My Little Fishes

One hour a day, Monday through Friday, eight weeks, 4 Swim Meets = Summer Swim Team

This year was the first time all three kids participated. (insert me doing a happy dance!)

And John received Heat Winner for boys his age in his heat for freestyle!

 Way to go buddy!


Ashley did great starting off the block this year!

And Jessica tackled 100 meters (4 laps) in breaststroke and freestyle.

We are so proud of our little fishes!

Back To School

With the end of August comes the beginning of School.

So glad to have the kids on a schedule again and not hearing them tell me they are bored every 10 minutes.

Not so glad for the 6am alarm every morning and homework every night.

I guess there is good and bad to everything.

John started 2nd Grade with Mrs. Allen

Ashley started 5th Grade with Mrs. Harris

They both started on Monday.

That gave Jessica and I time to go shopping for some Jr. High clothes.

And Jessica started 7th Grade and is now in Jr. High.

Wow, how did that happen???

Loving having a school bus take her everyday!

We have such cute, smart kids. So proud of all of them.

The Final Swim Meet

I love that the girls are on Swim Team in the Summer!

I don't love having to take them everyday to the pool.

So it is always a happy/sad day when the end of July rolls around and we have the last swim meet.

Ashley is getting ready for her heat.

Jessica preparing for the backstroke heat.

Do you like my shadow in the picture!

The girls both did great and received medals at the end of the meet.

Next Summer I think even John will join them on the team!!

School Programs

You can tell it is getting to be close to the end of the school year.

We are starting to have lots of programs to attend

Jessica and Ashley finished up their ballroom classes.

Here they are with the group trophies they earned this year.

The second year group did a really fun 50s number 

And here are all the first and second year students after doing a wonderful performance. 

I think Jessica was excited/embarrassed that her beehive class came to see her.

She had a great cheering section!

And we've attended the 6th grade play.  This year they did Pinocchio and Jessica was a puppet master!

Field Trip

Jessica has been looking forward all year to this field trip.  Every year the sixth graders go tour the State Capitol while the legislature is in session.  Both Mark and I wanted to go too, so we both went as chaperons.  Because the kids go to a Charter School they normally need a ton of chaperons to help drive and supervise.  But for the first time ever they rented a charter bus so they would not need as many drivers.  There were 55 sixth graders and about 10 parents and teachers on an old school bus.  It has been a long time since either Mark or I have been on a school bus.  The noise level was out of control!  But it was a lot of fun.

The weather was great and we had a wonderful view of the capitol as we came up.

We first met in a small area on the first floor and met with Representative Brad Daw who fielded highly intelligent questions from the sixth graders.

We then broke into smaller groups and went and sat in on the House and the Senate as they debated some bills.  Then each group broke off and toured the Capitol building.

What an amazingly beautiful building

And the grounds were just as beautiful.  Especially with these cute girls touring around.

And we didn't even know there is a Vietnam Memorial at our Capitol.

After our tours the excitement really began.  The Governor's nephew is in Jessica's class, so his mom made special arrangements for our kids to have a private meeting with Governor Herbert.

And Representative Daw joined him as well.  Again the sixth graders had not so intelligent questions, but he was very kind to answer them all.  Even stood for a picture with all of them.

And we met him in the Gold Room.  It was beautifully decorated.

And if that wasn't enough excitement for the day we then got to go over to the Governor's Mansion and his wife gave us a private tour of the building.

 It was fun hearing all the stories about this amazing building.  The kids especially liked all the ghost stories she shared after a little begging.

So after a very full day we all got ready to board the bus only to find out it would not start.  We had to wait for a replacement bus to arrive which took about 45 minutes.  Thank goodness it was good weather so the kids could be outside.  We got back to the school about 30 minutes after school got out, but I don't think any of the kids cared.

Jessica's Birthday Party

Jessica fell in love with the movie Hairspray, so she decided that would be her birthday party theme this year.  We bought cans of hairspray and wrapped these invites around them.

I've never been very good at back combing hair, but we tried our best to get some lift in the girls hair dos.

We gathered all the makings for a really good movie night

And added a few friends

And I think the girls had a great time!

Hopefully we didn't annoy the neighbors too much.  This is what Mark thought of all the noise of a house full of tweens!

And that his oldest is turning 12 in a few days.

The next day we stopped by the mall for her birthday present from us.

Pierced Ears!!!  She barely even flinched when they did them.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Jessica!

Singing In The Rain

Last Sunday we had an awesome thunder storm.  We had sent the kids outside because they wanted to bounce a ball and it was driving us crazy.  About 15 minutes later we heard the thunder and rain come.  When we went out front we found the kids playing in the rain storm in their PJs

But we could not stop them from having fun.

Mark decided to teach them "Murder in the Dark" how he played growing up.

When a car came down the street they would yell murder and drop to the ground.  If you get caught in the headlights of the car you are out.

The next day I found out the neighbors behind us could hear our kids out front.  It was one of those magical nights you could not take away from the kids.

School Carnival

The kid's school carnival this year was the week after school started.  Mark took the kids because I was still on crutches.  They had a blast

They had some great games.  And the big hit is always getting to ride the golf carts with the teachers.

John participated in the donut eating contest.

You wouldn't think it was that hard to eat a donut.

But he ended up having a stare down trying to get the donut to behave.

But at last he conquered the donut!

And what would a carnival be without a cake walk!

The kids love this event every year.

We as parents have other opinions, but we know they don't count!