Firsts!

We've had quite a few firsts lately - the firsts of the firsts being the first day of school! (say that ten times!) This was our first take of all the kids before the boys left for school.

It was considerably better than the second!

Not only were they excited for a new school year, but this was the first year that I've let them ride bikes to school. (I made them wait until the second day, though!)

Carter started the first grade. His teachers this year are Mrs. Hanover and Mrs. Rouintree. They are a duo that I've been super impressed with. It should be a great year!

Isaac started the fourth grade. His teacher is Mrs. Melsted. She seems really nice and he has enjoyed being in her class. He also just got voted on to Student Council as one of his class's representatives.

In they go!

Isaac still lets me hug and kiss him at the door. What a good boy!

A week later, Ashlyn had her first day of preschool. We're doing another co-op with friends this year and so far she loves it!

Here is the first that we've all been waiting anxiously for. Ian's first day of nursery! Hooray! Church has taken on a whole new meaning! If only they had nursery during sacrament meeting....

Carter has been after us every week for the last two years to sign him up for karate. It finally happened! This is his first day. He looks pretty fierce to me. Watch out!

We've only been a couple of times, but it seems to be everything he hoped for and dreamed about!

Exciting times!

NOT a travel log - It was time!

Ashlyn always talks about "when I'm a mom..." It's not the usual excitement over babies, etc., it's more like "When I'm a mom I'm going to say to my kids 'Go take a nap'" or "When I'm a mom I'm going to make you (that would be me) change all of my babies' diapers." Today I was making her strawberry and chocolate milk (my kids like it mixed - yuck!) and she wanted to spoon it in. I told her that I got to do all of the exciting jobs because I'm the mom, but that I'd let her stir. So of course, that led to "When I'm a mom I'm always going to say 'No, I get to put it in.'" I then told her that when she's a mom, I'm going to be a grandma and that I would spoil all of her kids rotten and then send them home for her to take care of. She quickly replied with "You're not going to be a Grandma, you can just still be a mom and share my kids with me. That way you can take care of them when I want to go to the store and do things." Remind me not to live next door!

Carter's homework load has significantly increased from kindergarten to first grade and he's not loving it. You know, it takes five minutes to do, instead of one. Sheesh! One of the things he had to do yesterday was write who the characters were in his reading book in a complete sentence. It's on a worksheet that says "Characters:" and then is followed by a couple of lines for the answer. When I was checking his work, I saw that he only wrote "Bear and kangaroo" - not a complete sentence. After much boohooing, he finally brought me back his worksheet to check. Instead of erasing what he had written and starting over, he added a "The" in front of the preprinted "Characters" and a "were" after it. He was pretty proud of himself and I couldn't help but laugh. "Very clever," I said, "but nice try." School could get interesting with him....

Ian LOVES reading books. Especially with his Dad. The moment Eric walks in the door, Ian is following him around with a book. He can't sit down, or Ian will be on top of him, with book after book. It's not just a few. Last night was the same, but Ian is getting more demanding. Instead of going to Daddy, he expects Daddy to come to him. He grabbed a book, went and sat on the couch, made eye contact with Eric, and then starting patting the couch harder and harder - staring more and more intently with each pat - until Eric caved and went to him. Then he gave him a big smile and snuggled in for the story. He knows how to get what he wants!

Isaac starts soccer practice today. He's really excited and wants to do anything and everything he can to help himself get better. He's been riding his bike to and from school everyday and was ready to trade it in for his feet and jog, but I refused to let him. It's near child abuse letting him ride his bike in 110 degree weather, I'm not letting him run! Eric and I have been pretty quick on the uptake with this one. "Did you know that lifting trash bags and vacuuming is really great exercise and will help you get stronger for soccer?" This is going to be a great season!

Spoiled Isaac!

My mother-in-law has been after me for over a year to send Isaac to Texas to spend some time with them over the summer. I finally caved, thinking a week wouldn't be so bad, but she insisted on TWO! Besides me missing the kid like crazy, I had no idea what they were going to do with a nine year old for two weeks, but Eric and I said okay. We were all set to say "I told you so" when he was whiny and bored after the first week, but I think Debbie knew that and wanted to insure against it. They stopped off at Inner Space Caverns before they even made it home from the airport and that was just the beginning! Here's the short (or rather long) list of their activities while he was there. I'm sure I'll leave something out!

-Inner Space Caverns
-Movies
-Fishing
-Playing cards
-Playing Wii
-Driving the tractor
-Air show
-Zoo
-Ranger's game
-Beach
-Eating out (Eric is still jealous about King's Inn...best seafood ever!)
-Drive-in Theater (at home)
-staying up as late as wanted
-Cars 2 on the xbox (Thanks Uncle Anton!)
-Etc.
-Etc.
-Etc.

No responsibility, no little siblings, no problem. He was living the life! He also spent some of his time in Waxahatchie with Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Anton. That's where he did the zoo, air show, and Ranger's game, with a little xbox in between. Heaven!

