First day of school 2010!

The Summer flew by! I feel as though it should just be July. I am glad that I enjoyed the summer as much as the kids did this summer. There were only a few days where I was totally ready for school to start. But over all it was fun and jam packed with just enough to not make us crazy but enough that we had fun!
Amelia actually wore pants to school on the first day!!! Last year she ONLY wore skirts and dresses. This year it will be about 50/50. It stems from one of her very sweet friends handed down some really cute stuff that Amelia really wanted to wear. And if it is good enough for Ava it must be good enough for Amelia. She looked totally cute. I did her hair in a low side pony, then braided one piece of it and rolled it into a flower, so her own hair is the flower. Totally cute!

 

 

 

Hayden didn't want to be left out so got dressed in the 1 new shirt I bought her (she is saving the one grandma got her for the first day of preschool) She also packed her lunch and backpack. She did that a lot last year too.
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There were a bunch of summer events that I didn't blog about and thought I would list a few of them so we can remember some of the things we did. Last year I blogged a lot about what I canned. I have canned but not taken pictures of what we have done. So far we have canned, green beans, peaches, peach jam, pear jam, pear strawberry jam, pear raspberry jam, and tomatoes. Hopefully the weather will hold so I can do more tomatoes. We have also done picnics in the park, reading program in the library, spent hours and hours in our pool in the back yard, went to Omsi, Gilbert house,a rain gutter rigata with the Cub Scouts, and bike rides.... there was lots more I am sure I can list. But the kids were so good about getting their daily jobs done we were able to do lots of fun things.

Week 12 of Summer vacation!

So week 12 we did lots of little kinds of things. One of the things was we had a "Teeny Tiny" day. This was lots of fun. We did in one other day this summer. But I did a little more for it this time then last time. I made teeny tiny pancakes, we call them Pancake cereal. We got the idea from Jim's pancakes on line. He is a pancake artist!!! Anyway you make tiny dots of pancakes, scrape them off into a bowl, and stir in a little butter and syrup and YUM! My kids love this even when it is not teeny tiny day! I also made teeny tiny chocolate chip cookies for snacks during the day. I made them with a teaspoon measure so they were LITTLE! I usually make them with a heaping TBSP! Hayden when she would ask for a cookie she would say, "can I have 5 more?" Make me laugh! Anyway it was a fun day! Brock and Leah even made teeny tiny crafts. I heard Leah say once during lunch, "since it is teeny tiny day we should use teeny tiny voices!" I love this girl! It sounded like a wonderful idea...pulling it off on the other hand....



We had teeny tiny PB&J sandwiches for lunch with teeny tiny apple slices. They even drank from teeny tiny cups. This is Brock's friend Leah. We really like her, her sisters, and her mom! Bad thing is they moved away TODAY! We will miss them all!!!


This was our dessert after dinner. We had teeny tiny smores made with Golden Grahams, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate chip. Our dinner was little smokies (teeny tiny hot dogs), Teeny tiny carrots from our garden, teeny tiny tomatoes, and my friend Shar and her girls came and had dinner with us she brought, teeny tiny broccoli, teeny tiny slices of cheese, carrots, and peppers. It was really cute and lots of fun!

Larry came home with free tickets to the State fair on Friday. (We hadn't planned on going because it is pretty spendy!) Anyways we told the kids we would take them if they promised not to ask for anything because we were NOT going to spend any money, no rides, games, or junk food. We packed a lunch and got a schedule of free things to do. (There are plenty!) The kids had a great time and it was a really nice day! We had 5 extra tickets so we offered them to some of our friends so they took their family and we all went together. It was a lot of fun!

This one is really for my dad who probably won't ever see this anyway but I love Smokey they Bear because of my dad. My dad ALWAYS would say, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!" Sometimes he would say, "Only YOU can prevent Child abuse!" Still makes me laugh. Amelia wouldn't go over to meat him though.

Ethan got to be in a magic show at the state fair. The guy did a really good job. He was really funny and we were all amazed. We had front row seats too. Ethan did a great job. His shoe was "burned up" in a box but then magically reappeared in a bag.

