family picture 2020

family picture 2020

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Fashion guru

Nothing lit up Nolan's eyes when we were shopping for school clothes, like the super hero t-shirts.  FINALLY something  that was fun about this shopping trip! He already had one, but I let him get another.


He got a laugh out of me as he was getting dressed this morning.  He pulled the new t-shirt out of his drawer, and as he pulled it over his head he giggled and said, "this is going to be SO stylish!"

I'm not sure where he's heard the word "stylish", but I think that for Kindergarten, he just might be right!:)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Proud moments

Yes indeedy, sometimes there are just moments in life when I am proud to be me!! Like the time that I sat for fifteen minutes in the drive-thru at the bank with screaming/crying kids in the car hoping that the teller would hurry up and when she FINALLY got to me and took care of my stuff, I was in such a hurry that  I distractedly drove off with the capsule that you put your money and receipts and things in (not sure what it's called).  The proud moment was when I drove around the block and had to bring it back into the bank.  I wasn't so sure I wanted to experience that moment, so I used some of my great brilliance and had one of my kids run it in for me. Wasn't that big of me?  We got a good laugh out of it, anyway!!

Today I drove across the top of one of those "handicapped parking" signs.  You know - one of those that are stuck into a bucket of concrete?  The really pathetic part is that -I never even saw it!! How does someone do that, anyway?  I'll tell you - it takes a special talent that only someone like me possesses!!  So...I drove for another second or two to see if it would come out from under my car, but nope, it was stuck in place, and my car was dragging it along! I glanced over and saw some of the boys that work at Rays kind-of smiling and watching what I would do.  My "proud moment" was when I marched right up to them and asked them if they could please help me out! They did, and were very nice and courteous and had me on my way in no time.

I texted Shawn about it, thinking that he'd get a good laugh.  He texted right back, "Is the car ok?" Sigh... Yes the car is just fine. It's my pride! Just my pride...

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

And then there was one...

It arrived... the dreaded first day of school.  Well, I guess I shouldn't say that it was dreaded by everyone - in fact, it was really only truely dreaded by Isabelle, who has some anxiety about new experiences.  Caden was resigned to it, and Kami and Maddie were fairly excited.  But nothing surpassed the great excitement of Nolan and Abram!

Nolan insisted that he get to ride the bus to school and was full of enthusiasm about FINALLY getting to go to kindergarten!!  The bus ended up coming ten minutes early, right when I was trying to get a picture of my grade-schoolers, and in the hustle and bustle of hurrying them out the door, Shawn and I ended up disappointed that we didn't even get to see Nolan get on the bus on his very first day of school:(

(I grabbed a picture of them after school) They're holding up fingers for the grade they're in this year.

 Next Kami and Caden took off:


That left just Abram, who is as pleased as punch to be entering his first official year of "Gee- School-Preschool".  I was a little worried there for a little while, because he was telling everyone that he was going to a real school for preschool.  I thought about it and told him that if he got potty trained, I really WOULD put him in a real preschool. Darn it, it didn't work.  He immediately decided that home preschool sounded like the way to go...but guess what one of the things we will be working on at preschool will be??;)

We'll see about that, mom!
Yep, that's pretty much the sad truth - Abe's the big boss around here lately.  Even this morning he informed Kami and Caden that "My buddy gets to get on the bus first, then Kami". (Maybe he bosses because everyone does exactly what he says.  I know Kami and Caden switched order this morning and Cade got on first:) He gets us all lined out, bosses all day, and insists on being "it" for every prayer - if we ignore his insistance, he generally howls through the whole thing.  When someone else DOES happen to pray, it's because we let him go first, and he then affirms everything they say - which I guess we should all do, but maybe just not vocally as he does: "everyone be safe... yeah... thankful for day...yeah", etc.  Even in church when someone is praying from the pulpit, he prays, quite loudly, right along with them. The only thing is that he has just a few phrases down- pat, so he says them over and over again, and starts his prayer over and over until the person ends their prayer.  His has to go just as long, and he won't shush for anything!

Anyways, for a couple of weeks now, when the kids have told people who their teachers are going to be, he has made sure that everyone hears that his teacher is going to be mom! Today, as each of the kids came home in their three different hour-apart shifts, they told us about their day, and Abram kept interrupting them to tell about his: "first I got to play with my friends (we went to the gym), then we worked on my ABC's and 123's, and then I got a snack, and then we went and picked up Nolan!"

Whew! Preschool's exhausting!! Mostly for me with this busy little boy, but I"ll spare you my napping pictures!;)

Getting prepared

Kami decided that she and her friends needed to get together the day before school and go to the beauty college and get manicures.  She called them all and everyone was really excited about it.  Then she called the beauty college and discovered that it was closed for the week...

They ended up having the get-together here - everyone brought their polish and they painted each other's nails:

I fed them lunch - fruit cups, chicken salad sandwiches, and chips - and there was lots and lots of giggling:) Fun time, and now they look fantastic for the first day of school!

Table Rock

Saturday Shawn woke the three older kids up at 5:30 and they set out on the fourteen mile hike to table rock.
Table rock is the flat rock on top of the hill to the right fore-ground of the Grand Tetons
  This is quite the hike- when Shawn and I were first married, he took me, and on the way down it was so steep that  I felt something inside my right knee snap, he ended up back-packing me out, and my knee has never been the same since! So I was a little worried about the kids going, but they did great and had a super time!
just starting out
They saw some great scenery and enjoyed nature:

And finally made it!


They all came home pretty exhausted, but excited about their adventure!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

duets


 

I love watching and listening to these two play duets on the piano together: 


woops- they had a little mess-up there:)
most of the time it's pretty serious business!