Back to School

Is it really that time of year again?  Summer has really flown by.  The boys were so excited for this day to finally come.  Back to school night was the night before.  Both boys loved their teachers and were excited to find out what friends were in their class. 

Ryan started 2nd grade and was the first one up and ready to go in the morning.  He was very happy when he came home.  I had sent a silly family picture to school with him and his class thought is was really funny.  Ryan was happy to see Nathan at recess and play basketball with him.  He is a little sad that he isn't with lots of friends, but hopefully he will make new friends quick, or find his other friends out at recess.

Nathan started 4th grade, the grade I had always wanted to teach.  His first words when he walked in after school were, "I made a new friend!"  He has a harder time with this and so those words meant a lot to him and me.  He was excited to walk home with Ryan and plans to ride his bike as much as he can before winter starts in. 

I loved talking to the boys when they got home from school.  That is one of the best parts of my day.  They are so eager to talk if I just listen.  And since Callie will hopefully always be asleep, I will be able to listen fully.  I hope the rest of the year goes as well as the first day.

Day 1: Out to Breakfast in Pajamas

Yes, folks.  You read it right.  We were brave enough to go out in public with our jammies on.  The kids were a little hesitant at first, but at the end they loved it.  Annabelle can't wait to go out to breakfast again in her pajamas.  We went to IHOP and I had a fabulous mushroom and spinach omelet.  A little bit too much of a breakfast, but it was delicious!  The kids ate LOTS of little pancakes with all kinds of syrup on them.  We may have to make this a tradition. 

Tonight we got to finally meet our teachers for school tomorrow, at least the boys (Annie starts next week).  Both teachers seem like a lot of fun and the boys are anxious to start.  Greg has a big deadline and has been working late but was able to make it home right before the kids went to bed.  Another tradition we have before school is Father blessings. Greg gives each child a blessing to help them get through the school year.  After Ryan got his, he jumped up and said, "I am so excited now!"  Greg even gave Callie a little blessing and you could tell she liked being like the big kids. 

Tomorrow is finally here and honestly I can't believe that summer is over.  It seems like it just began.  I am going to miss the relaxation of my mornings and I am not going to love the homework folders and time crunches every day.  But, the kids thrive with a routine and a schedule and I know that we will all adjust and it will be a good thing.  A little bit more peace and quiet around the house sounds really good to me, too.  It was pretty exhausting doing something every day this last month, but it was worth it.  The kids looked forward to the countdown and we made lots of memories together. 

TODAY is National Entitlement Awareness Day

I have talked about the Eyre's before.  Linda and Richard and a few of their daughters all have fabulous ideas and have written great books.  I am constantly trying their ideas, and sometimes failing, but trying to become the mom and woman I want to be.  They have a new book coming out, "The Entitlement Trap" and I am really excited to read it.  I have already pre-ordered it and look forward to reading it.Check out their website!

http://powerofmoms.com/win-a-retreat-or-other-great-prizes/?utm_source=The+Power+of+Moms&utm_campaign=9daeee4b45-Entitlement_Giveaway&utm_medium=email#EntitlementTrapBlogPost

http://entitlementtrap.com/giveaway.htm

Day 2: Race Through the House in a Laundry Basket

 

 

 

 Sunday mornings are usually pretty calm and happy, at least until we try to get them ready for church.  This morning the four kids were laughing and playing together and it was wonderful.  I love those moments when they choose to be nice to each other and choose to be playful and loving and happy.  After the boys pushed the girls around for awhile, I put Callie down for a nap and we worked on a little project.  Nathan LOVES graph paper and is always drawing on it.  On Sunday I try to keep things a little more focused on Christ and spiritual things and so we all drew pictures of a temple.  Not a specific one, one that we create our self.  It was a lot of fun. 

Day 3: Build a Sandcastle

 

Honestly I wasn't too sure we were going to get anything crossed off today.  Greg ended up having to work all day so that changed things.  Don't get me wrong, we were busy all day.  We cleaned the house, did laundry, weeded, harvested our veggies, made apricot fruit leather and more, but nothing from our box.  All those yummy apricots have their own story, but my camera went crazy and lost all the pictures.  A older couple in our neighborhood have a farm and offered anyone to come and pick their apricots.  We rode our bikes over there and had a blast getting to know them better and picking some fruit.  The farm has been in the family for years.  The current owner was born there, as was his father and grandfather in the 1890's.  Kay, the wife, rode her tractor out the apricots, picking grapes for  my kids as we went.  Her husband got an old ladder for us and both Nathan and I were brave enough to climb up and pick the yummy fruit.  We got a huge bucket full.  After the fruit leather there is still plenty to eat and make jam.  YUMMY!

