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!

Baptism Day!

The highlight of summer 2011 has been John's Baptism. We are so proud of the good choices he has made in his life. My handsome boys getting ready for the big event.

He was so excited!

And we were glad the whole family could be there. Jessica got home just in time that morning from Girls Camp!

Birthday Boy

June 16 marked John's 8th Birthday. How can my baby be 8 years old?????
Somehow his cake standards have gotten a little out of hand.

And somehow I was crazy enough to give in to his standards.

John and his buddies had a great time at his birthday party.

Poke Balls were found.

Tails were pinned

And mummies were created.

I think it was a success!

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.

Cake Anyone?

While Mark and I enjoyed our vacation away our kids stayed at my Mom's house. John's birthday was the last day of our vacation. So while he was at my Mom's house he told his Uncle he wanted him to make his birthday cake for him. Uncle Tom had already shown his talents with his own kids birthdays so John had high hopes.  And those hopes were far surpassed.

To follow the theme of his birthday party Uncle Tom made a Percy Jackson cake.

And John requested a 3 layered cake.  He actually got a 6 layered cake.

Look at the joy in that kids eyes.  I don't think I will ever be able to top this one.

Thanks Uncle Tom!

Seven . . . Almost

Summer birthdays -- Aren't they fun.  By the time you have them all your friends from school have forgotten you. Or you don't know where they live.  And since Mark and I will be out of town on John's birthday this year, June 16, we decided to celebrate early.  And because I'm not a party planner, and I'm tired we decided to take the boys to the dollar movie to see Percy Jackson!  Jessica and I have read the books, but John had only seen the movie.  I was so excited to do all the food in blue!  Until I realized the blue food is only talked about in the book and not the movie.

But they got blue food anyways!

We stuffed as many kids as we could in the van and then met a few others at the theater.

Thank goodness for good weather so the boys could play outside for a little bit.

I put gold laurel crown wreaths on their heads so I could keep track of who was with us.  The boys had fun and we all had a good time watching it again.

Happy Early Birthday John!

Red Butte Garden

Field Trip Time -- I think so many classes go on field trips in the Spring because the teachers need a break from the regular school day.

I got the privilege of joining John's First Grade class on a field trip to Red Butte Garden. In the 26 years I've lived in Utah I've never gone, so I was excited to see what they were all about.  Mark wanted me to go as a spy for Thanksgiving Point!  I didn't even know where they were located except in Salt Lake.

They rented a school bus so they didn't have to get as many drivers and chaperons to go. John was so excited to ride the bus until he got on with the other two first grade classes. He wanted to know why they would not be quiet.  So he and I hooked up the ear phones and listen to music to block out some of the noise.

We first stopped at This is the Place to eat our lunches.  It was a little chilly but the kids loved getting out to stretch their legs. We then hopped back on the bus for a short ride to the Garden.

Instructions are always important for first graders! They got the rules and regulations and then we were divided into smaller groups with a tour guide.

Mr. Mark took this cute group of kids around.  And we were lucky enough to get John's teacher in our group. He has loved Ms. Reyes-Cairo this year.

It was worth the trip just to see this view of the valley.  It was a beautiful spring day and you could see across the entire valley.  We learned a lot about plants and roots. Red Butte is on the side of the mountain so it was a lot of up and down hiking.  It was more natural landscaping than Thanksgiving Point has. Of course Thanksgiving Point will always be our first love since it does provide the monthly paycheck ;)

It ended all too soon and we were back on the bus to head back home.  The noise level did not go down much for the ride home.  But I did catch a few kids asleep by the time we got back to the school.

Webcam

This is what happens when he finds out how to use the webcam when I'm not around.
It gets funnier the longer he goes.  Don't miss Sponge Bob Square Head and kissy kissy is just for you, Melissa C!

Sensor Button

Wouldn't it be nice if we could put a sensor button on our children.  Know what they are going to say before they say it and then stop them.  John's latest funny . . .

I had hernia surgery on Dec 3.  I went from not even knowing something was really wrong to almost overnight not being able to eat.  My hernia had become incarcerated which meant from the time I really knew what was going on until the surgery I was on a soft foods/liquid foods diet.  That included Thanksgiving Dinner.  I enjoyed some mashed potatoes, squash, and stuffing.  But even that got me in trouble.  It is easy to stick to a soft foods diet when you know if you don't you'll spend hours on the bed in pain wishing it would just pass.

My doctor was concerned that it was going to be much bigger than they thought when they got in there, so no in and out surgery for me.  He had me plan on spending one night, but I got the privilege of spending two nights in the hospital.  I think he wanted me to stay another night, but the dollar bills were adding up in my head.

Just like any good church group, our wonderful Relief Society brought meals into our family for several days after I got home.  And the meals that were brought in were amazingly good.  At least the little that I tasted or smelled them.  I'm still not eating all regular foods yet.

Well, a week after surgery a sister in our neighborhood needed to pick something up from me.  I got it ready and gave it to Jessica to give to her since I still wasn't feeling fabulous.  The afternoon she came I was in the bedroom and both John and Jessica answered the door.  From what I could tell she was asking the kids how I was doing and if there was anything she could do.

THAT is when I wish I had a sensor button on John.  The next thing I hear out of his mouth is "You can bring us dinner."  At this point I grab my robe and decide to emerge from the bedroom.  By the time I reach the front room he is informing her that he does NOT like chicken enchiladas (the rest of us love them by the way) so if she could bring something else that would be great.  Now this is the type of woman that would probably have gone home and cooked something up and returned that evening with dinner.  Luckily I caught her before she left.  Mark's parents were actually at the house that afternoon to help me and had taken care of lunch and were planning dinner for us that day as well.

All I can say is out of the mouth of babes . . .  It only made sense to a 6 year old that every other woman who had come into the house that week had brought a meal, why not this one as well.

The Pumpkin Patch

Grandma Pat has started planting pumpkins every year in her garden.  For the last several years we've been able to get pumpkins from her patch.

She had a good crop this year, even if they are small.

Ashley and John were our official pickers.

And we had enough for her, us and several others.  Thanks Mom!

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!

Dinner Time Conversation

Thought you might enjoy part of our dinner conversation last night.  I have no idea where this came from.  Out of the blue . . .

John:  Are we rich or poor?

Dad:  We are not rich or poor, we are middle class.  We are just average.

John:  We need to become poor so we can then become rich.

Dad:  I think you've been listening to Obama too much.

Apparently in John's mind there is only rich or poor, there is no in between.

Too funny!

My Baby Turned Six!

It is really hard to believe this little guy and these little girls

Have turned into this . . .

And the girls turned into my right hand assistants during John's sixth birthday party today.

Because of our crazy schedule this week getting ready to leave town there was no time we could have his party when Mark was home to help.  I was a little worried about handling 6 six year olds, but we did it.

Pokemon was the theme.  We took a basketball Costco cake and turned it into a Pokemon cake

Gone are the days I try to create a cake from scratch, sorry bud!

The boys colored and played pin the tail on the Pokemon

The only time there was quiet was when their mouths were full

And he got from Mom and Dad what he has been dreaming of for months, don't ask me why.

The much wanted skate board!

How many injuries will occur because of this gift?

One and counting so far!

But to get the true affect here is a video of one of his first try.  Don't ask me where he learned to do a trick already?