One of Carter's latest passions is paper airplane books… and then building every airplane in them. A little bit crazy… a lot of paper… and a lot of fun.
-
Meg ready to take on any weather at one of Carter's t-ball games
Meg copying Emma's scripture reading (so cute, although Emma has a hard time understanding it is a form of flattery. :)
Not worth the fight to try to get her out of the 2-sizes-too-big dress shoes for bed.
Went to pick Meg up from a friend who was watching her, and the older brother was taking her for a ride in his power wheels. A little glimpse of my feelings on a first date… good thing we have 14 years to get used to the idea.
Zach and a buddy spent the afternoon knocking down conkers (spiny balls with huge nut-like things inside) from our tree. They were having so much fun I figured it would be worth picking them all up later.
And Emma had a few friends over for sugar cookie making after her awesome mom forgot about a baking birthday party she was supposed to attend one saturday. Real mother of the year stuff there, I tell ya.
-
We headed up to Silver Lake with some other afternoon K friends on a beautiful fall morning!
We encountered all kinds of adventures… most notably a moose and her baby right on the trail! We of course observed from quite a distance and turned the other direction (much to Carter's dismay – he is quite the hiker and wanted to go "all the way around!!") Luckily he had plenty of fun throwing rocks, watching ducks, reading all of the signs along the trail, and finding the beaver lodge. Good day.
-
Once again we found ourselves in a scramble to find a fall baseball team for Zach, and this time we ended up playing in the Avenues league. This situation has the following great things going for it:
1- we are driving the opposite direction of traffic at 5pm. So the 25 minutes it takes us to get to the field is at most 25 minutes, not an hour (like our journey to Riverton last year!)
2- Zach is having a great time, getting to play on a bigger field with older kids, and is learning and developing more and more confidence.
3- there is a fun park with one of those crazy dangerous old-school merry-go-rounds, and usually an empty field for the littles to play soccer or baseball or just run around.
4- [after a very long, steep climb from the parking lot to the upper field] it has amazing views, especially at sunset.
-
Nate and Zach play a crazy (non-sanctioned) living room ball game while Meg puts her animals to bed on the table…Emma makes a crazy face to go with her crazy hat for spirit week at school (which was actually Meg's hat that Meg really didn't want her to wear!)Carter and I were playing military, and since he took all of the little walls for the guys to hide behind I built a couple with Duplos… then he had to build a huge fort and the whole time he kept saying, "I'm like Moroni! I'm protecting my city!"We squeezed in an hour at the NHMU between school and early t-ball because the kids had earned it with their summer library reading and I didn't have the heart to tell them no. Not sure if that makes me fun or crazy?And I somehow ended up with the job of tracking down bulk popcorn, bagging 215 bags of it (this picture wasn't even half of it), and passing it out to the school kids at lunch recess dressed in the clown costume of my grandma's I wore when I was 10.(I thought Nate's shoes were a really great idea until I went to take the costume off to walk in to pick up a friends' kid after school but realized his size 10's were the only ones I had. :)Carter came home with a "Class of 2026" t-shirt. Both the idea of it and the kid wearing it were adorable.
And, the swing part of the playset finally bit the dust. (Don't worry, no one was injured. We had removed the swings weeks ago anticipating this…) Meg kept saying, "Don't worry. Dad will tape it." -
With zucchini, there is no happy medium. Either you don't plant it, and you have none… or you do plant it, and you could eat nothing but zucchini from now until Christmas. After eating it as our dinner vegetable for weeks on end and then shredding and freezing enough for 20 batches of zucchini muffins, Carter went to work baking a double batch this morning before school.
He is a first-rate helper, and Meg cracked a few eggs herself. The end result was delicious – Carter can bake for me anytime!
-
Carter and I got to go for testing the Friday before he started school… and then (even though it was only 9:45am) we went to get ice cream at McD's.
Then the next Wednesday, it was time for the first big day! Nate ended up having the day off, and Carter was super excited to be the first kid who had Dad drive him to school for his first day of K.
I walked him to the playground where we hung out for a few minutes, then his teacher let us walk the kiddos inside to hang up their backpack and find their spot.
Carter seemed a little nervous, and when I gave him a hug before I left I thought he might not let go… but then a timer went off and out the parents went and he did great! And luckily Nate was there to take me out to lunch and help me out with my difficult transition. 🙂
The big highlight of his day was getting to walk home with the kids… I picked him up and walked him to Emma, and watching them disappear over the hill to the catwalk was harder than leaving him at the school! So of course I drove quickly home and Meg and I set out to meet them in the stroller. It made me smile to come upon them dutifully holding hands and him having so much fun. -
It was quite a surprise when Carter complained of a tooth that was hurting to find out it was very loose, and then not 5 minutes later, out it came! I love the combined surprise/excitement/nervousness that comes with a first lost tooth. So cute. (and excuse the sandy fingers, we were at a very sandy park. 🙂
-
And quite honestly, it's a bummer! I am a firm believer that you should not be in school on August 21. I miss the post-labor day starts of MN! It is what it is, however, and we had a good time with the traditional back-to-school family fondue night.
And yes, I realize that only 1/2 of Nate is in the picture… however, I think he'd rather have half missing than take another picture. :) Also, notice that Emma loves fondue so much that she is unable to stop eating for the 10 second timer. Really not kidding about that, this girl loves her fondue. And I love this tradition!
(Carter doesn't officially start till next week, but of course wanted to have door pictures today too.)
And then they were off… the morning went really smoothly, we were early for school, and Carter and Meg were thrilled that they served smoothies for the 'linger on the lawn' this year.
Carter reminded me as soon as we headed home that I had promised to take him and Meg to the 7 Canyons water area at Liberty Park after the kids went back to school (it is more for younger kids) – he has quite a memory, since I had promised him that the first week of summer! They had a great time (although I am not sure I love them laying in the questionably clean – although chlorinated – water…) It was a fun way to pass the day away since it is always sad for me to send kids back to school. Meg kept asking me, "Where are your guys?" which I finally figured out meant Zach and Emma… it was strange for all of us!
And before we knew it, it was time to pick up the big kids and host the annual root beer float first day of school party. I miss my MN friends each time we do it, but love that they introduced us to such a fun tradition. Perhaps one year we will take pictures…
Here's to a great year!
Site Title 