Homecoming Parade

We had our parade for Homecoming this morning at 10 am.  I went to the HS to ask about the parade route, and was told it would go past Grandpa's house.  (where all the parades go past).  So we gathered chairs & carried them to the street.  And shortly after 10....we saw the leading car go straight from the High School towards Main Street, instead of turning to go past Grandpa's house. 

So I quickly hooked the stroller to my bike & pulled Emmalee & Ben to Main Street.  The floats had just turned around & were headed back the other way (back to the school).  Thankfully, they still had candy (Emmalee would have been a little disappointed if she would have missed picking up candy!)

I literally had not come to a complete stop when I turned my camera on to take this picture.  Then I quickly unbuckled Emmalee so she could gather the candy.

The Freshman Class Float

"Hi Mom!!!"

Caden & Josey are Freshman royalty (in the back of the truck)

Zane is on the front of the Middle School float--his hair is orange,

He threw us some candy--and then when we got home, he asked where the cinnamon bear was that he threw to us.  I told him it was probably already in some one's tummy.  He only threw it to us so he could eat it!! 

Luckily, Callum had just picked it out of the bucket & was getting ready to eat it----and being the nicest-brother-with-a-cinnamon-bear-ever, he gave it Zane.

After the parade, we cleaned up the living room a bit, & then Josey came for piano lessons.  After the lesson, I made a yummy lunch of mashed potatoes & gravy, fried chicken breast chunks (that I had made a month ago & froze), corn-on-the-cob (from Uncle Jack), and veggies w/ranch dip. 

I laid down with Ben for his nap, and then went to the football game at 4.  Although Richfield scored the first touchdown, we dominated after that, winning 54-24.

It was 6:30 when we got home, so I let Benjamin (& Emma & Callum) play out back.  We had a "snack/dinner" (find your own) while Rusty chopped some wood with the wood splitter.

And I finally got to watch "Survivor" that I recorded on Wednesday night.

Now it's time for me to hop into bed.  Actually, I usually sit & roll into bed.  Good night :D

Homecoming Week

This week is Homecoming for us (I know--it's really, really early in the year!!)

And that means dress-up days.

Monday was Career Day.  Brienna dressed up as a doctor/nurse.  She was wearing scrubs, but since she leaves before the sun gets up (and I guess before I get up too), I didn't get a picture of her.  And when she got home from school, I was already teaching piano lessons.  When I was finally ready for a picture, she has already changed out of her costume.  So I told her she will have to get dressed up again so I could post it here (and so I will have pictures to scrapbook)

I did get pictures of Zane (because I am up by then).  Can you tell what he dressed up as?

A CIA agent :D

Today (Tuesday) was Rock & Roll day.  I sounds fun, but it was harder to find clothes for rock & roll (because we don't have an Elvis costume).

So they went with the 80's theme.

Brienna has some attitude!!!

She went for the Cyndi Lauper look.

Thankful the "attitude" was just an act--she really has a great attitude (after all--she was on her way to early-morning seminary).

She thought her hair was a little too big, but I told her to take it from an "expert"--it could be a lot bigger :D

Zane went for the guitarist look--punk/colored hair & his wonderful "electric" (battery-operated) guitar that he borrowed from Benjamin.

We put purple hair spray on the sides & black on top.

At lunch time, I added a blue stripe between the black & purple (you can't see it in this photo).

Tonight is Beefcake Volleyball, & tomorrow is Powder Puff Football.  Brienna said she will go & cheer, but has no desire to play football :D

Tomorrow and Thursday dress up days will be much, much easier:  Camo (as in camouflage) day & Orange & Black.

The bon fire is Thursday night, parade is Friday morning, and the game is Friday afternoon. 

Emmalee's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday (Monday, Aug. 30th) was Emmalee's 1st day of school.  Emmalee was so excited to go to school.  All I had to say to her was, "Emmalee, are you ready for kindergarten?" and she jumped out of bed.  She tried to get dressed while she was still rubbing her eyes & waking up.

She decided to eat breakfast at home in case she didn't like the breakfast that was served at school (free for all students).

When we started walking to school, it wasn't raining, but by the time we got there (2 small-town blocks), we were soaked.

It rained/sprinkled most of the morning.  Here she is outside of the school.  Emmalee is excited that she is finally in the same school as Dad & Callum (pre-school was held at the High School).