 

 Evening was rolling in and I was thinking that I would just have to say that the everyday stuff was our countdown.  But, at the last moment the kids headed to the sand box.  Hooray!!  While I now have sand all over my bathroom and it was a pain to get it out of hair, the kids built a sand castle.  Or at least tried to with Callie trying to break it down.

Day 4: Laser Tag and Miniature Golf

Today we took advantage of dad working from home and went out and had fun while Callie took a nap.  She makes things a little hard lately and it was really nice to just be with the older kids. 

We went to Trafalga and tried our hand at laser tag.  Annabelle and Nathan stayed with me the whole time but Ryan took off by himself.  We passed him a couple times in the arena, but he liked the freedom.  While my slow pace and being in pack made us easy targets, it was fun and something that I wouldn't even mind doing just with Greg.

The kids were SO excited to finally do the outdoor course of mini golf.  We started with 4 balls.  On the 2nd hole Nathan hit his into a broken part and we couldn't get it out.  I gave him my ball and just walked around.  Then about halfway through Ryan hit his ball into the water.  It was a bit frustrating, having only 2 balls, but we made it through the course.

Finally we did bumper boats.  The boys soaked me and themselves.  We were drenched as we headed home, but Ryan said as we were leaving, "Mom, you didn't get mad at us at all!"  I have been really trying hard with this, but I don't know if it was me or just the fact that I didn't have Callie.  Oh well.  I was nicer.  That was better than, "Why are you always so mean?" which I got earlier in the day.

Day 5: Make Popsicles

We have made lots of popsicles this summer.  We have used just plain juice or tried new recipes from online or my new favorite cookbook from Our Best Bites.  The Popsicle we are eating in the picture are a watermelon raspberry lemonade that was just a little too pulpy to drink.  But they love it as a Popsicle.

Recently Callie found the pantry open and decided to open and drink out of our last 5 Sunny Delights (whoever made that easy open top...GRRR!)  I bought the Sunny D's at the beginning of summer as a special treat but no one likes them much, except Callie.  So what do you do with 5 open bottles of Sunny D?  You turn them into popsicles.  I know that no one will pass them up now that they are frozen.  Isn't that funny.  I wonder if it would work with vegetables as well?!

Day 6: Picnic at the Park

 

 

Almost every Wednesday we have gone to a park in or near our city.  So I thought we would be able to cross this off our list officially today.  BUT, after an hour long dentist appointment where I could hear my kids in the front room (not fighting thank goodness, they are just loud), and after another hour and a half going to a few stores to find clothes for the new school year, I decided enough was enough and we just went home for the day.  I figure that today we can say that we celebrated by buying new school clothes.  I don't even buy that much, but man it gets pricey.  I was planning to only buy three shirts each, some shoes and a pair of pants each.  Well, three turned into 5, but they are all happy and excited for their new clothes.  I remember feeling the same way so I was happy to give that joy to them as well.

Day 7: Three Legged Race and Obstacle Course

These were actually some of our cards so when the kids told me they did these at the primary activity this morning I decided to count it in lieu of trying to do something else since I am EXHAUSTED!  

I have a new calling in my church, a cub scout unit commissioner.  That means that I now help train leaders and I get to teach Roundtable once a month.  If you know what that is, than you can imagine that I am not too excited about that part of my new calling.  But, we shall see.  It may be better than I have imagined.  

 Anyway, with my new calling I am now on the Stake Primary board and I had the privilege of helping with the activity today from 8am-12pm.  We set up and got ready for 2 hours and then for the next 2 hours I was in charge of the tug-of-war station.  Why tug-a-war for a church activity?  Our scripture focus was Alma 57:20 "And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and  sixty were firm and undaunted."  We kept telling the kids to be firm as they held onto the rope.  I don't have an actual picture of my kids doing the three-legged race or the obstacle course, but I do know that they enjoyed both activities as well as all the others.  My station was a hit sometimes and empty at other times.  I did manage to get a picture of my kids at my station:

Day 8: S'mores in the Canyon

 A week ago we were invited to go up to the canyon to roast hot dogs and s'mores.  I had been wanting to do this all summer so I was REALLY excited to go.  At the beginning the kids were a little cranky since we had swam a couple hours earlier in the day and they were starving (not a great combo for anyone).  Luckily after we got some food into their tummies things went more smoothly.  Greg took the boys on a little "hike" while I played with the girls. 

 

 The fire took awhile to get going but when it was ready we had a lot of hungry kids around it roasting hot dogs.  My boys and Callie each ate 2 dogs while Annabelle barely ate one.  She evened things out with having at least 2 roasted marshmallows (she's not a big fan of  s'mores). 

 

 

Annabelle is 5!!

