kindergarten

Lydia started Kindergarten on Friday.  She has been very excited, I drove all the kids so that I could walk her into her class, she got a little clingy as I was saying goodbye, not bad, just a few more hugs than she normally gives.  I stayed at the school and worked for the twins teacher for awhile, as I was leaving she was lining up to go in from recess, so I got to say Hi to her before I left, she seemed as happy as can be.  Hailey and I walked to the bus stop to pick her up after school, she looked all grown up getting off the bus, she said her favorite thing was P.E. and she was so excited that there were 3 recesses.  She keeps asking when she gets to go back to school, so I think she liked it.  It was a little weird coming home to a quiet house, but kind of nice too.  I am pretty excited for her and all the fun she is going to have.

First day of school

Today was the first day of school for everyone but Lydia.  Kyle and Hailey head out the door a few minutes before 7:00, Hailey is in 6th grade at the Middle School and Kyle is in 8th Grade at the Junior High, their schools are right next to each other. 

Kyle seemed to like all of his teachers, but said some of the classes seem like they will have a lot of work.  He had fun seeing all of his friends again, he is taking Spanish, he had fun showing off his new Spanish speaking skills to Marc, it seems like it will be a good year for him. Hailey also liked all of her teachers, several of them commented on her being Kyles little sister, she has the same teachers he had in 6th grade, she is also taking choir again and is excited about that, I think she will have a great year.

The twins catch the bus at about 8:20, and get home a little bit before 4:00.  They are in the same class again, and they have the same 4th grade teacher that both Kyle and Hailey had, she is a wonderful teacher so I know they will have a great year.  They said they played some fun games and had fun seeing friends again.

Lydia has to wait until Friday to start, she would have like to start today with everyone, but I like having her at home a couple of more days all to myself.

Summer vacation week 10

Our summer is over, the kids will start school on Tuesday, it sure went by fast, but it was definitely a good one, we looked over our summer bucket list this afternoon, we didn't get to everything we had wanted to, but we did a lot of it and quite a bit that we didn't even have on our list.  Our last week was a good one.   One of the art projects the kids really like to do at the end of summer is painting a mural of the summer, this year they painted our family vacation, it turned out really well.

 Lydia got to go Monday night and meet her teacher she seems pretty excited, we took her out for frozen yogurt afterwards, it was fun talking about her about all the new adventures she will be having at school, she is going to do great.  Tuesday the kids were finally able to do their summer play, they have been working on the play Snow White with the neighbors for quite a while, it was fun to watch, they are very creative, and did a nice job.  Kyle wanted to do a play and of course the girls wouldn't let him be in their play so he wrote his own play called the taco stand, it was also quite entertaining.

Riley was Snow White and Hailey was the wicked witch

 Nicole was the mirror

 Katie, Nicole, Lydia and Maddy were the dwarfs

Thursday kyle got to go and get his schedule and locker at the Junior High, he had fun meeting up with friends, his schedule seems pretty good, but he will have to work hard he has some hard classes.
Friday Marc took the day off and we went on a hike and did some back to school shopping.  We had heard of a nice little hike just of the freeway on the way to North Bend where there are some Outlet Malls that we like to shop at.  The hike was perfect for young kids, and there is a pretty waterfall at the end, we had a nice time hiking and visiting and enjoying nature.

We did some shopping, everyone got shoes for school and then we drove home, the kids have been wanting to sleep on the trampoline so we decided this was the best night, we roasted marshmallows and the kids slept on the trampoline, I don't think they thought it was as fun as they had hoped, of course they all ended up in the middle on top of each other, but it was a fun way to end the last Friday of Summer vacation.

