Blue Jeans Week 32

We are getting into the school routine here.  Getting to bed earlier, getting homework done, getting up earlier.  Not all of this is to everyone's liking, but such is life.  We live and adjust and find joy in our journey together.  Some shots from our week. . .

Sunday:  We try to really make this a relaxed day.  Miss E and Miss O tackle a puzzle Sunday evening.  All my kids like puzzles.

Monday:  Mr J is in a silly stage right now.  He loves to be silly and make everyone laugh at his antics.  He is always telling me "Mom, take a picture of me!" and then he makes a silly face, then he instantly wants to look and see the picture I took, then he laughs and says, "Take another one!"  So this is just one silly shot of many of my boy. 

Tuesday:  Got a picture of Mr J with his 1st grade teacher.  Luckily his silliness just seems to stay at home and doesn't manifest itself at school--yet.  That is one thing I hope doesn't change :)

Wednesday:  Mr J was laughing at one of his sister's today about something.  What a cutie!

Thursday:  Miss E with her 4th grade teacher.  She doesn't look so sure about herself here, but the school year seems to be going well for her.  She says her teacher is 'Awesome!'

Friday:  After school Miss E takes some time to read some books to Mr J as they relax at the beginning of the weekend.  Weekends become much more special during the school year.

Saturday:  Went up to the city today to do some shopping.  Hit Costco, which is our favorite store, and Ben was trying to fit everything we bought plus the 4 kids into the van before we headed home.  It was a tight fit.  I was glad I was driving and not in the back :) That is our stock-up store.

Confident

In May my newly turned 6 year-old started piano lessons.  His teacher is the same one I had lessons from in junior high and high school.  She is awesome.  When new little kids start she likes to have a parent there for the lessons so they know what the kid is supposed to be doing, and she will make specific suggestions to help them with their technique and such.  It has been fun to go with him.  But a few weeks ago I couldn't stay, and Ben was still at work, so I told Mr J that he would have to have his lessons alone today.  He looked at me very calmly and said, "It's okay Mom.  I can handle it."  Then he hopped out the van and ran to his lesson.  I had to laugh, but luckily he was out of the car so he couldn't hear me. 

I am glad he can handle it, and I hope that confidence stays with my boy.

Blue Jeans Week 31

Let it begin. . . school started this week.  I have very quiet days, but we have crazy busy evenings and weekends.  That is life right now, and I am grateful for it.  I love my life.  Hope the beginning of school goes well for all of you.

Sunday:  afternoon relaxing and listening to Dad read in the front yard. 

Monday:  The girls have been on a God's Eye making kick.  They decorated my kitchen light with their awesome creations. 

Tuesday:  Miss E relaxing and reading--enjoying one of her last days of summer.  I think she was too absorbed in her book Dealing with Dragons to notice the blanket had fallen on her head.  As long as it wasn't over her eyes so she couldnt' read, it didn't bother her :)

Wednesday:  Back to school party #1.  Miss O had her back to school party today. They had a relay race and this was their "school" work station where they had to quickly finish a math worksheet.  The girls had fun. 

Thursday:  First day of school for Miss O, Miss E, and Mr J.  Miss O has her bag of Kleenex ready to go.  Who would have thought that Kleenex was such an essential school supply :)

Friday:  Miss A has her first day of school. 

Saturday:  Our 2nd and final back to school party this week.  This was Miss A's party.  They had fun playing volleyball in the backyard.

Well, I am happy to have back to school parties over and school actually started so we can get back in to a "normal" (whatever that means) routine.  I am a schedule and routine person, and school lends itself to that.  Spelling tests, research papers, and math quizzes here we come!

Blue Jeans Week 30

So we are getting caught up with things here.  Re-entry was a little rough, and school starts this Thursday!  So we are going crazy trying to get 4 sets of everything needed for school and names on everything--what would we do without sharpies??  But life is good, crazy, chaotic, loud, tearful, and insane at times, but still good.  Hope yours is too.

The last leg of our trip was definitely very relaxing.  We were at my grandparents' cabin in the mountains.  This was the glorious place where our van temperature read 43 degrees the morning we left.  We were sad to leave.  This is Mr J with his great-Grandpa "Grum" putting peanuts out for the birds to eat. 

And then Mr J watched and watched and waited for those birds to eat those peanuts!  It took them awhile, the birds must have been very busy else where that morning, but they eventually did come, and that made my little boy very happy :)  The joy of little things like peanuts and birds!

We all enjoyed lots of rides on the 4-wheeler through the mountains.  Ben and Miss O head off.

