First Day of School - Part Two

Ellie started Kindergarten today. Now four-fifths of my children are in school. Lucky for me they all go the the same school and all start the day at the same time. Kindergarten is only 1/2 day here. That makes Brianna happy because she really misses her buddy when she is gone.

I was able to talk her into a pink shirt to go with the camo pants and backpack

Ellie adores her teacher. She was very excited her homework today was to eat a samll bag of Skittles. I hope that is a one-time occurrence and not a daily activity.

The older children are getting into the routine (more or less). Actual homework is beginning this week for 2nd and 6th grades. Caious (in 4th grade) has been promised one more easy week before the real work begins.

Wish us all luck.

Lamest Birthday Ev-er

Caious turned 10 years old today. He celebrated by . . . going to school, doing his chores, playing with his friends . . . basically having a normal day.
Bill was out of state so we had a very low-key day.
Caious did get to have the dinner of his choice:






Cheeseburgers (with processed american cheese - yuck!),
Oven baked french fries (made from home-grown purple potatoes out of my garden) and
Corn on the cob (from Grandpa Buddy - yum)
The children made their burgers into faces.


They were very proud to display their creations.

After birthday cake (also supplied by Buddy - thanks), Caious opened his gifts. A handsome shirt and the Lego set he had been hoping for from Grandma and Grandpa in Phoenix.

And then he opened the cards full of cash. Lots of cash. He is very excited to have so much money. I think he should save it. He plans to buy video games and a Nintendo DS. Good thing I have veto power over his purchases.


When Bill gets back to town, he and Caious will pick out a new bike. Caious already had his celebration: he and his dad took a few friends to see Wall-E. All in all it was a good birthday.

Happy Birthday Caious!

First Day of School

School began today.

Kaiti is now in 6th grade, Caious is in 4th grade and Andrew is in 2nd grade.

They have great teachers and came home excited about the great school year ahead.

Here they are modeling their new clothes. I actually remembered to take photos of the first day of school.

Ellie doesn't start school for another week. Brianna and I are glad to have her home for another week, but she is very anxious to get her formal education underway.

Bill was home (hooray) so for Family Home Evening we got shaved ice for a treat and played at the park. It was such a beautiful night. We had a great time.

Family Fun and Fish Lake

I grew up in a family steeped in traditions. Visits to Grandparents every Sunday, monthly get-togethers with extended family, big meals with lots of relatives at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hmm . . . well, the traditions mainly consisted of family and food. A good combination.


Cousins sharing a snack. That's what we do best, eat and sit.


This year, 4/5 of my mother's siblings and some of their offspring went to Fish Lake for a three-day, two-night reunion. The accommodations came in three forms. "Motel rooms", with beds, a "kitchenette," bathrooms with hot and cold running water and cable t.v. "Cabins" with beds, but bathrooms or hot water and no cable (they did include a token for a shower in a larger facility). "Camp sites" basically, a level place to put your tent.



The motel room we stayed in. Our room was on the far right.




My Uncle Max said it best when he stated "My idea of roughing it is opening the window in the Hilton." I know what roughing it is and I was glad to have a motel room. Not for the cable, but for the daily hot shower. Yep. Much to his dismay, Bill married a city girl.



I included this because of the view of the lake in the background. But the kids did get filthy. Thank goodness for bathrooms with nice hot water.

The activities were varied and plentiful. Boating, hiking, cooking, eating, face painting, water balloon fights, fishing (it is Fish Lake), laying on the bed watching t.v. (a favorite of my dad and my children), reading (I brought Breaking Dawn) or sitting still staring at the beautiful lake.

Cooper said his whole life he has wanted to go out on a boat and catch a fish. He caught this whopper on his first try. Not bad to fulfill your life's ambition before your turn five. (Later on, he tried to return the fish to the lake. It was hard to get him to understand that the fish wouldn't be able to swim away anymore.)

We ate most meals together. Each of the four siblings took turns cooking the food. Everyone helped set up and clean up. Eating communally was very cheep and much more convenient than trying to find a place to feed 98 people three meals a day.

Three sisters on their trusty steeds. They did a lot of complicated equestrian stunts, then sang us a song about friendship.

We had a planned scavenger hunt, an outdoor movie (in the rain) and a talent show. I am related to a large number of talented people. Two of the dogs that came to the reunion preformed tricks. We even had an equestrian show. Several people sang. My dad recited one of the many cowboy poems he knows, we even had a sword-fighting demonstration.
It was a great vacation. We are looking forward to next year.

Another moment from the talent show. A nicely choreographed sword fight.

I'm Busy, Busy Terribly Busy. . .

I am stuck in a vicious cycle.
When I have time to post, I don't have anything to write about. When we are doing interesting things, I don't have time to create a post that will do the event justice. Once I have the time to make a decent post, I feel like to much time has elapsed and it will be old news.
Well . . . no more. I am going to create many wonderful, funny, insightful and elaborate posts about all the wonderful things we have been doing this summer. Then I will cleverly change the date stamp so they appear to be timely. Be warned . . . the post from three months ago, may have been written yesterday.

The Happiest Place on Earth

For the first time since we all lived in Arizona, nearly 11(!) years ago, Bill's family got together to celebrate his mother's birthday. Thanks to her generosity, we all met at Disneyland for two days and three nights of fun.

The children had a wonderful time. The fist ride we all rode together was Pirates of the Caribbean. Brianna and Ellie were covering their eyes most of the time. Once we came to a stop Ellie said "I did not like that ride."

Luckily, everyone had a chance to experience plenty of rides they did like. Everyone loved the Carousel the teacups, the Tiki Room and Finding Nemo. . .

Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary were generous enough to let all of the parents of children to short to ride 'Indiana Jones' use their fast passes while they watched all of the children. Thanks to the fast passes, we weren't gone very long, just long enough for Uncle Steve to become a jungle gym.

We also ran into one of Andrew's preschool friends from our Boston days. Cole and Callie live in California, they just happened to be at Disneyland that day. We were very excited to see them and see how much they have grown.

During lunch, Kaiti was part of the entertainment.

On July 16, all 22 of us went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Judy's birthday. We were quite a sight.

We had a great time. Happy birthday Grandma Judy!

Happy Birthday Ellie Bean!

Five years ago we welcomed a delicate little girl into our family.


A little pixie full of curiosity.

A darling little child always ready with a smile and hug

A very thoughtful girl who adores her Daddy

She is often to observant for my own good!

When I asked what she wanted me to write about her she said: "I'm nice."
Yes she is and we are delighted she is in our family.
Happy birthday Elbow!