1st day of school

I cannot believe that summer is over. I am looking forward to a schedule again, however I will miss having my kids home with me. They are getting to such a fun age. I miss them when they are gone all day. But I will not miss the extra fighting. I guess school just makes you appreciate your kids more!!

Haley's is in 4th grade this year. Her teacher is Mrs. Watkins. I think it will be a great year for her, she has several cute girlfriends in her class. I cannot believe she is growing up so fast! Marianne is not going to know what to do without Haley around all day!

Scotty is in 2nd grade. His teacher is Mrs. Ellison. She looks and sounds like she is about 12. Seems like a good lady. None of his friends are in his class this year, but I told him it is a good opportunity to make new friends and he seemed to be great with that. He is not shy and makes friends very easily. He was so funny. He walked into my bathroom and said, "look mom, don't I kind of look like a teenager?" I had to giggle. Indulge this kid in just a shirt and pair of shoes that he wanted and he is happy as a goat!

A Death in the Family!

Well, our story begins on Monday at Family Home Evening, or Hamily Fome Evening which Scotty called it for years and still does every once in a while. Scott and I thought it would be a good idea to set a family emergency preparedness plan. I had just had some training on our ward and stake emergency plan and realized that we do not have a family plan. Pretty simple and easy HUH? Well as we ask the kids where a good meeting place would be if our house ever caught fire, or where they should meet if their was an earthquake or other disaster while they were at school. Their little minds started going wild. Scotty was obsessed with "what would we do if someone tried to break into our house and they had hunting dogs?" I tried to explain to him that that would not likely ever happen (at least the hunting dogs part). Haley was just traumatized that we might all get hurt or lost or killed. She broke down in tears, which scared Madeline and soon we had two kids crying. We tried to explain to them that most likely nothing would ever happen, but we needed to be prepared just in case it did. Anyway, not sure how well that went over. Not sure they were ready for such a heavy topic. But we made some meeting spots, and wrote down our plan. And Madeline ended up sleeping with us!

Ok...getting back to the "death in the family." Haley got her first pet, which is a crayfish named circles. She got her from school and has taken good care of her all summer. Scott has also fallen in love with circles and claims that circles is his pet not Haley's. I think with all the talk of earthquakes and floods, circles got a little uneasy and decided to crawl out of her bowl. Somehow she dropped about 3 feet to the ground and made her way into Haley's closet. If any of you are savvy with crayfish, they can only be out of water for a short period of time. So, needless to say, Haley went to get her shoes Tuesday morning and found her crayfish lying right next to them stiff as a board. Oh, she was hysterical. It was really sad actually. It was sad to see her go through her first experience with death. All I could do was hold her and comfort her. She did better as the day went on. We had a little burial for Circles in our back yard, after many pictures were taken. I will post those later. So, best wishes to circles who is on the other side!

He Finally Lost a Tooth!!!

Scotty has waited a long time to lose a tooth. He was the only one in his 1st grade class that had not lost a tooth or even had a loose tooth. This really weighed on him. But, he finally lost one a few weeks ago. He was so excited he ran to the sink to wash the blood off his tooth and the tooth went down the drain with the blood. Not to worry, he was not too devastated. He just knew if he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy, explaining what happened he was sure she would still come. And the tooth fairy did not disappoint.

Faces of Summer!

These are the adorable faces found around our house this summer...

Who knew Marianne had a little homey in her. Isn't she the cutest gangster you have ever seen. (thanks Kyson for letting her wear your hat)

Missy is a little fish! She looks like this about every day!

Who knew Haley could fit into such small spaces? Have you seen how long her legs are?

Marianne and Scotty are my early risers. They are often awake for a couple hours by themselves, watching movies, eating breakfast and having fun!

Roasting Marshmallows and Night Swimming

In June, Scott got the itch to try out his dutch oven that he got for Christmas. So he lit the coals on the BBQ and let the kids roast marshmallows. They were in heaven! As he got the dutch oven going we realized that we would not be able to consume the whole cobbler our selves. And who likes left over cobbler? It is just not the same. So we decided to invite our friends the Craigs to eat cobbler with us and swim. By the time we called them it was already after 8pm, but they came and we had a wonderful time. By the time we finally dragged the kids out of the pool it was well after 11pm. I am sure our neighbors were not happy! I feel bad because I did not get any pictures of the Craigs. We had such a great time talking that the camera was forgotten. It is great to have good friends that will indulge in a spontaneous, late night of fun!

Roasting marshmallows is serious business. Look at that concentration!



Marianne loves the pool. She is constantly asking to put her "swim soup" on!

The kids love to play with the boogey boards in the pool. Scotty has gotten really good at surfing on them.

Summer Fun

At the beginning of the summer we ventured to the Mormon Fort, which is right downtown in Las Vegas. Not exactly the best part of town to be out and about alone with your 4 kids. But we went and had a great time. I told myself that I am going to do things this summer that we have not done the last 7 1/2 years we have lived here. We tend to stay in our little area and only venture out when company comes and makes us. So this was the beginning of our summer adventures. Despite the fact that it was in the 100's and most of it was outside the kids had a good time.

The kids humoring me for a picture! Aren't they adorable?

Scotty loved this old plow. I think he was meant to live in the old days where he could roam outside all the time and find lots of adventurous things.

Haley and Madeline of course loved looking at all the beautiful flowers.

They have a small museum that told the history of the Mormon fort. It was fun to learn about how they settled Las Vegas. The kids loved this soldier. They were trying hard to be stern and professional like him.

These two are just too cute for words!

Haley and Scotty decided to take a break in the soldiers quarters and play a hot and sweaty game of checkers. It was seriously hot and stuffy in the tiny quarters. I am not sure how they survived the summer with no air conditioning!