Can't you just see her excitement & anticipation oozing out!?!  Her teacher (Mrs. Nelson) is in the background.  Mrs. Nelson is also a new teacher (just out of college & first year teaching). 

She found her seat (because we visited her classroom a couple of times including Back-to-School night last Wednesday) and couldn't wait to use the things in her pencil box.

We decided to let her stay all day on a trial basis.  P.E, additional art projects, computer time & other "fun" activities are in the afternoon after Kindergarten is "officially" done at 1:30 pm. 

I missed having her at home, helping me & Benjamin (teasing & bugging him), but I'm glad she is so enthusiastic about school.

She was ready for a snack (Raisin Bran cereal) as soon as she came home.

So how was my first day with just me & Ben?  I still don't know--Callum was sick & stayed home on Monday, & Zane was sick today (Tuesday) & was home all day.  I went to town today to get some shopping done.  Benjamin came with me, and it wasn't nearly as "bad" as I thought it would be.   I guess shopping with just 1 child isn't nearly that bad (it's just been a long, long, long, time since that has happened).

1st Day of School--for 3 Children

Okay--I'm just a tad-bit slow.  School started on Wednesday (Aug. 25th) and I'm just now (Thursday night) getting around to posting the kids' "1st Day of School " pictures

9th grade (yikes--a Freshman)

Brienna was up bright and early (looking mighty cute) ready for early morning seminary.  I drove her to the church at 6:30 am (yes--that was a bit earlier than I have been getting up all summer!!)

Zane is in 7th grade.  Our middle school has 6th-8th grade, so he wasn't nervous about school.

He finally gave me a "real" smile (after a bit of teasing).  His reply when asked how his first day went:   "Awesome!!!!!!!!"

My little baby Callum (ooh--he is going to be mad at me for saying that) is now in 4th grade.

He has a brand-new teacher (new to the school, fresh out of college & 1st year teaching).  She told the class that she is 22 years old (almost a baby herself!!!)

He was excited for a new school year.  I love his wonderful smile.  It was wonderful (and a bit sad at the same time) that he no longer needs me to "stay for a little" during the first few days (or weeks) of school. 

I remember how hard Kindergarten was for him--I stayed one to 2 hours a day, until almost Christmas that year.  Each year I stayed for shorter amounts of time, and not as many days, until last year.  I only stayed until school actually started.

But this year--if I didn't want a picture of him by his classroom door, I would NOT have needed to even go to school!

Now Emmalee's first day of Kindergarten is Monday (Aug. 30th).  So I will be posting pictures of her.  She is too excited, and would have loved to have gone to school already.

I am a little torn about what I am going to do with her this year--let me explain.  Our school is on a 4-day school week, so the kids go Monday thru Thursday, from 8 am to about 4 pm.  Which is a long day for anyone, but even longer if I let Emmalee stay the whole day for Kindergarten.  Our Kindergarten is officially "half-day" (8 am to 1:30 pm and they eat lunch at noon).  But we have a grant that allows the kids to stay to the end of the day.  They have P.E. from 1:35 to 2:05, and then other activities (enrichment & "fun") the rest of the day. 

I'm just not sure if she will be too tired (and cranky) if she stays all day.  (I can go and pick her up anytime after 1:30, so she could just stay for P.E.).  But then Rusty asked me if she is helpful at home.  I told him, "She helps tease Benjamin!"  Really she can be helpful at times, and does play with Benjamin for 5 minutes at a time, but a lot of the time she is bugging & pestering him.

So our plan:  try the full day for a week or 2, and then if it isn't working, cut back a couple of days (Monday, Wednesday) or pick her up after P.E.

I'll let you know how it works.

By the way:  we (our family, kids, teachers, community) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the 4-day school week!!!  I enjoy having the 3 day weekend all the time.  It makes up for the long school days.

It's been a BUSY Summer!!!!

I must say I've been a slacker--not blogging all summer!!  I plan on re-capping our summer once school starts & I get back to a more "normal" routine.

It's our County Fair this weekend.  Zane has been helping a classmate with an extra lamb.  He showed it last night at the fair & earned a Blue Ribbon.

Almost every morning & evening he has helped catch, feed & walk the lamb.

This was his first time showing an aminal at the fair.

I am so proud of him!!

Here he is holding the lamb as the judge checks & judges the lamb.

