First Day of School

Every year I am so excited for school.  I love the excitement of new beginnings, and new learning! 

I also love shopping for school supplies...maybe not a good thing, but I love the smell of new pencils.  As they mention on "You've Got Mail", I would love to have bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils around--maybe next year I will do that.

I started taking the kids pictures in the same places so I could have somewhat of progression/growing shots.

                     2011                                                            2012

 

Joy School 2010                                                 First Grade 2012

 

 

Kindergarten 2010

First Grade 2011

 

Second Grade 2012

 

  

 

2011        (baby)                                                                    2012 (toddler)

 

Ready to go!

 It is now tradition that daddy walks with us on the first day of school.

 Now we have 2 Adelaide Tigers.

 Even though Audrey did Kindergarten at home, she already has lots of friends at school (saying hi to Beau).

 Look at her beam.

Staycation

 Christian was able to take some time off for a last of summer vacation.  We toyed with the idea of driving to California and spending time with family and the beach, but in the ended decided not to drive and to stay and have fun here.  It was our first ever "staycation", and it was a BLAST!
Day 1:  We started out by going up to Snowbird.  We did all their summertime activities including the tram--which is a ski lift type tram tram that takes you up to the summit of the mountain where you can walk around and enjoy the gorgeous view of the mountain ranges and valley below.  so cool. There was also, a high-wire ropes course, bungee trampoline, rock wall to climb, an alpine slide, a mountain coaster (a ski-lift chair on a zip line), and bounce houses.  It was SO fun to spend all day letting the kids do these activities as much as they wanted, and all the while being up in the fresh air and beautiful surroundings.
Day 2:  After an exciting day yesterday we took it easy--riding bikes, and playing at home until afternoon when we went to the zoo.  They have a new harbor exhibit there with seals, otters, a polar bear, and black bears that we wanted to see.  The exhibits are well designed where you can see the animals close up, which was great.  Also, their polar bear loves the attention.  It swims up to the glass where the kids are pressing their faces to, and pushes off their faces to swim backwards in the the water...and he does it over and over again! So funny.

 

Day 3:  Ready for another exciting day, we took the kids to Cowagunga Bay, a newish water park in Draper.  It is pretty small, but they use the space well.  There water slides, a pool, a lazy river...all the necessities for a full day of water fun.

 

After the water park we drove home to change, shower, and pack an overnighter bag to spend the night with our good friends up in Park City. They had found a fun condo to share there.

Day 4: We went up to the Smith & Moore (lake) area to hike around for the day.  Aside from Chad being tired it was great fun.  We got to play in the stream with friends, found a snake, and watched Steve try to catch a fish with his bare hands.

We love enjoying the great outdoors with friends.  After our hiking we ate lunch at a fun roadside diner that had great BBQ food. Then we walked around Park City and played at a local park before dinner and swimming. 
Day 5: Time to come home for Church and a day of rest.  What a great staycation...the perfect mix of excitement and relaxation.

Flying Saucer

How about something new on this good old blog.

Derek built a flying saucer...although I think his perception of what flying saucers are is a bit off.

Derek, " Look, its a flying saucer...it flies through space saucing everything"

Toothless...Sort Of

Derek's grown-up teeth grew in before his baby teeth came out. So for about 8 months we lovingly called him Smiley Shark. However, last month Derek went into the dentist for a check up. They said the baby teeth had to come out. Derek was brave, and is no longer our Smiley Shark. Love you Derek.

Welcome to the Island of Sodor

It is hard to believe my little boy has passed up the 5 year milestone and moved on to 6! I figured this would probably be the last year of his Thomas infatuation, so I had to go all out...no detail left undone.
I sent out these custom made invitations tucked into really cute ticket envelopes (didn't get a picture of those)

Guests were welcomed to the party by the Island of Sodor welcome sign and fun balloon tunnel/arch.

While guest were arriving the children played with tracks and trains at our first station, "Great Waterton station."


After playing with trains we traveled to Braithwait Station where we played "Sir Topham Hat Says." Christian (aka Sir Topham Hat) got a kick out of making all the kids scream.

Our next stop on the island of sodor was a quick run to Tidmouth Sheds (the dessert table) to gobble up the melting treats. I decorated the "sheds" with my new favorite pendant banner made from scrap material from the quilt I made Derek (so he could hang it above his bed after the party), and the awesome picnic tarp that Aunt Natalie sent Derek from Japan. They made the table quite festive.

The Otter Pops and Rice Krispies were the ones melting all over the beautiful dessert table, so they were the first to be eaten.



After all the children were refreshed we went to the Center Island Quarry to play toss the bean bags into the silly freight cars. Every one did a fantastic job.

Shining Time Station was next. There we decorated picture frames with favorite Thomas and Friends characters, Sodor sayings, and railway signs. I also took pictures of each child with Thomas to fill their new frames (they were sent to them later as thank you notes).

A few more snacks and some pizza...

Then, we moved along to Knapford Station to play "Pin the Party Hat on Thomas."

Lastly, it was cupcake and present time. Derek was thrilled about ALL of the presents; thank you to everyone!

As our friends traveld home from the Island of Sodor they took these cute favor bags with them. Each bag had a CD of Derek's favorite Thomas songs (with custom CD label), a train or star cookie cutter, a star straw, a Thomas notepad, and sucker. Then the children could fill their bags with the candy from the jars on the dessert table.

Quoting the D-Rex

Derek climbed into the seat of the motorized shopping carts on our way into Lowes. As I was putting the other kids into the shopping carts across the entryway Derek shouts (just to make sure I can hear his question) "Mom, what are these ones for? FAT people?"
Thankfully there were no "fat" people entering at the time.

#11 First Day of School

Derek loves kindergarten! He loves the new friends, and especially when the boys roll down the hill in front of the school and knock each other over.


Audrey loves Joy School still. She is excited to have another girl in the group this year. She loves being the "know it all." As much as she loves Joy School, she still wishes she were really in Kindergarten.

The Orange Bears

The Orange Bears (D-rock's T-ball team) won the Salt Lake Bee's "Field of Dreams" drawing. So, he and his team got to go to a Bee's game, go down on the field, meet the players and stand next to the players during the National Anthem, introduce themselves over the mic on the field, and tour the dugout and underground workout/practice facilities. Not too shabby for Derek's first year of playing baseball! Derek was quite taken by the fact that they had bed's in their locker room, and that they get to sleep underground!



Also, they had the kids stand in the position they played during the season (during the National Anthem), and although the T-ball kids didn't really have positions Derek was sent to home plate. After the Anthem the referees formed their huddle around him to discuss the game. It was sweet. Too bad Derek had no idea what a great privilege that was.