Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 was cold, fun and lasted all weekend.

DD#1 in her school parade. Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ready to Trick or Treat. Saturday, October 30, 2010

50's Sh0wgirl

A cute little witch

Thomas the Train

School Photos

Another year, another round of school photos. My kids go to different schools. My school doesn't have a preschool, so my kids go to the school here in our neighborhood for Preschool. Once they begin Kindergarten, I bring them with me. It makes it easier for Parent Teacher Conferences and other things.

DD#1 in 1st Grade

DD#2 in her 2nd year of preschool

She didn't start school until after Labor Day. On the 2nd day of school, I emptied out her backpack as we were walking out the door and noticed the flyer for pictures. I thought to myself that I needed to make a mental note about the date. Then....I realized it was THAT day! So we didn't buy a package through them, only a school photo. I took her to my school when we had school pictures. I thought they both turned out really great.

UEA Weekend!

Ahhh...the wonderful UEA weekend where school is out Thursday and Friday. It was a nice break.
So...what did we do? We were cooped up in our house with the virus hand, foot and mouth. Not fun!
DS started running a fever and we had him into the pediatricians office on Thursday. They didn't know if it was strep or the virus. DD#2 started running a fever two days later and we had her in the InstaCare yesterday with the confirmation that it was the virus. I had the doctor look in DS's mouth to make sure and she said it was covered with ulcers all along the back of his throat. Poor baby! No wonder why he didn't want to eat anything.
We had a lot of popsicles, puddings and yogurts. We watched movies (thank heavens for netflix) and we snuggled on the couch. When the medicine would kick in the kids would go outside for a while. A positive of the time was getting pretty close to getting my scrapbooking caught up. I am only 3 months behind! Hooray!
Abotu 2 months ago, the girls were looking at their scrapbooks. DS came up to me with the saddest little face (the girls were not sharing) and asked, "Where is my book?" It broke my heart. I realized I was that far behind. I got on the computer and found out that I was 2 1/2 years behind. Ugghhhh...... 2 years! I started working on his pages and checked off months as I went along.
I was doing really well until I hit January of this year. Our Disneyland trip has 200+ photos in it. It stopped me from being motivated. So, this weekend I decided to go backwards and hit the present and move towards Disneyland.
While scrapping I thought it would help keep this blog more up to date if I would post my pages as I do them. It will also help keep me up to date on my scrapbooking. So here is the summer.
The weekend is coming to an end. The great thing is that Dad is home. He has been hunting. He left the night before DS started running his fever! Doesn't it always happen that way?
Well..enjoy!
** I already posted about the last day of school and the kid's birthdays, so it looks like we will start at the first of July. June was so cold. I don't know or can't remember if we got out much in June. So here are some of the things that we did this past summer that I missed. Once I get the Disneyland pages done I will post those (as promised 8 months ago) :)

Our annual trip to my hometown for the 4th of July. Can't beat a small town celebration. We love it! We didn't make it for the jets and DH was sure disapointed. I will get ready on time next year. Whooops!

We road Trax to the Galivan Center for Radio Disney's water day. There were a million people there. The kids enjoyed being in the water and getting free squirt guns. I think the train ride to and from was the highlight, though.

We went to the float preview before the parade. It was so nice to go and have some fun. We got to go around to each float and see it up close. We were able to vote for our favorites as well. The kids got their faces painted and balloons made out for them. It was fun and the air conditioning made it even better!

The girls's preschool teacher went to Mill Hollow with me and we became good friends. She volunteers for the Days of 47 Rodeo and called us up to see if we wanted her free tickets. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time seeing the horses and the bulls. DS loved when the tracker came out and plowed the arena. He loves tractors.

We saw that a community theatre was putting on the production Cinderella, so we thought it would be great to have Mommy and Me Date and get the girls all dolled up. It was the day before DD#1's 6th bday so we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to her.

First Day of Preschool

First Day of 1st Grade

Better Late than Never, right?

DD#2 started preschool the day after Labor Day. She was so excited and couldn't wait. Especially since her older sister had been going to school for 2 weeks already.

The first day the parent's are always welcome to come and stay for the hour. It was crazy, crazy, crazy. Along for the ride, was my DS who is 2 and the two boys that I watch in the mornings who are 3 and 4 months.