The other even of the week not pictured here was I took the kids to the Gilbert House on Friday. It was a lot of fun and I did take pictures but it was on the other camera and I don't know how to down load those as easy... anyway we go there often enough it isn't THAT big of a deal. But the kids had a great time and I did let them do something we usually don't do and that was play on the outside play structure. That thing freaks me out, I worry about someone sneaking off with my kids. But it wasn't crazy busy and they did a great job of staying together and letting me watch. SO it was a great day! Fun was had by all on our last week off for Summer break. All but the last day of course where we celebrated Labor day by Laboring all day long!!! We worked in the yard like CRAZY but it looks great!

O What do YOU do in the Summer Time?!

This is what Hayden does!
She was dancing even funnier when none of the other kids were in the room. When the camera shakes it is because I am laughing.

Week 11 of Summer vacation!

Last week on my way to the beach with the Youth I had 2 of the Young Women tell me that they wished we were going to the zoo instead and that they loved the zoo! I told them that we wanted to go Friday but didn't so we were wanting to go next week, so they should come with me. They were really excited so we set a date for Tuesday. It was so much fun to have 2 teenagers with me. The kids thought it was fun too. It was nice having a few extra hands and fun people to hang out with. (Not that my kids aren't fun to hang out with!) I was glad Amanda and Shellbie went with us. Even if it did take to long to get there, and they had to listen to 5 kids all day. They seemed to have fun too. It was great.



The Lion's are "new" at the zoo. It was the first time we have seen them. The statues were cute so I piled the kids on them for a quick picture!

This is Amanda Quinn with my kids looking at the cute animals.

Kids and a giraffe! So cute!

Brock's sweet friend Leah made him this dinosaur kite. I had to take a picture of him trying to fly it Thursday. It actually does ok.

Can't go camping with out a campfire! The kids love this part of camping. Who wouldn't! It was fun. We didn't do marshmallow's this time but we did have cobbler. Yum!


Out on the boat! Brock and Ethan both took some really great knee board trips. They saw a guy do a 360 on a knee board while we were there so they decided they were going to try it. They both got really close. They could do a 180. Pretty cool!

Week 10 of Summer vacation

A little proof of Ruth being "naughty" She found the baby powder while I was getting the big girls in or out of the bath.




Grandma Camp!
Ok so last year my mom took a bunch of pictures and I blogged them. This year when they got back I asked her if she took pictures and she said she didn't take any. Can I blame her they were BUSY!!! They did lots of swimming, crafts, outings, and even a really cool treasure hunt. I love my mom and appreciate so much the fact that she has done this. My kids LOVE it, look forward to it, and I am sure will always have great memories and bonds with her because of it! I know it is a sacrifice for her, but I hope she knows, or feels it is worth it to me and my children. Thursday night on their way home she took them to Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids had a blast there! Then she and my sister in law Angela and her kids stayed and we went to the beach on Friday. It was a lot of fun! The kids had a blast. While they were gone I got some scrapbooking done, one evening I even had 8 beehives here to scrap with me. They and I had a lot of fun. I also got a little jump start on some stuff I am working on for the holiday Bazaar in November. I need to start now or it will never get done! I will continue working on it from now till then probably. Ruth enjoyed herself. I don't think she missed the noise or the constant yelling in her face (which my kids thinks she likes no matter how many times I tell them she does not!). But she was so good at just rolling around and playing. She is such a good baby who hardly ever demands anything. I just love that peanut. It was very nice to have some of that quiet time with her to see her personality come out a little. I think she will be quiet the handful though. She has learned to climb out of her high chair, stroller, and loves to pull everything out of boxes, and drawers.

Week 9 of Summer vacation!

