First Day Of School!

We started school about a week and a half ago.  The porch light is on because Jack left early for his new school.  We are sooo blessed to be in a carpool with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood.  He was in school for a week before I drove!  I hope all the other moms are loving it as much as I am, one of the hardest things about letting him go to the other school was the driving everyday prospect.  It was a bit of a rough start, Jack feels homesick for his old school.  But he's starting to get the hang of the new rules and procedures and getting into a good homework groove.  The kid does as much as he can in the car on the way home.  Maximizing his time, that one is. 

You can see here that this girl is thrilled to start second grade!  She was beyond excited.  The funny thing is, neither of these girls even saw their brother that morning the start times are so different.  She is so independent this year.  She says she wants me to go with her to school, but then takes off so I am just watching her from a distance, or running to keep up. 

People keep asking me if Sophie is sad to see the kids go.  No, no she isn't.  With them gone she has run of the house and can try and sneak into the stuff of theirs she isn't supposed to play with.  She can also choose to watch a movie without negotiating or compromise.  She is looking forward to her neighborhood preschool we are doing.  She is a bit bummed that the first place they are coming is our house, but she'll have fun.  Also, we are in the throes of potty training right now.  She is doing really well, she is telling me when she needs to go of her own volition.  I am thinking in a few weeks we will be there.  We did go shopping on Friday and did have to go in many public bathrooms.  She is terrified of falling in the toilet, so when out and about she makes me really hold her on the potty, which is fine, but awkward.  I'll take it over diapers though.

In The Zone

Football season officially started at the beginning of August.  Jack is playing padded football this year rather than flag-and the kid is beyond thrilled.  These are some shots from the Jamboree his league had last Saturday.  Jack is the one with the long white sleeves.  He is a back on offense and a linebacker on defense.  The kid is in heaven. 

It was great to see them play at the Jamboree and I am even more excited for the games.  The girls and I have been at practice so much this past month-we are anxious to see the fruits of their labors.  Don't they all look cute in their pads-it's funny how small some of them still are.

We also have this guy out on the field with the freshman this year.  This means three football games a week for the next 2 months.  Plus any other high school or college games we try and hit.  It will be crazy!  I have everything all scheduled out though and am ready to go.

Freezer Jam

We recently had a Relief Society Meeting about Canning and Preserving food, and freezer meals.  I have done freezer meals before, and I have always liked how they turn out.  But I have never canned or done any other preservation.  So, knowing my tendency to start out too big,  I decided to pick a small easy sort of thing.  I bought a lot of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and mangoes, and made some freezer jam.  I dragged Nate into the project to cut the mangoes into chunks and help bag up in freezer bags all the fruit we weren't using in the jam.  We used the Bell Freezer Jam pectin, because it was recommended at the class.    We made two varieties, strawberry mango, and raspberry blackberry.  It didn't take all that long, and I have 11 jars total, which is plenty of jam for us.  Maybe another time I will try some actual canning.

Haircuts!

Isabella decided she wanted to donate her hair again.  So last Friday, we went to Cookie Cutters and she donated about 11 inches. 

Sophie also decided she wanted a haircut.  She got about 4 or 5 inches cut off.  She was very excited and felt very grown up about it all.

 Bella's short hair is working out so nicely for gymnastics.  I am so used to her with long hair, I was a little worried at first.  But I gotta say, I really love it short.

This is Why All the Kids Love Him

Happy Birthday Roger-hope you have a great day!  All the pics I have of you are with the nieces and nephews and they are always having fun!  We are glad you love being an uncle!

At the Qarium

That is what Sophie called the Aquarium.  My grandma came and visited us for a week and we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. It isn't a very big aquarium, but I think that worked out well for us.  Too big and everyone would have been worn out.

The kids liked everything we saw.  The aquarium is in wings-one that had local Utah fish and wildlife stuff, one that is ocean related, and a South American wing.  The kids really loved the penguins!  They were the most active penguins I have ever seen.  They were all swimming and jumping and playing.  We could have watched for a long time.

This is the biggest lobster I have ever seen.  You can kind of see Sophie there at the bottom of the picture for scale.  It was huge.  They also had an anaconda, which Jack was very excited about.  He is consistent, that kid.  He decided anacondas were his favorite in kindergarten, and has stuck with that ever since.  I think he has done at least four anaconda reports over the years.

We didn't take a ton of pictures while my grandma was here-but we had a great time and I was really glad she got to come.  We played cards, she read lots of books to Sophie, and watched the kids at their practices.  I am sure she was worn out by the end of the week.  We went up to Park City and rode the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster, and Ziprider-not grandma, she watched.  My Aunt and Uncle were up there vacationing and invited us up.  It was a really fun day capped off with swimming and BBQ.  Alas, I have no pictures, I forgot my camera.

Baking Cookies

The girls really wanted to make cookies a few weeks ago and Nate thought it was cute and took a few pictures.  I didn't remember he did until I downloaded from the camera, I love that the two pictures he got show how it always goes, Jack trying to sneak in and torture his sister.  And Sophie has a big poof of flour all over her nose.  The cookies were good, we didn't even let them cool to slap some ice cream in the middle.  Next time.