She had a great time and hasn't cried this year! Hoooray! That is such an accomplishment especially comparing it to last year. She is going 4 days a week this year instead of 2. I about died when I realized she will be going to Kindergarten next year. It was a weird realization.

Big girl ready to go

My two sweet girls ready for school.

Little Brother had to join in on the picture taking.

Making her quilt piece for the class quilt.

School Days are Here Again!

We had our first day of school on Monday. DD#1 is starting the 1st grade. Really? Wasn't she just our first little miracle that we were so grateful to have? She was excited and was happy to finally get to be a real 1st grader. She had a great time and said her teacher is very nice. We did have an emotional break down that night, but it was all so tiring to go after having a lazy summer. She is doing well and continues to be excited each morning.

My class seems pretty cute. It is always hard to tell in the first weeks, but they seem to be very sweet. We will probably only have a few who will give us a hard time.

DD#2 starts preschool after Labor Day. I will post pictures of that soon after (hopefully) here beginning day.

Nine Years!

.......and still missing you. Love you!

Gas Rodeo!

Questar Gas has an annual Gas Rodeo each year. DH really wanted to attend, so we loaded up all the kids (6 of them) and headed to the Gas Rodeo. We got there a little late and found that there was only one team left to compete. For what it's worth, I was glad that we only had to sit there for one team! It was kind of boring! Shhh...don't tell DH!

We were able to have a free lunch, which the kids loved! But most importantly, DS got to sit in a tractor! He was in heaven! He is obsessed with tractors and it was great to see his reaction. Overall, it was an outing. We had Faith with us for the week. We also had DH's brother's two girls with us. They were moving this day and we had a sleep over so they could get their stuff moved out.

Phew...well there you have it, the first 2 weeks of summer! I told you it was crazy! We still have another Mill Hollow, the 4th of July, and a few family reunions to attend. I hope the summer will slow down some. I am not ready to start school again!

Dance!

We put both girls in a dance class at the beginning of this year. DD#2 didn't quite like it so we took her out and put her in Soccer. DD#1 on the other hand LOVES it. I still say that I don't know where she came from. She is so girlie girl and loves to dance!
She had her first recital and did a fabulous job! Okay, I might be biased, but she really did do a great job!

It was a crazy time with her younger sister's birthday landing on the day, but we had help from family and it all turned out great. Aunt Camille did a fantastic job with her make up. She looked so grown up.

We had a lot of family come and support her and I know she is very grateful to them. Thank you to those that came. Her Kindergarten teacher and her daughter even came. See, I told you we love her!

This has been a great opportunity for her and I can see it in her future. As much as I would like her to be an athlete, I think this area is where she is headed!

Miss Marcie is her teacher and she has some real patience. With the above girls above, she has about 10 little 3-5 years old in the class. She did a great job!

We have one more performance and then a break for the summer. She will be moving up to the 6-8 class, which she is excited for. I don't think this will be the last time I write about dance and this little girl.

Birthday Girl!

Our little girl turned 4! I can't believe that it was just 4 short years ago that she came into our family. She has been a joy! She has been a terror! We can't imagine life without her.

We spent her birthday getting ready for her little party and also for her older sister's dance recital. It was a little crazy.

We had a great (but fast) time with her cake and ice cream. She wanted a Princess Tiana cake, but made sure that I knew that she wanted Prince Naveen on the cake as well. Well....as you can see, the past two weeks have been crazy, so Walmart to the rescue! Thank heavens I can always depend on them for cake!

It was a whirlwind of a night. We were trying to have cake and ice cream in the middle of getting DD#1 in her dance costume and make up on. DD#2 just rolled with the punches and really was just happy to have people over to play with.

When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said a bike. I was behind her for this shot, but she was so excited! She asked if she could ride it to the Library on Monday when we go. We will have to see how good she does with it.

Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Girl!

Mill Hollow

Mill Hollow is a 3 day camp for students in Granite School District. Students are able to go and enjoy nature and learn about the forest environment. It is an excellent oppotunity for those going into the 4th grade to get a taste of the Science curriculum. There are many things they learn.

This year, at the assembly, the director talked about the weather at Mill Hollow. He said that if we have a dry spring, there wouldn't be any snow in early June. Well, we had far from a dry spring this year. It was snowing in the valley a week and a half before my first group went up. What did that mean to me? Stress! The forecast was rain for all three days. This meant that I needed to come up with activities to entertain these children for three days. It was a very stressing time. Usually the time is spent hiking various trails, but not this year. All the trails were closed. There was still snow covering them. The directors went up the week before and there was 3-6 inches of snow on the ground in the camp. Luckily, the sun did wonders and a lot of the camp area was dried.

