Fishing With Sean

Back in July, while we were still in Utah, Uncle Sean took my kids fishing. The kids were so excited to go! The kids haven't gone fishing very many times, so they always consider it a big treat when they get to go. They were so happy once Sean set up their fishing line for them. Uncle Sean had a lot of patience with the kids reminding them to hold their line still among other important fishing things. Needless to say, we didn't catch anything. We didn't get to fish very long since it started to rain. The kids still had a great time. Thank you to Uncle Sean who took time to take the kids fishing.

Ben and Emmy's First Day of Preschool 2011

Today was Ben and Emmy's first day of preschool for this school year. They have been so excited to go and have been counting down the days.

Last night, I painted Emmy's nails a sparkly purple for her first day. She was in heaven! She kept saying how pretty everyone will think she is with her nails painted. It was so funny. She was so excited to pick out her clothes and bow for her big day. She wanted to make sure that she looked fancy and pretty (She recently discovered the books Fancy Nancy and LOVES them). She was very excited to finally be able to wear her new shoes. The shoes were on sale and were a big hit with this little girl in our house. The shoes are, for the most part, the colors pink, purple, silver and light-up when she walks.

Ben made the comment yesterday that he was excited that he would have a great breakfast today. He has also been itching to wear his new shoes that are green and black like Hyrum's.

Emmy was eager to help me make the special breakfast this morning. The breakfast this morning consisted of blueberry pancakes, eggs (omelet style), bacon and OJ.
After breakfast the kids got ready to head to school. Emmy insisted on wearing two bows this morning. She told me that she wouldn't look pretty or fancy if she only had one bow in her hair. I decided that if having two bows in her hair (that don't match) would make her feel pretty and fancy and give her confidence for her first day then it wasn't a big deal.I can't believe how big Ben and Emmy are getting. They have grown-up so fast. I can't believe that soon they will be five. For the most part, they love each other. From what I have heard about last year and today, they stick to each other at school. They both are very smart and eager to learn about everything around them. They love books and can read a few words by themselves. Ben loves numbers and math problems. Emmy loves to color and is great at fine motor skills. She has fantastic writing for a preschooler.
What kind of day would it be if I didn't have a silly Ben picture?They had a great fist day at school. They had fun and made a cute craft to go along with the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.We are so lucky to have these to silly birds in our family. I can't wait to see what they will accomplish this year.

Rainy Fourth of July

We spent the Fourth of July in Utah. To start the holiday off, my parents took the kids to pick out patriotic donuts to eat. Some how Emmy still came home with a pink and purple donut. Have I mentioned yet that I had my camera on the wrong setting the whole time we were in Utah. As the result, blurry pictures.The kids loved seeing the flags every where and insisted on having their pictures taken by the cool flags. The kids also thought the Fourth of July shirts my mom got them were AWESOME! Emmy loved the fancy Fourth of July hair that Millie did for her.In the evening, we had a great dinner with my parents, Sean and Tracy, and Tracy's sister's family. Emmy loved holding Tracy's sister's baby. Next, we played croquet. My kids love playing that game with my family. We had yummy homemade ice cream for dessert.My mom got the kids glow-in-the dark bracelets and necklaces that were awesome and the kids LOVED. The kids made a variety of fun creations with the glow-in-the-dark sticks.My kids were so excited for the fireworks this year and got their chairs lined up to watch the show. As we started to do fireworks, it started to rain. My kids(especially Hyrum) were so disappointed when we stopped the fireworks because it was too rainy to continue. We told him we could go on the deck and watch all the many ariel fireworks that were going off, but he was devestated that we weren't doing my parent's fireworks. We consuled him with the fact that we would do the fireworks on another night, which we did. Despite the rain, it was a fun Fourth of July!

Hyrum's First Day of First Grade

Yesterday was Hyrum's first day of First Grade. Like any big day in our house, we start it off with blueberry pancakes. He also had an omelet, bacon and orange juice.He looked so handsome yesterday. You could tell that excitement was in the air for him. I love his smile and (most of the time) happy nature.Ben and Emmy were very excited for Hyrum to start first grade.He is still using the same back pack and lunch box from last year. However, he did get new shoes.I think Hyrum has grown so much lately.Hyrum was so excited to meet some friends to walk to the first day of school with. All four of the kids are first graders this year.One of Hyrum's friends, Lexi, is in his class. I think the transistion to first grade and a new school was much easier since he has so many friends at the school and one of those friends are in his class.Hyrum's new teacher seems very nice and sweet. I think she will be Hyrum's new crush. Hyrum was pretty excited when she asked a hug from him after he came in the class.When we left him, he seemed a little nervous. However, he got straight to work on his worksheet.Below is a picture of some of the lonely leftovers .I haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but we moved...Again. This time we moved not only to have more space for our next addition, but mostly for our sweet Hyrum. He had a fantastic teacher last year, but the other children in the class and school weren't the best environment for Hyrum. As his parents, Brandon and I thought it was in his best interest to move him to a different school and be closer to more friends.

When I would ask him how he felt about school starting Hyrum told me that he was both happy and sad. He was happy to see friends at school, but sad to leave his family.

Overall, I think his first day went really well. He came home excited and anxious to share about his big first day. I had cookies that Ben, Emmy and I made that day ready for a snack after school. I still have the fears that I had last year, but I am pretty optimistic that first grade will be a great year for him.