The Clark Co. 4-H lambs.

Emmalee's Primary Song

Last month, Emmalee learned a new primary song:  "The Golden Plates"

(It is a song about the history of The Book of Mormon--find more information at HERE)

So for Family  Home Evening, she decided to sing it for us.

She started singing into the microphone (when she sings--she likes to get the karaoke mike out).

♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ The Golden "Eggs" lay hidden--deep in the mountain-side ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

We had to explain to her exactly what the golden plates were.  She had seen pictures of the golden plates, but in her mind, she thought a golden plate should look like this:

It certainly was cute, and if I had thought about it, I would have videoed her singing it with the "golden eggs", before correcting her ☺

Ben's Entertainment

The last blog was about the kids' entertainment--so this one is about how Benjamin entertains himself.

He looks innocent enough--

sleeping (resting up so he can get into more mischief) so peacefully

He can even play nicely with Emmalee's doll

Although it looks like he is hugging the doll, he is actually getting ready to throw it.

Is he actually saying "Ha, ha, Emmalee!!!  I have your dolly!!!"????

Now, back to the other day when the kids were entertaining themselves.

As soon as I walked in the door, Brienna said, "Mom--Benjamin got into the paint."

While they were helping Emmalee clean up, Benjamin took the opportunity to grab the bottle of green paint--and paint the carpet (remind me not to let him pick new carpet!!). 

Brienna started to clean it up, but found that she was just smearing it into the carpet & making more of a mess then Ben did.

I had already started scrubbing the carpet with soapy water & got 2 of the biggest spots clean when I remembered that I was supposed to be documenting Ben's adventures.

So this is just a "drop (of paint) in the bucket" of what kind of mess he really made.

I love how he just sat by me & watched me scrub.

I scrubbed & scrubbed, & then scrubbed some more--until my arms were quite sore.

And I still have a tint of green in my carpet :(

After my arms were rested up, and we had said family prayer, I decided to work on the dishes while Rusty was putting Emmalee to bed.

So while my back was to Benjamin, (and Ethan was sitting 10 feet from him--facing him), Benjamin decided to help himself to the sugar--

The bench was pulled out just far enough to make the perfect step-stool for him.

I'm surprised he just didn't dump it all into his mouth.  Thankfully, he just spread it all over the table & played in it.

Bedtime didn't come soon enough for him that night!!!  (Although I don't know why I let him rest up & dream of other "adventures" he can get into ☺)

Another day, another adventure!

I sure love my Benjamin!!!

Kids Entertainment

The kids are usually pretty good at entertaining themselves.

Brienna is really good at helping to entertain the younger kids ☺ (thanks)

Here she is the horsey to the 2 cow-kids on her back

So the other day, I asked Zane to put the paint away that he had left out on the cupboard for about 3 weeks.

But he decided he wanted to paint some of his cars.

So of course, the other kids wanted to paint too.  So I dug out some of my wood scraps/projects & let them paint.

Meanwhile, Brienna decided she wanted to make "Muddy-Buddies" (Chex cereals, peanut butter, chocolate & powdered sugar)

After everyone was settled into their projects, Rusty & I decided to  steal-away to our land for some peace & quiet (really, we hadn't seen each other more than a few minutes in passing--and dinner time--all week).

So we left the kids to their projects, instructing Brienna & Ethan to watch the 2 youngest.

Brienna took pictures for me--Emmalee is painting a little wooden heart stool I found at DI.  She started out with pink, but changed to green (Sherrie--you would love it!)

Callum is painting a bigger stool (that I found at DI), but it isn't put together yet.  He picked blue, since it is my favorite color, & one of his favorites too.  (Because I told all the kids that both stools were to share--not just for Emmalee & Callum)

So I came home & everyone seemed happy.

Benjamin doesn't usually stay still long enough to sit on anyone's lap.

But he is starting to become a "ham" whenever I get my camera out now.

So you would think that we had a nice, relaxing evening following the projects???

NOT!!! 

Laundry

I made the mistake of saying the other that I was "caught up" on laundry.

I am NEVER going to say that again. I scrapbooked all weekend (so no housework got done), the boys "cleaned up" their rooms (about 6 loads of dirty laundry--I kid you not!!!), sheets were changed & towels tossed into the hamper. YIKES!!! I don't think I'll ever see the bottom of the hamper again ;)