I took a 3rd/4th group at the beginning of June. I went armed with many, many crafts and game ideas. Fortunately, it only rained on us twice. Once while we were in doing crafts and the other time while we were loading the buses to go home. We got to "hike" up and down the road some. It was good to get out and get moving. The clouds were amazing and were moving at record speed.

Overall it was a sucessful time. The kids had fun and didn't have to hike as much as usual. They loved being with the counselors at night and sang all their new songs the entire time. I am glad that this session is over because it gave me the most stress. I have another session in about a week with a 5th/6th group. Hopefully the trails will be open.

I was able to take my niece Faith (on the right) with me this year. She had a blast and asked if she can come back next year!

This was our last hoorah before the kids went to lunch and we boarded the buses. He really is asleep. He had too much fun or maybe not enough sleep! Good times!

Final Days of Kindergarten

DD#1 has finished her first official year of school. She loved Kindergarten! I was very hesistant to put her in the all day kindergarten, but I am glad of my decision. Her preschool teacher said she would never qualify to get into the program, but a little talking to my principal and she was in. This is when bringing your kids to your school, really works out well.
She had 10 days off prior to the last week of school for Kindergarten testing. She did very well and improved in every area! She passed off everything that was required. She spent this time playing, sleeping in and going to Lisa's house. She hasn't been to Lisa's house all year and she was sure excited to go.
The last week of school was filled with very fun adventures. One that she talked and talked about was her Safari Hunt. She was equipped with a safari hat, a camera and a map. The kids went around the school and searched for all the animals that had studied throughout the year. On top of this, she had a field day, talent show, awards assembly and a trip to McDonalds for an ice cream cone. Her dad got to come to McDonalds with her. Along with the other two kids, they followed the class. She has loved Kindergarten and has often expressed that she doesn't want to move on to 1st grade.

She absolutely adored her teacher, Mrs. Lambourne. I think she said, "Goodbye Mrs Lambourne, I love you!" 100 times before I was able to check out through the office. We both loved her.
We are so proud of you sweet girl.

A few things I wanted to jot down before I forget:
She came home with a book of all her art work and handwriting assignments. She began looking through the book and asked who colored this picture? I asked why and she said, "they didn't color in the line, mom". You should have seen her face when I told her it was her work at the beginning of the year. She also talked about how "silly" her name looked at the first of the year.

There are some positives and negatives to having your children with you at your school. More postives I would say, but my children might say more negatives. Although, she was very spoiled by most of the faculty there. Here is an example of each from this year:
Positive:
DD#1 fell off her chair in school and had a really bad goose eggs on her head. I was notified immediately (I was in the faculty room for lunch) and was one of the first ones there to get to her (along with our principal). She was not herself and was acting very strange when I arrived. I immediately knew I needed to get her looked at. My coworker took my class for the last hour of school and I was able to take her to the Instacare. Everything turned out great, but I was so grateful that I was right there to help.
Negative:
I was in the work room making copies when I heard a class walk by. I turned to look and realized it was her Kindergarten class. I poked my head out to watch and saw that her class was walking away and she was standing on the wall. I didn't like what this looked like because obviously she had done something wrong in the line to warrant waiting back and standing up against the wall. I immediately walked down to her and asked what was going on. She smiled at me and said that she was asked to wait for Savannah in the bathroom. There I was frustrated that she was getting in trouble, when in fact she was the responsible one being asked to help. I am sure her teacher was worried when I walked up to her. It made me so happy to realize that she wasn't in trouble, but was being good. I have to remember that when teacher mode steps in.

Summers a Movin!

Summer is in full swing. I am once again playing catch up (story of my life) and wanted to highlight some of the things that have happened thus far. Because it is so hard to move pictures around here in blogger, I am going to do individual posts. Enjoy!

DD#2 Last Day of Preschool

DD#2 had her last day of school on May 26. 2010. She finished her first year of preschool. We made it! She will again return to the same preschool. Instead of 2 days a week, she will go 4 days a week. We are so very proud of her. She had a really hard time adjusting to this change of life and has done very well with it. We love you sweetie!