First Official Day of Kindergarten!

FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!
She did it!  She survived the wait!!  Erika has had to be very patient, waiting for several amazing things to happen.  One of them being her first real day of Kindergarten!  It finally came!  She was thrilled.  It was fun to see her cute smiling face come around the kitchen corner this morning.  She was glowING!  She got ready real fast, had everything she needed all ready to go, new outfit, new shoes, she was so set!  It was so much fun for her!  I say "for her" because I was kind of dying inside!  My baby girl is growing up way too fast for me!  Losing teeth, READING, and going to school!  It's hard to let her go!  Jack is with me on this.  He is really struggling with the idea of Erika being somewhere that she can't entertain him.  But either way- she is going, and she LOVES IT!!  She was so brave when we got there, went right into her line, big smile.

Kate showed up and stood right there next to her.  When it was time to follow Mrs. Piper into the school they just walked off like a couple of big girls!  It was so cute and so sad at the same time!  If I hadn't been so busy today I may have lost it a few times.  So maybe it's a good thing my house is a wreck and I'm trying to get it under control before I have this baby.  Erika came out with the biggest smile on her face, gave me a big hug!  Told me all about her amazing day!  She just loved it.  Can't wait for tomorrow too.  I'm so happy for her.  She really has been looking forward to this day for a lot longer than just this week.  I'm so glad she finally gets to have her own thing and day to talk about.  It's fun to see her so happy with it all.  She made up for the lost time with Jack when she got home- they played so hard!  Giggling and laughing for a good hour before she ditched him again to play with Kate.  I was glad he got some time with her.  I can't believe she's so grown up!  8-27-15

"FWEE!!!"

"FWEE!!!"
I can't believe Jack is three!!  My baby boy is growing up!  Lucky for me, he still seems little :).  He's been milking the baby stage for all it's worth :).  We're glad.  He had a pretty easygoing birthday, since we had celebrated the night before, there wasn't a whole lot on his actual birthday.  I loved watching his big brother and sister (Noah and Erika) making his sign that morning and everyone doing their best to make it a special day for him.  We did have to go visiting teaching... not his favorite part of the day... but then we rewarded ourselves with a delicious churro :).  Jack and I spent a lot of our time reading and cuddling while Erika was at Kate's house.  He doesn't love it when Erika leaves, so we try to make the most of the time.  I think his favorite time of the day was opening all of his presents from his big brothers and sisters that evening.  I wasn't around, we had a fireside for the big girls and I, but Nate took everyone to the dollar store and they all showered Jackie with gifts.  I loved it when I got home from my meeting after the fireside, pretty late at night, he was so excited to show me "my stuff"!  It was so cute.  He loved the claw thing the most.  Slept with it even.  He's such a sweet little guy.  I love him.
Jack has grown up a ton in the last couple months.  Most likely because he's getting a little sister soon- that's how it usually goes- but it's been fun to watch him kind of break out of his little shell.  He's been talking a lot more, loves to play with his little friends on our street, Liam and Will.  He's been way into the toys lately, keeps him busy for hours!  He loves the park, walks, the "driving game" with Daddy, reading books, sleeping in mom's bed, his sister "gah" (he shortened ga-ka to just gah), chips, yellow, bubbles... he's really just a fun, easygoing little guy.  For the most part.  He's very interested in what is going on around him.  He always asks, "What you say?" or "What say?" when we're talking on the phone or through a drive thru.  It's cute.  He is the best cuddler.  Awesome hugs and kisses (even on the lips!).  He's just a fun little boy.  We're so lucky to have him in our lives.
8-25-15

These pictures are actually from the day after- I can't believe I didn't get ANY the day OF!  Bad mom.  But he had a lot of fun with his gifts that morning after, making bubbles and grabbing things with his claw thingy.

Finally got a picture of him doing his "three" with his hands and his sign that Noah and Erika worked so hard on :)

And Kelly surprised him with yet another gift (she had missed out on the shopping trip the night before so she bought him something the next day.  He loves his "pooh".

Jack's Pre-Birthday Party

PRE-BIRTHDAY PARTY

We had too much going on the night of Jack's actual birthday, so we planned his party for the night before. He was all for it once we started talking about what his party was :).  It was so cute to get him all excited about it and have him looking forward to things.  He was THRILLED about his cake!  He was right there with me almost the whole time I was making it.  The look on his face when he saw the finished product (after falling asleep and missing the actual train making part) was priceless!  That's always the cherry on top for me :).  I loved that he loved it.  He was anxious for presents once we filled him in on that.  Once Nate got home, it was time to get ready to go.  We planned to have the party at Heritage Park with the splash park.  When we got there there was only one person under the pavillion and she said she didn't mind letting us use two tables because she was getting ready to leave anyway.  Shortly after that, a big group of people showed up and took over the other 4 tables in the pavillion and put up balloons and banners.  I thought I was being so generous, letting them use the other half and all of us just sharing, and of course, WAY later on in the evening, it was pointed out to me that THEY had reserved the pavillion!!!  I hadn't even seen the sign that said reserved.  So embarrassing.  I felt so dumb.  It was so nice of them not to say anything to us and that they were so generous with the tables.  Never again.

