First Days of School

Here are my babies on their first days of school:

Ashley is doing Joyschool Preschool (the home rotating preschool). Here are the 3 kids with a big sister too. Two of the preschool kids were missing, so we'll have 3 boys, 2 girls and 4 different rotating mom as teachers. The first unit is the Joy of the Body followed by the Joy of the Earth. This is my third year doing it and I love it. www.valuesparenting.com/joyschool/

Emily started kindergarden at our public school Adelaide. She has Mrs. Thornell and is very

excited about school. Her grandma Hanks bought her a Hello Kitty backpack and so life is complete. The first week she had Red, Yellow and Blue days where each day the kids wore those colors, they learned a new color song and got to have a new crayon in their crayon box. She had to stay in from recess on Friday b/c she didn't do her work. She was alone in the class and was crying. Sad Emily and sad mom to have to hear that news, although I am not surprised. She is so easily distracted with everyone and every thing when she is not excited to do something.

Here's how I speak right to my husband's heart- I write it with 10 boxes of cereal!

This is how Aaron and I look most days, him tucked away in my green sling (my pouch). He loves being in it! I just wish it weren't so hard on my back!

Our cute selves

Bryan and Jono rock it on their balloon guitars at the firm party.

The before and after the girls gave him a haircut. The only bleeding was when I cut his ear- sorry babe! We used the trimmers on size 6.

Here's Bryan's "magnum" look. Or is it "blue steel"? I can't remember.

Thanks Fosters for the cute hat!

Our Tooth Fairy

Emily lost her first tooth yesterday! We were driving home from our road trip to Washington/Idaho and about 4 pm she said, "Mom, Ashley knocked my tooth and now it's really loose!" I handed her a paper towel and after a few pulls, she pulled her bottom right tooth out. She was so excited to tell the dentist and all her friends.

The tooth fairy came last night and brought her 2 gold dollars and 2 half dollars. She also left little pink sparkles on both the girls' beds. Ashley was mad and wanted the sparkles off, while Emily thought the sparkles came from the fairy's sweater and wanted to keep hers on.

Today the girls wanted to play 'fashion' and got all dressed up. At different points in the morning both girls were mad and said, "You can't be in my fashion," and the other girl would run off crying. Yet in the end they worked it out and even mom got to be included.

We had a fun trip to Pullman, WA and to Moscow and Couer D'Alene, Idaho.

Us 5 and Cameron and Spencer Hanks drove 15+ hours up and back and survived! We saw Drew & Kelly Hanks and their 2 girls, and Kelli and Jeremy Foutch and their 3 kids. We played on Couer D'Alene lake for a couple days- once on a motor boat with a tube and the other day in a paddle boat. In Couer D'Alene the girls loved learning about the Mudgey & Millie story and window shopping. They also loved playing with cousins and friends in the beautiful outdoors of the Northwest. The grown-ups did a lot of talking about what it means to follow Christ and enjoyed lots of good discussions and sharing of ideas.

Hot Summer Fun

This summer my kids have spent the most time in our garage. In our cul-de-sac neighborhood it seems that most moms are willing to let their kids play outside unsupervised if they stay outside within sight. In the summer that means either in the heat riding bikes or hiding underneath Beth's tree (the biggest one on the block), that is until they found my garage. I agreed one day to let them bring their Barbies outside and my garage hasn't been the same since. That half of the garage used to house Bryan's brother's car but since they returned to Utah and claimed the car, open play space. This week it's PollyPocketVille, last weed Build-A-Bear Land.

We have also played a lot dress-ups this summer. We have a lot so it's easy to do. Yesterday we had a theater day with 2 friends over and did "Three Little Pigs", "Three Billy Goats Gruff" and "Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo..." They had a blast. Here's Aaron in his first dress-up outfit, Emily as Tinkerbell (the flying fairy), Ashley as Swan Lake (the swimming fairy).

Emily's 5th Birthday

For Emily's 5th birthday we had 7 kids over for a water party. Every game and activity included squirting Bryan, which the kids loved! Emily said her favorite part was musical towels and Ashley said her favorite was eating cupcakes (which she didn't eat, but just ate the candy off the top). We were so glad to have family there to help out!For her birthday Emily asked for a sandbox and that is what she got. It's underneath part of the clubhouse/swingset in our backyard. As I swept all the sand off the bathroom floor I wondered if having sand inside the house should inspire me to give up sweeping altogether.

The other thing Emily wanted for her birthday was breakfast in bed. It was her first time and she loved it! Her requests were waffles, fruit and chocolate milk. Also, last week she found out from the dentist she has a loose tooth on the bottom right.

Aaron's Blessing

We had Aaron blessed in church last Sunday the 19th. Bryan's parents flew in from Houston, Bryan's brothers had just moved back to Provo from Texas, his grandparents and sister Stephanie's family came and my brother Garrett stayed after working at EFY. We had a house full of love and good food. In Aaron's blessing he was blessed with a sunny disposition and an even temperment. After all of the drama from the girls, we are excited about a child who will add some calm to the mix.

June Days

Our first family outing was to a park for Family Night. Teeter-totter fun.
The girls made Bryan ties for Fathers Day. Proud daddy wore them to church and looked so handsome!