not entirely sure how I feel about the whole thing, I went inside while the watched with awestruck looks on their faces.

On Monday we went to the library's end of summer bash. There was a band playing, games to play, and cookies to eat. It was fun to get out of the house and enjoy the shade of Wines Park.
Tuesday was a LONG day. After watching her kids in the morning, Tomie and I headed to the new splash park for some free fun. The kids had a blast and can't wait to go back. I loved how even Annabelle could play without my constant eye and she didn't get hurt once (that is a feat for her). As soon as I got home we got ready for the big Stake Primary activity. They had asked me to help at a booth so I was there with the boys (Annabelle was at a sitter) for over 2 and a half hours. It was REALLY hot but we all had a lot of fun. I helped at the "pioneer games" booth while the boys went around making ice cream, square dancing, lassoing cows, hay rides, crafts, making armor, and more. It was nice that they were old enough to walk around by themselves and have fun. I enjoyed helping lots of kids I knew, and many that I didn't, learn about games the pioneers played (and which I learned about in Nauvoo just a few weeks ago). When I finally walked through the door I was greeted by Greg and Annie and a wonderful Italian smell. Greg said I looked pretty tired (that is an understatement to how I actually felt), and I was so grateful that dinner was ready, he even did all the dishes and cleaned the top of the oven!!