I asked him, of all that he did, what his most favorite thing was. He was waffling between the beach (even though he, Cecilia, and Jennifer all got stung by jelly fish) and Inner Space Caverns. While he thought, I asked him about the baseball game and he said THAT was his favorite thing and then went on to excitedly tell me all the details of the suspenseful ending. Debbie and Jen sent me a few pictures, but said they didn't get very many because they were just too busy having fun. Here's a few that they did get.

Panning for gold

Driving the tractor

Nice fish!

Isaac and Cecilia at the zoo. Apparently Isaac soon became "My Isaac" and Cecilia was stuck to him like glue. He loved the attention and loved spending time with his cousin.

Eric and I were proved way wrong and two weeks was barely enough for that kid. I kept asking him if he was homesick, but nope. Not a bit. Now I want to know when it's my turn! Thanks so much for taking such good care of my boy and spoiling him like crazy!

While Isaac's away....the rest of us will play!

We took Isaac to Phoenix airport to fly out to Texas because Tucson didn't have non-stop flights. Our first stop was my brother Steven's house to see his and Cyndi's beautiful new baby, Lilly, and drop their son Tillman off - who'd been partying with us for a few days. It's the only fun thing we let him do with us before we shipped him off. That and our impromptu family picnic that night.


All six of us kids happened to be in the Phoenix area that weekend for different reasons, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get together. We met at the park for a couple of hours then went our separate ways. Good times as always!

We enjoyed Aunt Cari's pool for a day then went home and packed up for St. John's. We went to Aunt Kimmie's house for the 24th of July celebrations. Her most ingenious idea of the whole weekend (plus a little - we got there Wed. and left Mon.) was setting up their monster tent for all the kids to sleep in. They were in heaven, we were in heaven. Brilliant! Cari's family came up, too.

We love their snowcones and they have the BEST snowcone maker ever! Thanks Kort!

Carter's only packing request was his cowboy hat and boots. He and Trace are all snazzed up for the family dance. That's Carter's "You bet I'm a tough cowboy" stance.

The parade took the cake for most rewarding.

It got a little crazy....

...but was totally worth it. They brought back a haul of candy!

Last time we were at Aunt Kimmie's Carter wanted to jump off the diving board soooo bad but just couldn't quite talk himself into it. He was fearless this time and quite proud of himself for making the plunge. I was too!

Ashlyn and Ian had a great time in the baby pool.

The swimming pool wasn't the only place the kids got drenched! We had a huge rainstorm that we LOVED!

I actually got a little chilly sometimes. I LOVE St. John's weather in July! Beats Tucson for sure.

Yogurt anyone?

Monday morning we loaded up and met Grandma and Grandpa at Roosevelt Lake for some fun motorboating (as my kids call it). We brought a couple of extras along with us. Carter was begging for Trace and Cody to come home with us so we threw them in. We could actually make it work this time, so it was fun to be able to say "yes!".

Grandma on the tube with Trace and Cody

Me, Trace and Carter. Trace LOVED the tube. He was on almost every ride. Carter was nervous at first, but was soon riding as much as Trace. Cody rode it a little, but Ashlyn and Ian didn't want anything to do with it.

However, Grandma was able to coax Ashlyn into the lake to swim. Almost everytime we'd change riders the kids would jump in and swim for 10-15 mins. It was a lot of fun.

The rocking of the boat made Ian really nervous and the life jacket drove him crazy. But once we got him hooked up with a licorice he was able to calm down and fell asleep.

Trace and Carter

Pretty cute drivers if I do say so myself!

Cody chillin'

We had to work up to Carter riding by himself, but he did it and even let Grandpa go faster than 2 miles per hour. Yay Carter!

Grandma's greatest accomplishment of the day was getting Ashlyn to lay back. She would have never done that for Eric or I. I guess that's why we have Grandmas!

Cody, Trace, and Carter

Trace and Carter were having fun and being silly as Grandpa pulled them in to the boat ramp. Fun times together!

From Lake Roosevelt we detoured through Thatcher for a couple of days before we went back to Tucson. Grandpa and Grandma took us up to Mt. Graham one of the days for a picnic. Ian loved the corn on the cob.

Carter's a pretty strong dude.

Three crazy boys!

I just can't get over how cute he is!

While we were on the mountain the boys talked Grandpa into hiking to the Bear Cave.

The trail seemed a little rougher than just a year ago when we did the same hike, but we all managed it with no major bumps or bruises.

Ian had the best seat of all!

The kids were all impressed with how good Casey was at hiking. I was pretty impressed with me and Grandma!

We had a lot of fun in Thatcher and kept it up back in Tucson with Trace and Cody, but my pictures have run out. Someday I should learn how to get them off of my phone. We texted pictures to their mom of riding in the lawn mower wagon to get snowcones, getting eaten by an alligator at the Wildlife Museum, etc. Awww the memories! The best part, though, was going back to Phoenix to pick up Isaac. I missed my little boy!