Our birthday tradition is that the birthday kid gets to pick all of the meals for the day.  For breakfast Annie wanted muffins.  And as my mom did before me, we always open up a couple cans of fruit to go with it.  We even throw in some cottage cheese for kicks. 

 Next came the opening of presents.  Annabelle had already been spoiled by her friends, so we wanted to give her things that she had asked for in the past.

 

For a long time Annabelle has been ridding, or trying to ride a bike that Ryan rode when he was 3-ish.  She hated it.  She didn't mind the red color, but she just was always afraid of it.  We bought her this fun purple bike, the size that until yesterday Ryan was riding, and she did amazing!  I was so impressed.  I guess the other bike was just to small.

 For lunch Annabelle picked little sandwiches.  I made little loaves of bread so they were the perfect size for toothpicks.  

For dinner she picked shrimp pasta.  It was super yummy.  We have been getting lots of stuff from our garden and so I made one of my fave garden treats--oven roasted green beans.  450, olive oil, S & P, and 20 minutes=YUM!

Dessert.  My favorite part and all she wanted was chocolate covered strawberries.  Since we have tons of zucchini we made brownies as well.  I just finished my second bowl.

 I can't believe my little girl is 5.  It was hard for Annabelle to grasp that she wasn't going to be 5 at her birthday party and that she wasn't going to have a friend party on her birthday.  But I think it all worked out.  We had a fun day celebrating our big girl.  And tomorrow she has her kindergarten assessment.  It is crazy how fast they grow up!

Day 9: Play Board Games

Our family loves games.  Card games, board games, video games, all kinds of games.  Greg and I went birthday shopping for Annabelle yesterday and Greg found two new games for our family.  One is a classic, that I have never played, called Stratego.  Greg has talked about this game a lot in our time together.  I am glad we finally own it and I will someday not have Callie climbing all over me and be able to play it.  Ryan and Nate tried to play it while Greg was at a meeting, but it was just too tricky.  Nathan and Greg played it and while Greg did end up winning, Nathan was in great spirits and seemed to have had a lot of fun.  The other games is called "Labyrinth" and I was able to play that one.  It was a lot of fun.  Our family loves making mazes and so this game was right up our alley.  I think Nathan and Ryan had only played it twice when Grandpa came over for Annie's birthday but he was amazed at how well they played it with him.

One of the cards said, "make a board game."  I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, how Nathan has made his own game.  It is AWESOME!  He has played it with some of his friends who in turn wanted to make their own game. 

 The above picture is the actual game.  You start in the green area, the meadow and roll the dice and search for hidden tools and weapons.  The picture below is his "blueprints" that helps him tell you what you find as you move around.  The other areas require things to enter them.  Like you need a jet pack to go to the clouds and a sword and flashlight to enter the jungle.  Once you are in another land you search for clues that help you find the treasure.  Sorry if that is confusing, but it is really cool if you play it.  I have been surprised how much he has thought of.  He has made another game since but I am not sure if it is 100% finished. 

Annabelle's Birthday Party

While Annie doesn't turn 5 until Sunday, we decided that Friday was the best day to do that party.  I LOVE doing birthday parties.  I love having themes and coming up with fun games and decor and all that kind of stuff.  Annabelle was a bit indecisive about what to have as her theme for her birthday this year.  So I pulled out my old scrapbook and showed her my 5th birthday party.  I had Strawberry Shortcake.  Since Annabelle still loves Strawberry herself we decided that that would be the perfect theme.  Unfortunately this was decided just a week ago and so I had to scramble to get things done.  I stayed up late many night this week getting everything ready.  While I learned a lot about what not to do, I think the girls all had fun and my sweet daughter felt really special.  

 Annabelle was so anxious all day. 6:30 just couldn't come fast enough for her.  

 First the girls picked which Strawberry Shortcake friend they wanted to be and color.  There were a lot to choose from. 

 

Next came "Pin the Strawberry on Strawberry Shortcake."

Then yummy Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.  It was so windy we couldn't light the candles.  I was shocked when the whole cake disappeared.  Usually we always have leftovers.

The girls were a little restless so we played some red light green light.

Next was strawberry picking.  I looked at 4 stores for the little hard candies with the strawberry wrappers, but we settled on the strawberry frooties.  The girls LOVED getting candy.  We opened presents while the girls ate the candy. 

 

We headed indoors for some Musical Strawberries.   The boys were good sports and were willing to get out first so the girls could have more chances.  Next we settled down and read a Strawberry Shortcake book and did a little dance.  Then we relaxed a little bit more and watched a Strawberry movie until the parents came. 

 

These are the cute bags I sewed for the girls.  I had been wanting a project for a long time so this was a lot of fun for me.  Overall it was a fun party.  Annabelle was spoiled and felt special all evening.  She was exhausted and definitely ready for bed when all the girls had gone.