This week was a trying one, well part of it anyway. Monday we spent the day cleaning up and doing laundry after getting back from 8 days of camping. It wasn't really cleaned up till Wed. Well the house anyway. Laundry was done Monday. I had signed the older 3 kids up for a water color class at the beginning of the summer that was for this week. They had so much fun and learned a lot. While they were painting each day Hayden and I went to the park or wandered the dollar store. One day we even got an ice cream. She was so good about not getting to take the class. She never even asked why she didn't get to go. The end of the week was rough just because I wanted bed rooms cleaned up before they left for grandma camp. Some how this was a unrealistic expectation... Anyway the job did get done and now (Sunday afternoon) they are on their way their now! Daddy is doing the drop off so I can stay home for a baptism. Thanks Grandma! Next week I will post pictures of all the fun they had!
i am also going to have fun crafting away and spending one on one time with my Baby Ruth! Which she is already demanding!
This one is Ethan's. He painted a volcano, and trees. I loved that he tried to use all the techniques she taught them.

This one is Brock's painting of Dotty, our dog.

This one is Amelia's. It is her polka dotty horse. I love her night sky with the stars in it!.

Week 8 of Summer Vacation/ Vacation

Hayden even got brave enough to ride the tub by herself! This was after a ride with mommy.... She is very cautious when it comes to water so this was a break through for her. Her ride was really slow with no bumps but she had a blast and it is building up to all the other fun stuff her siblings do! Amelia is a daredevil on the tube. She wants her daddy to give her the crazy rides and loves it! It is pretty scary for mom but she loves it!

We saw some amazing sights! We love the mountains there! They are very cool, but this year we saw lots of butterflies, wild mountain goats, and Deer. We had 2 storms blow through in the late afternoons/evenings and one evening after the storm we had this beautiful sunset! I thought it was a great medifore for life but I won't share since this entry is going to be long enough!




Both the boys knew how to water ski but this year they both learned to knee board and got really good at some tricks! Ethan also learned how to wake board. It was pretty fun watching them! They got pretty competitive over who could do the most or coolest "tricks" or who would go the longest!



The kids LOVED fishing! The dog did too apparently! She would get sooooo excited with every fish caught! twice she got so excited she jumped, or slipped off the boat and ended up in the water. We had to fish her out with the net once. She did not like that!


Hayden loved "turtle rides"

Just cute!

Ruth Loved the water!

Amelia bought this floatie at the dollar store to take on this trip. She loved it and used it a lot! But Ruth loved it too! We would lay her in the shade in it in the boat and it made a nice cushy bed while boating! It was great!

Some nice people let us use their thing! Only I sat on the shore and watched Larry and the kids. I stayed with Ruth.

The grasshoppers were so thick! I have NEVER seen so many in my life! IN the afternoon when you would walk it was a dust cloud only it was grasshoppers! YUCK! Brock loved catching them in this bug cage he bought just for this trip! He also loved pulling their leggs off. This worried me but Larry told me most little boys do this a few times. EEEWWWW

THere are so many pictures I filled my card (I don't do that very often!) So I am just going to do a few highlights of our week at our favorite lake ever!
It was a wonderful week and I could post so much much more, Maybe I will do some journaling later on some of my thoughts during the week too but now I need to move on to the rest of post vacation duties!

Week 7 of Summer break!

One of the highlights of me week before vacation was this activity with the Young Women. I had been planning it for about 2 months and we kept having to bump the date... We ended up doing it with all the YW instead of just the beehives so I wouldn't miss it while on vacation. I gave all my stuff to the Mia maids class so they could run it since they were in charge of the combined activity this month. It was a daddy daughter activity that was lots of fun! Larry came to be a "dad" for one of my sweet beehives. They had lost of fun. The dad's "caught" pudding in ice cream cones, caught Cheetos on their heads covered with shaving cream, relay races eating things out of a bag, and a pie eating contest. We had so many pies left the Young men got in the action at the end and then they talked the Young Women Leaders in to doing one. I won. (Technically I didn't eat the whole thing, I had about a quarter left and I knew it was NOT going to fit so I smeared it on my face to make it look gone.) It was funny though. I was smelling pudding for the rest of the evening till I showered and got a good clean nose!





This was the week right before our family vacation. So I didn't get it posted before we left. It was crazy busy mostly with preparations of going camping for 8 days but there were a few highlights!