And sadly all good things must come to an end, so here we are happily (ha, ha, yeah right) heading home.  If I had a quarter for every time someone asked "how much longer?" or "Are we there yet?" we could retire next week.  It is probably a miracle my children are still alive at this point. . .

Wednesday, August 10:  But they are, thankfully, still alive, and even more amazing than that fact is that we actually had a garden that was still alive when we got home.  Miss O picked this monster of a watermelon when we got home today.

Thursday:  And Mr J really missed his train tracks while we were away, so today he covered my living room with an awesome train track, and even better he cleaned it up by himself without complaining (and that is not an extremely common occurrence at our house, is it at yours?).  Love that boy!

Friday:  Mr J loving the tree swing!

Saturday:  I am loving my surprise lilies!  So fun when they pop up!

So hope you all are well and that beginning of school goes well for all!  My kids are ready and excited to go back, and I, for one, am very excited school is starting--my to do list gets longer and longer every day.  Monday through Friday 7:45 to 3:45 with no kids--bring it on :)

Catch up--Blue Jeans Week 29

2nd week of vacation, and apologies to our dear friends in Utah that we weren't able to see--with all Ben's family (7 siblings) and all my family and activities we just didn't have the time to see everyone we wanted to.  I hate not being able to see friends, but you can only do so much in the time you have, so forgive us friends, just come see us! :) 

At Ben's parents one of the favorite activities was racing balls down the stream. 

One of Mr J's highlights was riding on the Frontrunner train and seeing a freight train or "real train" as he told me "Mom, that is my first time seeing a real train outside a car!"

"And they are really loud!"  he yelled at me as it went right by and he covered his ears. 

Loved riding on the train with his cousins!

The Frontrunner was really run!  It is a commuter train, and we were able to go "on the top story" as the kids told everyone after. 

Did some hiking in the beautiful mountains!

So fun to go hiking with Grandpa and cousins!  We don't get that opportunity often in the flat lands!

So loved being with Ben's parents--they are amazing!  We love and miss you so much Grandpa and Grandma!  Come see us soon!

We made it a priority to get to our Alma-mater--haven't been there in years.  Ben was super excited to see the football stadium, he just really wished we could come back in a few more weeks to see a game--that would be fun.  We told Miss A when she gets there to school (in 5 years!) that we would come see a game with her.  Love BYU football--can't wait until they start!  Rise and Shout!

The "Y" on the mountain.  We were planning on hiking up to it, but it was too hot--we were wimps, so we went to the Art Museum and got ice cream at the creamery instead :)

The kids at Bridalveil falls.

Got to spend some time with my younger sister and her family.  They had to dig up some of their yard for an addition, and this sand is their soil!  I couldn't believe it.  They made a ready made sandbox by just digging up their yard!  That was mind boggling to us from the clay soil capital of the world!  Miss E had fun being buried in the sand by her cousins.

Miss E got to play some pool with her great-Grandpa!

Loved spending time with my grandparents--my kids great-grandparents.  I am so blessed they are healthy and happy and still around for my kids to treasure for a while!  What a blessing to see them!!

Relaxing at the pool--a vacation is supposed to be about relaxing, right?  Sometimes I wonder. . . :)  Mr J was perfecting he "cannonball dive" as he calls it.  "Mom!" he calls, "take a picture of my cannonball dive!"  Got it--that is my job :) 

Stay tuned, more to come. . .

Catch up--Blue Jeans week 28

So I am trying to catch up after being gone and digging myself out of our laundry mountain and back-to-school supplies, so here goes. . .

Sunday July 24:  This was pioneer day and as an activity Miss A figured out the dimensions of a wagon and then the kids filled it.  Of course the requirement before this activity even began was they had to put everything away they got out :)  Not really a lot of room to put all your possessions in, they figured out they would have to leave a lot of things behind.  A good lesson.

Monday July 25:  Went to the city today and Miss O found online where an Orange Leaf self-serve yogurt was before we left.  If you haven't been to one of those, they are really good, but expensive, you pay by the ounce, and they have so many cool flavors you have to get a little of each. . . $12 for 2 yogurts, ouch! 

Started our trip--we stopped at my youngest sisters house along the long drive.  It was good to see them and their cute house in Russell right before they sold it and moved to Dodge City.

How we kept ourselves (semi)sane on the long drive to Utah--volleyball at the rest areas :)

One of the biggest highlights of our trip was seeing my brother and his family.  He has 4 boys, and triplets in those four.  They are so cute!  On the way home we asked the kids what was their favorite part of our vacation, and all of them said "playing with the triplets" or "trip-pel-lets" as Mr J says it :)

Another highlight was getting to hear Music and the Spoken word by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir live with Ben's dad.

So awesome live--better than any TV or CD--amazing!

Keep tuned more to come!