Tuesday, July 26, 2011

First Day of School











It has come all too soon. EmmaClaire could hardly let herself fall asleep the night before that first day. And she was the first one to wake me up, much eariler than she needed to wake up. She gently touched my arm, I opened my eyes in bed and saw her fully dressed, hair done (to a 5 year old's perfection-beautiful!), shoes on, backpack on, and lunch box in hand. She whispered, "mom, it's time!"


Time to go to kindergarten. Something she's been waiting for and thinking about for a long time. And now she finally gets to be with the big kids and do big things.


After she came home that first day, I asked her how it was. "Boring" was her first comment, but I could tell by her smile that she absolutely LOVED going to school. And she was proud of herself for making a new friend already.



Mason loved being able to switch teachers half way through the day. He said it felt like going to jr. high. Abby said everything was good except that a few of her favorite friends were in another class. Good opportunity to make new friends this year.

Taylor had a bad first day. He forgot his lunch on the bus and lost it. Because of the new bus route, he got home much later than he did last year and ended up sitting on the bus for almost 45 minutes. Way too long for a 6th grader. He decided that on his way to school, he would use that time to read the scriptures. On his way home, he would use that time to get his homework done. Good plan!



Cheers to a new school year!





























Summer Fun 2011

Here's a few things my kids did this past summer that I don't want to forget!






Lots of beauty parlor with cousins. It didn't matter where we were or what we were doing. If there were girl cousins around, they wanted to fix each others hair.






A new game my boys made up. . . out of sheer boredom. They set up about 75 paper cups, then stood on the opposite side of the kitchen island and went for it. Ready, aim, FIRE! Rubberbands are a boys best friend.

















One afternoon after chores were finished, Mason decided he wanted to have a "snow cone" stand. Being well over 100 degrees outside, I talked him out of it. But every day after that, the subject came up again and again. . .so I finally said, "go for it. You set it all up, and you clean it all up." The first time he attempted (without any shade, without any signs), he made a few dollars. But that was enough to motivate him to do it again. The second time, he set up shade tarps (notice that the kids aren't exactly hitting the shade-ha), he made a big sign, and he made some cookies and homemade Popsicles to sell alongside the snow cones. Since no one was out-it being SOOOO hot, he sent the girls door to door to publicise. He ended up pocketing about $12 this time. That's BIG money for a 10 year old. And more than that, it gave him the opportunity to work and think about how to make more money. We had some good talks after that first encounter, and he came up with some good solutions on how to improve and make his business better. Mason is becomming quite the entrepanewer. All those games of monolopy are finally paying off!



Monday, July 18, 2011

Summer Awards Program

Tonight we had our annual "Summer Awards Program" for family home evening. It's something I grew up with and am passing on the tradition. Right before school starts, John and I congratulate each of the children for their accomplishments and talents during the past summer, then present them with a few gifts and items needed for the following school year. It ends up being somewhat of a 'Christmas in July', and the kids look forward to it year after year.

So tonight, after handing out all the loot and watching the kids organize, then reorganize it in their binders and pencil boxes, we sent them up to bed and told them to put all their things in their backpacks for safe keeping.

A few minutes later, Mason came down stairs with two Tupperware containers in hand that he had found in his backpack. . . . . from a school lunch. . . . . . 8 weeks ago. Totally GROSS! Lids were still in tact, and we could see hair growing all over inside. We laughed, then I told him he needed to wash them out since he was the one responsible. He went outside, turned on the hose, plugged his nose, opened the lid, and started spraying. I watched from the window, totally cracking up.

Then he came back inside and said, "Mom, those things need to go in the trash. . . I'll pay for a new one". Then he returned to the backyard and, with nose plugged and rubber gloves, he disposed of the Tupperware into the dumpster.

The funny thing is, that's such a "Mason" thing to do. As disgusting as it was, I wasn't the least bit surprised.

And hopefully he'll be a little more diligent at cleaning out his lunch box (on a daily basis, not a bi-monthly basis) this coming school year.

Gotta love that 10-year-old boy.