Anyway though, back to Jack :).  He was such a happy little camper at his party!  He was anxious to eat his cake, mostly the clouds and the train, so we quickly blew out the candles and let him at it.  We did need to kind of hurry with it being a school night, but I felt kinda weird just letting the little birthday boy call all the shots.  He blew them out in the middle of the song so Nate re-lit the candles and we let him blow them out again at the end :).  He loved it.

He then requested that it be present opening time :).  I loved watching him open his presents!  He was so happy with each gift and so pleased and thankful!  It was so sweet!  I loved it.  He got a lot of fun stuff!  It's fun for Jack to get his OWN toys.  He has so few of his own.  He was so happy about the whole thing and all the attention he was getting.  Kind of unusual for a 3 year old!  I'm not complaining though.

We had a lot of fun visiting with all of his party guests, and everyone had so much fun on the playground together.  I felt so blessed to have so much support from our family.  I don't know if I give them enough credit for all the love and support they all show us and our kids... I mean, we have a birthday almost every month!  And most of them come every time.  It's really cool.  We are very blessed!  8-24-15

First Day of School!!!!

Charity Marie 8th Grade- favorite class: Office Assistant

Kelly Christa- 7th Grade  

Favorite Class: Mr. Bridges

 (he has a microwave and toaster in his class room so if you want to bring food that needs to be warmed up you can do it in his class and eat it :)  He's SO COOL!)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

What an exciting day it was!  It was like Christmas Eve the night before, and then a little like Christmas morning the day of!  Noah went to bed an hour early, then woke up around 5:45!  Everyone else had a hard time falling asleep but woke up way sooner than they needed to :).  They were so excited!  There was a special feeling in the air- Jack could sense it so he decided to be extra squeaky so as not to miss out on any extra attention he may have needed ;).  Everybody got ready so fast!  We had so much time to kill it wasn't even funny!  I was happy I remembered to write my little letters to the kids and had those ready to go.  Charity and Kelly were first.  They wanted a ride and I was happy to give them one :).  Tradition.  (well, what am I saying... the tradition is to walk them to school on the first day... not happening this year :) )  It felt so much better this year to drop Charity and Kelly off together.  They are nothing alike and I'm seeing that more and more everyday, but they really are two peas in a pod still- they're like a set- they go together.  Didn't leave me in quite the funk that I was in last year.  I was still nervous for them, don't get me wrong- heck, I'm nervous for myself just walking around in a Jr. High- but I feel better knowing they're together.

Bradley Nathan- 5th Grade

Mrs. Moncur

Luke Daniel- 4th Grade

Mr. Flynn

(he's weird)

Noah Cole- 2nd Grade

Mrs. Lindsey

Just a funny picture of Noah to blackmail him with later :)

Erika Ruth- KINDERGARTEN!

Mrs. Piper

We drove everyone else really early too- I couldn't think of any more antics to kill the rest of the time we had.  Worked out pretty good because I was able to walk them all to their spots around the school to stand in lines.  They all gave me hugs and then we made it back to the Kindergarten just in time for Erika's orientation.  

Erika and Kate- big school kids now!

  I was so pleased with how orientation went this year!  For the last... well... I don't know if I've ever been able to sit and enjoy Kindergarten orientation.  I've always had a grumpy little toddler with me!  In fact, it's created this block in my mind for enjoying it.  So I was pleasantly surprised with how well Jack did today!  He is getting to be a GOOD, big boy.  He followed Erika around and talked about everything.  That was it!  I was so relieved!  I needed him to be that way today.  I love Mrs. Piper.  This was reconfirmed today.  I think she is the best teacher I have ever witnessed.  And that's saying a lot!  Erika LOVED school!  She is going to die waiting for Thursday!  She looked like a pro though.  I was so proud of her cutting job on her little apple that she colored- for a minute there I was worried she didn't know how to cut- thank you big sisters!  Almost made me cry a little when I realized that I just have awesome kids.  Heavenly Father has blessed me so much!  We finished up at the school, went to the store for cake stuff, and then spent the rest of the day making Jack's cake and watching Princess Sophia :).  It was a short day!  I was glad I looked at the clock when I did- we almost didn't pick the kids up on time.
Everyone seemed happy still!  I think it was a successful first day of school!  I loved hearing about all the box tops Mr. Flynn's class already has and how he told Luke in confidence about the ACTUAL total.  Bradley reassured me that Mrs. Moncur is VERY nice.  He seemed to enjoy the whole day, gave me lots of details!  That was fun.  Noah didn't say a whole lot, but he was happy- that's all that mattered to me!!  There was a new friend he talked about who kept talking too much :), one of the important things of the day :).  Charity and Kelly came home a little later, and filled us all in on the happenings at the JR. High.  Lots of power outages, no air conditioning, in fact, heat coming from the vents in the gym, Charity gave us the ins and outs of office assisting, and Kelly's new favorite teacher is Mr. Pozzouli!  It was a very good day!  I think we are going to have a good year!  I feel very optimistic about it all!