1st Week of School

Last Monday, was Hyrum's first true day of Kindergarten. The first day, when all the kids in his class were together at school and we knew exactly who his teacher was. He was so cute walking down the hall in the white lines. He told me that was the rule, that you had to walk down the hall in the white lines.Hyrum had a wonderful first week of school. He loves Kindergarten! If I remember correctly, last week he told me it was wonderful! He loves his teacher. Hyrum was talking about her the other day and said nonchalantly..."yea, she loves me!" He has loved the books they have read in class, the fun work they have done. I think one of the favorite parts is that she gives them treats sometimes for doing things. However, despite all of the excitement of Kindergarten, it is nice to hear that he still misses me.

Last Tuesday, wearing his Kindergarten shirt for pictures!
Last Friday, Hyrum told Ben and Emmy that Mrs. C. needed to come for a play date to our house and that she would need to ride in our van to come. I told him that she wouldn't be able to come for a play date. He then told me that it was okay, that she could come over for a sleepover instead.

Ben and Emmy have been missing Hyrum. However, I think they have grown closer together in the time he has been away. I loved how they snuggled to watched cartoons one day last week.Ben and Emmy think they are pretty important holding Hyrum's backpack and lunch box for him on the way to school.

It is always a highlight of the day when Hyrum comes home. The kids are so excited to see one another. It is fun to see how much they miss each other. The kids love seeing the things Hyrum brings home. Hyrum is quick to give his artwork he did at school that day to Ben and Emmy. Ben and Emmy think it is a priceless treasure.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Hyrum's first day of Kindergarten. This morning, he was so excited to finally be able to go to the Kindergarten he had heard so much about. Any time we would drive by the school, someone in the car would comment on how that place was Kindergarten and how Hyrum would get to go there. To start the morning off he had yummy blueberry pancakes, the kind his Papa makes for him.
For school this year, he has a Spiderman backpack he received last year for his birthday and a marvel super heroes lunch box. I thought he looked so handsome this morning.He thinks his Transformer tennis shoes are pretty cool. This picture Hyrum jumped right before I took it so we could try and get a picture of the lights.When we got to school, Hyrum became a little shy and timid. We found his name tag and I got him all settled only to realize that I left his water bottle out in the car. I gave him a hug and kiss and told him to be good and flashed him the I love you sign that we have. When I came back in the classroom with his water bottle he was even more nervous and asked me if I could stay. I told him I couldn't. His response was to ask for one more kiss.During the day I thought about him lots. I wondered if he showed the teachers that he could read. I wondered if he just got nervous and shut down. I wondered how he did at lunch. So many things I wondered about through out the day.

When I picked up after school the first thing he said, "that was so much fun! They gave us M&M's." Which he remembered later were skittles that the teachers gave them if they walked quietly in the halls. He eagerly told me how they read the Kissing Hand and then made their very own "kissing hand". He told he how he had fun doing centers and how he didn't have enough time to eat all of his lunch. He said he met some nice friends. Overall, I would say he had a great day.

I was worried and still am about his experience in Kindergarten. I hope he gets a teacher (he hasn't been assigned one yet) who is amazing. Who strengthens his desire for learning and helps him to improve in his reading and other skills. A teacher who encourages creativity and questioning. I hope he makes good friends and remembers his manners. I hope he is kind to others. I hope he tries his best and has fun. I hope I have done enough as a parent to prepare him for this huge step in life. I have been an emotional roller coaster lately. Sometimes I am excited for him to be going to Kindergarten and other times I just tear up and cry. He is my sweetheart! I love him so much and can't wait to see what he will accomplish.

Back to School Celebration

We decided as a family that yesterday would be a special day. We would celebrate going back to school. We would celebrate Hyrum going to kindergarten and Ben and Emmy going to preschool. Hyrum told us he had a great idea. He came up with the idea of going to Chuck E. Cheese as a family.

Like always, the kids had a great time. The boys love it when Brandon helps them with the race car games. Emmy loves riding int he princess carriage and anything that takes her pictures. The boys also enjoyed the pinball machine.To end the night, we stopped at McDonald's and had ice cream. It was such a fun night and the perfect way for us to celebrate going back to school.

School Shopping

Today was Hyrum's first day of Kindergarten. Before I can write about such a monumetal day, I need to write about the events leading up to Hyrum's special day.

Back around the end of July, Hyrum received a fun letter from his Grandma. Inside there was a gift card to Walmart. Along with the gift card, there were instructions for him to use it to buy school supplies, bacon and a donut for himself, Ben and Emmy.I ended up going with Ben, Emmy and Hyrum one day to pick out a donut, but decided to school shop later with just Hyrum and myself.

Hyrum was so cute when I took him to the store to buy his school supplies. He was very excited to take his list and gift card to the store. He loved picking out some fun things for school. His favorite were his Marvel lunchbox with super heroes on it and his How to Train Your Dragon towel for rest time at school.

Hyrum loved helping me push the cart around.When we got around to getting other stuff on the school list (paper towels, wipes, etc.), he was a little burned out, but was thrilled when it was time for ice cream. He was so thoughtful, when he was finished with his ice cream, he wanted to get some for Brandon back at home. We got Brandon some ice cream and headed out to the car only to have Hyrum spill the ice cream on the ground. He was so devastated! I told him it would be alright and we could go to another McDonald's and get some more ice cream for Brandon. Hyrum was so excited to bring his ice cream home to Brandon and actually dropped that one too when he came in the door (but the lid stayed on this time). Hyrum was very happy with what he got for school. He was eager to show Brandon that night what was bought and Ben and Emmy got to see the next day.

It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with Hyrum to help him get ready for school.

High School Friends

One of the nights while I was in Utah, I was able to get together with some friends from Jr. High and High School. LtoR Tiffany, Me, Sabrina, Megan, Jen, and Lindsey

It was such a great night. We were able to chat at Jen's beautiful new home and catch-up with everyone. It was fun to hear about what everyone was up to and what their next step in life would be. It was fun to recall the memories of the silly things we did together. We missed Natalie, Libby, Jenny and Alison who didn't end up making it. I was lucky to have such great friends while I was growing up.

Croquet in the Garden

My parents and my sister made a "To-Do List" of things they wanted to do with my kids during our visit to Utah. One of the things on the list was to play croquet.

For Family Home Evening, one Monday night, we set up the course on the grass and had a great time. The kids loved it. Of course, Ben picked the color black. Hyrum picked the color red and Emmy picked the color blue. It was so much fun playing with my family. After we finished our game, we had Root Beer Floats for a treat. Emmy was eagerly anticipating her treat. She enjoyed sitting by Papa as they ate. Can you tell she loves the sheep pajamas that our cousin Natalie used to wear? It was the perfect way to end the day.