Finishing Up August

Starting Kindergarten, the thing that Aleah was the most excited about was making new friends.  At the end of each day she would say, "I made a new friend today!  It was so easy!"  I loved that she was really putting forth the effort to make new friends.  Now she knows everyone in her class.

One of her favorite parts is recess.  They play jump rope, they have a club, and their friend Colson chases them around pretending like he is a monster and when he catches them he pretends to eat them.

I know that Aleah is loving Kindergarten because she has always said that she wants to be a Mom when she grows up and just recently she said that she wants to be a Kindergarten teacher.  Plus, she is constantly telling Cade, "Cade, you are really going to love Kindergarten!  You get to go to the library and have P.E.!  You will love it."

Aleah's teacher is Mrs. Baca.  She is such a perfect teacher for Aleah.  Aleah loves her.

Right after Aleah started school, Cade got sick.  He got a crazy fever that lasted 4 1/2 days!  Poor little guy just stayed on the couch all day every day.  It was not fun.  Cade is doing preschool with me this year.  I am doing fun things with him and also using an online program called Upstart.  He is really enjoying it and learning a lot.  I love that I get to spend some time with him!

On the fifth day of school for Aleah she woke up with a fever.  We had about 1/2 a day between sick kids.  Aleah was so sad that she had to miss school.  I was hopeful that it wouldn't last 4 1/2 days like Cade's did.  Once Cade got sick I started giving them extra vitamins and stuff.  I think that really helped because Aleah was only sick for two days.

Her first day back after being sick was a hard day for her.  When I picked her up she said, "It was not fun today.  Mrs. Baca told everyone what to do when I was sick and so I didn't know what to do. And I forgot to put my folder in the bin! I can't miss school ever again."  We talked about the hard parts of her day and what she was going to do the next day so that it would be better.  When I picked her up from school the next day she was back to loving it.  I'm so glad!

We got a little over 12 yards of top soil to put in the planter along the back fence by the retaining wall.

Summer projects are always fun!

It doesn't look like a lot of dirt, but it was!  It was heavy and a lot of work.

On Fridays we do science projects or crafts or a field trip.  One Friday we made cyanotypes with spray paint.  They were so much fun and they look so good.

Cade's before spray paint.

Aleah's before spray paint.

Cade's after spray paint.

Aleah's after spray paint.

I forgot to take a before picture of mine.  Here is the after spray paint of mine.

They look so great on our kitchen wall!

On the way to Grandma and Grandpa Stones house there is a road that the kids always ask where it goes.  They have been very curious about this road.  So we decided to go for a drive to see where this road would lead us.  We found a hiking trail.  While we were hiking a guy came by on his horse and let us pet it.  It was a nice little hike!  What a fun adventure we had.  I love their curious minds.

A Big Day For Aleah!

Aleah was completely ready to start kindergarten!  On the other hand, I was not!  It's just the beginning of having her away from me.  I cried leading up to her first day, but I actually did really well when we dropped her off.  I was surprised, I thought that I would loose it.  I loved that she was so excited!

She picked her clothes for the first day.  At breakfast she spilled on her shirt.  She didn't want a different shirt so I quickly washed it and dried it!  Super Mom skills right there.  

We left our house around 9 am.  She goes to school from 9:15 to noon.  She goes to Legacy Elementry which is only three blocks from our house.  She wanted to walk with Brad and I.  I loved holding her hand as she skipped to school.

When we got to school she gave us a hug and ran over to stand in line by her friend Lexi.

I loved that she was so confident and secure!  She knew that she was going to love Kindergarten.

Cade had fun playing on the playground for a minute.  He also surprised me.  I thought that it would be really hard for him to have Aleah at school.  He has done really well.  We both miss her, but we have been enjoying our time together.

Her first day went well.  She absolutely love it.  She was so chatty and told me about all the fun things she got to do.  She also told me that she needed a new backpack.  Her backpack was too little for her folder.  So that afternoon we had to rush to the store and get her a new one.  Luckily, they were all on sale!  She picked a cute cupcake backpack.  It's pretty much as big as she is.

The second day of school, she was just as excited as the first!

Cade wanted to look like his Daddy.  Handsome boys!  These three mean everything to me.  I am such a lucky Wife and Mom!

Leading up to Kindergarten I was worried because I didn't know if I had taught her enough.  I did home preschool with her and I loved it, but I didn't know what the Kindergarten level would be.  When she came home with these papers I was relieved and a little surprised.  I thought that it would be more advanced.  But, she is loving it and that's what matters most!

Fun Before School Starts!

After returning from New York we enjoyed the new things that we pick up on from our friends the Blanchards.  Delicious granola for breakfast!

Sharing a bed.  Aleah and Cade decided that it would be perfect if they could share a bed!

And morning yoga!

I have not had to worry about back to school stuff until this year.  When it hit me that we only had a few weeks until Aleah started school, I realized that we still had a lot of things that we wanted to do.

We made some guitars. 

Rockin' out with their new guitars.

More yoga.

We had a dinner party at Grandma Bushman's house.

Aleah and Cade taught Brad how to play freeze tag.  When you get tagged you have to do pushups.

Brad went on a work trip and so Aleah, Cade, and I went to Thanksgiving Point for some ice cream.  They always have to play on the tower!

Magic Milk!

We had to fit in one more boating day and we were lucky enough to have Manny and Amy join us!

Cade is getting pretty good, he can do it with one hand!

Aleah was showing off her turning skills.

Brad is awesome on the air chair.

The water was so nice.  I had my best run of the season.  I love it!

I can't believe how much these two are growing up.  The are so cute and make me laugh every day.  I'm so thankful for them.  I am a luck Mom!

Of course, we HAD to have a Lagoon day!  It was a perfect day.  The weather was nice and the lines were short.  We loved it. Aleah was tall enough to go on a few of the big rides.  She loves roller coasters!  Cade is hopeful that he will be tall enough next year.

Bom Bora is still one of our favorites.  We went on it over and over!

We got soaked on Rattle Snake Rapids!  Hopefully Grant will be tall enough to go on it with us next year, he was so close.

Brad and Cade got to go to the Father and Sons campout.  They look forward to this campout all year.

And Brad wonders why the air mattress went flat in the middle of the night.

My Mom, Emma, Amy, Aleah, and I had a wonderful girls night.  We enjoyed some princess crepes in the morning!

We got to celebrate Brad's 36th birthday.  He is the best husband and father!  We enjoyed celebrating with him.

Swimming with some friends.

Swimming with cousins.

The kids found a Black Widow in our garage.  When Aleah came in a told me, I didn't believe her.  I'm so glad that they didn't touch it!  I smashed it with a fly swatter and then I took a picture.  Creepy!

My family helped us with our block wall.  We put it all along our back fence to level out our back yard a little.  297 blocks.  We couldn't have done it so quickly without help!

The last day before school started Aleah and Cade made some puppets and did a puppet show for me.

After eating a tomato from our garden Cade said, "I like tomatoes now!  I will have tomatoes on my hamburger next time!"

We had a wonderful summer!