Mia and I

So happy to have Mia with me at home still. She is my buddy. We plan on swimming a lot together while the kids are at school.

School Started!

School started on Thursday. It is bittersweet for me. I'm never ready for school to start and for summer to end. I love the flexibility of summer and having the kids around all day. School is too long. I'm excited for them to go and learn and be with friends, but there is so much I hate about school that I always feel anxious about them starting. I feel optimistic that this year will be a great one.

The kids! 9, 7, 5, and 3.

I love the kindergarten schedule. He's not gone long enough for me to miss him. I love the space of 3 hours 4 times a week. It's perfect. I'd happily keep this schedule for all years of school.

Justin idolizes his dad. He's had a hard time earning a date, but he finally got one for tomorrow night to test out a boat we are thinking of buying.

Justin got new shorts, pants, and three shirts. Not sure how I thought one pair of shorts could possibly be enough.

So so glad these girls have each other. I loved watching them walk into school holding hands.

I will miss Ashley immensely. She is such a calming influence in our home and Justin and Mia idolize her.

Ashley loves her dad. She earned a date and chose to go rock climbing with cookies at King Soopers after. They had a great time. Ashley just made eagles transition at gymnastics meaning she gets to go 3 hours a week now. She was really excited.

Ashley got new shorts, pants, shoes, headband, lunchbox, and a couple polos. She is excited for school this year. Her class is great and her best friend Kaylee is in her class.

I will miss Katelyn. She is so helpful with Justin and Mia. She makes obstacle courses, disney world rides, and plays games with them. She is one creative, amazing gal.

Million dollar smile!

Katelyn loves her dad. She earned a date for talking to her gym coach Miss Katie and for being moved up to a level 4! Go Katelyn. She gets to compete next fall. Hans took her to see the Smurfs.

All ready for her first day. She got a new headband, backpack, shoes, lunchbox and red shirt. The rest of her stuff still works. In fact, this skort she has on she's worn since kindergarten. She is so cute and she was so excited to start 2nd grade.

Katelyn and Miss Scarborough on drop of school supply day. Katelyn was able to drop off 16 hershey bars so she'd have treats on hand in case there was a party with no gluten-free options. She is thrilled.

Ashley with Mrs. Rogers. Ashley is very excited about her class. She is with Kaylee again, which is so so so great. The class is a great mix of kids. I am really happy with this 4th grade set-up for Ashley. I already got a call from Mrs. Rogers on Friday saying that Ashley tested into advanced math. All that mom school made a difference! I'm proud of her!

We celebrated the first day of school with a silly string fight and yo yogurt.

Justin Starts Kindergarten

Justin started Kindergarten on Wednesday. I got to go with him for his first day of school. It was fun to spend the time with just him. He has a great teacher - Mrs. Ladd. She is amazing. I love her already. She has done a great job easing a lot of Justin's fears in just one short day. On this day with me he did a craft and then played on the playground. Thursday was his first day of school without me. He goes 3 1/2 hours 4 days a week. He has been sad that all his friends are going to either all day kindergarten or in the morning. He honestly doesn't know what to do with himself without constant friends. I'm sure he will figure it out! He is so cute and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that he is old enough to go to school. I will miss this little boy.

His class of 16 kids.

This is his self portrait. He made himself with a mohawk. He's still mad at me for buzzing his hair. He misses his mohawk. He wrote that he loves motorcycles and that in school he wants to learn more about motorcycles.

The Pool

Handsome boy.

She is a fish in the water. And she loves this swimsuit. She wears it out, to the pool, and to bed. It was a good 7$ buy.

We bought these tubes in Disney World and they've been tons of fun.

Katelyn likes to do her gymnastics in the pool. It's impressive.

I love these goggled people.


We spent a lot of time at the pool, as usual, this summer. I love the Wolf Ranch pool. It's quiet, it's fenced in, the water is warm, and the hot showers provide just as much entertainment as the pool. All the kids are great swimmers. Ashley did another year of swim team and is a great lap swimmer. The other three kids did a session of swim lessons and enjoyed them. Mia is an amazing swimmer. Justin was brave enough to put his head under the water this year, which is an accomplishment for him. He loves floating around the pool in a tube or swimming laps with his arm floaties on. He also spent a good amount of time driving his remote controlled boat around the pool while Ashley was doing swim team. I love being at the pool because it was great social interaction for the kids as well as for me. These pictures are from right before school started and also the only the day the kids actually played in the splash park next to the pool.

HAIR!

These three waited patiently for Ashley's hair to be finished. Mia had all sorts of questions for the hair cut lady about hair products.

She was excited to get her hair washed like this.

Cutting off 9 inches of hair.

She has been wanting to donate her hair for so long, but I've been nervous. She loves it short and is happy about being able to donate it. Good for her!

Getting styled. I'm hopeful I can style it the same way.

Isn't she beautiful? I'm finding it difficult to get used to it!

Katelyn's turn. She insisted it only be a trim. She is desperately trying to grow it long.

The girls have had a lot of fun after the haircuts measuring hair and seeing if Katelyn's is longer now and just generally being best friends. I'm so happy they have one another.

More Summer

Hans designed a racer type thing out of the bike rack box. The kids had a ton of fun building it. They got to saw wood, nail stuff, attach wheels to the bottom, and then paint it. Kid heaven. And I was a happy mom watching Hans do all this with them.

The girls all ready for church.

My Boys.

Aside from the 3 hours we are at church, I can't even remember the last time Mia wore real clothes. It's this pink swimsuit or her pink leotard. She even wears them to bed. I do laundry often, but I am getting sick of them! I'm hoping she will let me dress her in real clothes for pre-school, but I'm realistic about that as well. She loves to be pretty. Her favorite past time right now is watching you tube videos demonstrating how to put on make-up.

My new blendtec. I love this thing.

Mabeys came to visit. We sure love those guys. We got to spend an evening, and then half of the next day creating memories. It's fun to have their kids to play with. It's like having cousins come to visit. We are lucky enough to go to Austin soon to visit them.

The Pirate Play put on my Cumorah. It was so so so so fun. The girls loved it. Katelyn decided her new career path would be theater education so she could act. They memorized all their lines and did a fantastic job performing. I loved that they could do this and get experience with their creative sides. Turns out they absolutely loved it. They can't wait for next year.