Summer Vacation week 9

Only one week left, this summer has flown by.  Kyle had scout camp this past week so he was gone Monday through Saturday afternoon, Marc went with him Monday through Wednesday.  It wasn't a regular scout camp it was called an LDS encampment, there were  3000 young men from 14 stakes at this camp, so they spent some time on scouting requirements, but also were able to have really great firesides each night.  Kyle said it was dusty and hot, but that he had a great time.  Some of his favorite activities were the water activities, they kayaked and paddle boarded, he also seemed to really like doing the riffle shooting merit badge, he said he was a pretty good shot, he was also the camp dart throwing champion, he did darts on the first day and was the top score and he went and checked at the end of the week and he was still the top.  His favorite fireside was by the man who coached the rugby team that they made the movie Forever Strong about. 

These are the only pictures Marc took while he was there.

Kyle got a pretty good cut on his arm, he was jumping over a tree and fell and the branch cut him, not quite deep enough for stitches just butterfly bandages.

He was a little tired when he got home, this is their cam shirt the theme of the camp was the 2000 stripling warriors

 

While the boys were gone us girls had a great time.  We watched a lot of movies, including the High School Musical movies, they played with play dough which is one of their favorite activities that I don't let them do very often because it takes forever to clean up, they played with their dolls a lot, we ate ice cream, went to the library,put the sprinkler under the trampoline,  finished a puzzle and just had fun together.

 It was nice having everyone back home again this weekend.

Summer Vacation week 8

This week was another nice relaxing week at home, we really didn't have a lot of commitments which was good.  The kids played really well together, they played on the trampoline a lot, and with neighbors quite a bit.  One day they decided to do a cooking contest, Kyle and Wesley were a team and Riley, Hailey and Maddy were a team they had to make lunch for the twins and Lydia and see who made the best lunch.  The boys made soup and grilled cheese and a salad, fresh nectarines and ice cream for dessert.  The girls made nachos, grapes and a fruit salad, with cookies and ice cream for dessert.  The twins decided that the girls lunch was better they aren't really fans of soup, but they loved having everyone make them fancy lunches.

Katie, Nicole and Hailey had a fun swim party for activity days this week.  We spent one day school supply shopping, with 5 kids it is quite an ordeal, but I think we are done, so that is nice.  My Mom and Dad made a quick visit to get fruit, we had fun visiting and there were some intense games of Four Square played.  Saturday we went to the temple and then spent the afternoon school clothes shopping, we didn't find many deals but had a good time.  The girls caught this little guy and had fun watching him all day.

We finished a puzzle, I should probably say Hailey finished a puzzle because she did the most work on it.

Grandpa Camp

We had another great Gandpa Camp this year.  We left our house Friday morning and drove to my parents house.  The kids all ran down to the shop to make bug boxes with Grandpa.  Uncle Daniel started making everyone these great mustaches, as the kids would come up from making their box he would get them their own unique mustache, of course us adults got them as well.

We ate lunch and then it was check in time, all the kids were weighed and measured and they got their shirts.

Grandpa then explained the family challenge, it involved figuring out clues in order to find hidden wooden tokens, it was lots of fun.

Kyle got a token for making this camp chair

This is me showing that the the thing Kyle made could actually be used as a chair

Lydia making her guess for the guessing jars.

There were lots of critters caught.

We had our dutch oven dinner, there were lots of yummy things to try.  Dinner was followed by the talent show, there were lots of great talents this year, some joke telling, singing, dancing, hula hooping, ukulele  and kazoo playing.  we did the Murdock Family rap, Marc was quite the rapper

The girls also entertained everyone with some of their own songs

We also took pictures before dinner

All the 4 and 5 year olds slept out in the cabin with Grandpa, it sounds like they told some silly stories and then went right to sleep.

Saturday started out with the special pancake breakfast.  Then the winners were announced for the guessing jars.

Everyone took turns climbing the tree, most of the younger kids were able to make it to the top this year, Lydia made and loved it, she just kept climbing it over and over again.

There were some great games of pickle ball played, Kyle and Hailey are getting quite good and really love playing with everyone.

The baby chickens were a big hit.

We also played a great game of kickball, and the younger kids had fun playing games on the lawn, it was great watching them come up with games and organize them themselves.

It was a great weekend, it was wonderful to spend time with everyone.  The kids all love each other and get along really well, we all had a great time.