July's Ten Things

July is always a month where I could easily list a million things to smile about, or simply just list one:  FAMILY!  I love July because it's always all about family!  Here are July's Ten Things to Smile About.

1.  COUSINS!!!  And in matching shirts.  That always makes me smile.

 2.  Helping throw a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law!  Aaaaah!  I'm so excited.  The wedding is in TEN DAYS!  Mellaina, I already love you to pieces.

3.  Ethan finished first grade and had a fabulous year!

4.  My 30th Birthday.  My family did a good job making me feel loved.  It was a great day.  And I'll be honest, I kinda like being 30.

 5.  Going out for sushi on a triple date with my siblings and their spouses.   First time eating sushi and I really liked it!

 6.  MORE COUSINS!  This time with matching umbrellas...aaah, the fun of cousins.

 7.  Everything about this kid makes me smile.  His wrinkly nose, his wave, the way he walks along the couches, the way he says dada.  Ack!  SO CUTE!

 8.  The Pioneer Parade was tons of fun!  It's a great neighborhood tradition where all the kids ride in the parade and the neighbors watching throw candy at the kids IN the parade.  I was proud of my kids though; they chose not to pick up any candy in trade for going out for frozen yogurt.

9.  Ethan started second grade.  Yes, the same month he finished first.  SHORT SUMMER.  But boy was it fun!  And so far, he's loving school this year too.

10.  Madeline met her kindergarten teacher this week!  She is SO NICE.  I have a feeling it's going to be a great year for her too.  Madeline is SO EXCITED.  I can't believe she is seriously old enough for school.  Wow!  That's all I can say.

Summer Fun Pics

I've been such a slacker with my camera lately!  I only have a handful of pictures from this summer and all were from my phone.  I guess since my sister-in-law is a photographer I've really just let her do the documenting of festivities!  But here are a few cute ones from the week my whole family was together. These pics are straight from my phone with no editing (told you I was a slacker):

Slip-n-slide awesomeness.  Ethan was really good at it too, always sliding all the way down and off the slide!

 A trip to Scheels turned into quite the fun photo shoot entertainment.  The kids loved posing in all the booths set up there.  We also rode the Ferris Wheel!

 Christmas in July.  Kids had dinner, then watched a movie while the adults enjoyed king crab legs.  Aaaah, that was awesome!  Then we opened presents...fun fun!!

 We enjoyed a trip to Temple Square and ate in the Nauvoo Cafe.  Lovely little place.

 My mom helped all the kids make Mexican Poll Puppets....lol!!  Just look at them.  It was so funny to watch them march in the parade!!

 My sister and sister-in-law all ready to drive the go-karts at the Miller Sports Park.  The kids were so funny to listen to while everyone was racing:  "My Dad is winning!"  "Well my Dad is faster"  "My Dad just passed your Dad!!"  You can imagine how pleased Ethan was when Todd had the fastest lap. I had to hush him up!

 Cute cousins!!

 We also enjoyed an exotic fruit tasting

 a Root Beer tasting (you wouldn't believe how different they all tasted!!) and a caramel tasting!  What can I say?  We love food!

 My parents with all their grandkids:

 And right before my brother and his family left, we all took a turn trying out the slackline.  If you haven't seen these things before, you should look them up.  It was so fun.  So hilarious.  And impossibly hard!

Boohoo.  Summer ended.  But boy, was it fun!

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

First Day of Second Grade

Summer is over folks!  And what a completely fabulous and fast summer it was.  I took some great pictures while all my family was here and I hope to post them eventually, but until then I wanted to post some pictures from Ethan's first day of school.  

 Year round school is hard for me to take, Ethan's summer this year was three weeks.  I definitely wasn't ready to start carpooling again, not ready to pack lunches and all of that.  

 Kindergarten starts one week later than the other grades, so Madeline will be with me for a few more days.  But this kid - just look at him:

 He's gone from home 8 hours a day now.  It's SOOOO long.  But he loves it.  He is so happy.

 His very best friend is in his class.  Along with all his friends!  The ALPS program kids stay the same each year (give or take one or two), so the kids in his class never change.  Only the teacher.  And he already loves her.  This made him a lot less nervous for the first day.

 See?  There they go, and he didn't even look back.

I'm so glad he loves school!  I just wish I knew how he is growing up so fast.

Ten Months Old

Cooper is 10 months old today!

 Oh man, he's never been cuter.

 And he keeps us on our toes with his exploring.  My house is getting a little more baby proof as the days go by, but he still manages to find every little thing...

 I'm one lucky Mama, see:

ps-My birthday was so great!  Thanks to all for the birthday gifts and wishes.  And CARDS (xoxo Mom and Dad)  Wow, I'm 30.

Our Fourth of July

On the 3rd, we headed up to The Spruces.  My kids got to stay and camp with my parents that night, and Todd and I along with Cooper enjoyed dinner with them before going home for bed.  Ethan and Madeline were SO EXCITED!  We had fun going on little walks after dinner through the trees and spotting chipmunks.  

 Peaking in on their beds in the tent

 The excited campers

 Little did they know they were in for much more excitement!  It poured rain on them for four straight hours in the night.  POURED.  They came home earlier than expected, muddy and very wet.  But my kids still loved it!

Cooper might not have gone camping, but he sure was excited for the fourth:

 That's because he knew he was going to go and see all his cousins!!  (okay, he had no idea, but he still was happy.)

 And speaking of all his cousins, here they all are!  Madeline and all the boys.

 Nana bought all the kids the matching shirts.  It was so fun.

We enjoyed the day with family, chatting and eating delicious food.  Having so much family in town was the best part!  It was so good to see them again!  Then that night, Todd took Ethan and Madeline to see fireworks.  Being the firework party pooper that I am, I didn't mind staying home to put Cooper to bed.  I even went to bed before they got home from the firework display.  Ethan and Madeline sure thought that was funny.

Hope you had a Happy 4th too!

Ethan

Yesterday was Ethan's last day of 1st grade.  I can't believe I have a 2nd grader now!  Crazy.  He had such a fun year.  Such a great class.  So many good experiences.

On Monday, his teacher invited all the parents to come see the little plays the kids had learned.  They were all two people short skits with funny punchlines.  Ethan did really good in his.  Super cute!  His teacher knows him well too, as she chose him for the skit about dinosaurs!  He also got two awards.  The Artistic Award and The Perfect Spelling Award.  He always finished his work early and then spent his free time drawing (no one is surprised by this!) and he was the only one in his class to get 100% on every spelling test the whole year.  

 His teacher, Mrs. Stott, was a fabulous teacher.  So kind and good with the kids.  And she taught them well!  Ethan will miss her.  I've heard from numerous people that the second grade teacher is the BEST and when I told Ethan that and how excited I was, he said, "I bet people say that about Mrs. Stott too!"

 Last day of first grade:

 Then this morning he came up and said, "Look at all my metals mom!  I'm wearing all of them!  Can you take my picture??"  Not all were from this year, but three were: his Tae Kwon Do metal (he did certain requirements during this unit of gym), his EBOB Champion Metal, and his Soaring Eagle Award Metal.  The Soaring Eagle was a big deal.  He earned it by doing 15 extra projects throughout the school year including reports, writing books, performing in a talent show at school, doing service etc.  He was the one who really wanted to earn it, so he basically initiated all the work himself.  I did lots of encouraging, but he did it all!

His report card was fabulous too.  Still reading lightyears ahead of his age...I'm grateful for the Advanced Placement Program for giving him opportunities for such a great year!  For giving him extra things to do when I so often have no idea what to do with this kid!  

Ethan, I'm so proud of you!

xoxo

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight