First Day of School

Today is Maddie's first day of SECOND GRADE! When did she get so old? I walked her over to school and into her classroom even though she was more than capable of going on her own.

Maddie with friends Arielle and Angelique-



Heading out the door for school, yes it was 30 degrees out so coats were necessary-

new backpacks-

Today was Garen's 2nd day of preschool at the CDC but I got a picture anyway cuz he wouldn't let me last week-

Girl Scout Sleepover

Last night in a moment of insanity I allowed 12 girl scouts to come over for a campout. Okay, actually it was really fun! We had dinner, games, nature hunt, smores, star gazing, shadow stories, 1am bed time, 6am wake up, breakfast, nature pictures, played at the park, and enjoyed lots of laughing and screaming (I'm sure my neighbors were thrilled).
My favorite part was when I had the girls all calmed down and telling stories, Andy took advantage of the light shining on the tent and put on a giant shadow dance. The girls were laughing so hard! Although I could really use a nap right now, I'm off to work on the basement.

love Maddie's bed head-

Meet the teacher

We got to meet Maddie's teacher yesterday, she seems very nice and Maddie cannot wait to start second grade!!!
Sophie wants to go to, but I think she's going to have to give up the bottle first-

Carrol Came

My Best Friend Carrol stopped in today on their way to Ohio. They only got to stay a short time, but it was so fun to see her and her family!

First day of Preschool at the CDC

Garen has been having a few issues with new situations, playing with other kids, and other social and behavior things. I finally decided to go for some outside help. The Child Development Center signed him up for their preschool last week. Today was his first day. He was pretty anxious about going but there were no tears. Luckily the teachers were super nice and there were only 3 other little boys there today.
They said he wouldn't eat snack or move from the play corner that he originally started in but at least he didn't hit the teacher and run out of the room. So Garen will be attending the CDC 4 days a week in the mornings and then coming to my preschool 3 days a week in the afternoon.

A brand new Woody doll was waiting for him in the car when I picked him up-yes I bribed my child to go to preschool.

Missing Sara

I've been thinking a lot about my sister today because she got on an airplane this morning and flew her family to North Carolina. I feel sad that I can't just get in the car and drive three hours to make it to one of her kid's birthday parties or to try and snowboard down hills on sleds, or just hang out with our crying babies all night! But I know North Carolina holds great things for her and her family. Love ya sis.

Piano Lessons

Maddie started piano lessons today. She is taking from a 15 year old girl in our ward. Maddie was so excited to go and the minute we got home she went straight to practicing the 3 new songs she learned.

Cool Sistas

I asked Maddie to get Sophie dressed so we could head to the library. And this is what she came up with. I guess she wanted a little mini me.

We got a package

We received our package of new school clothes this morning. But the kids were most excited about their rain boots and matching umbrellas. And Sophie and Maddie loved their matching fairy costumes and matching hats-

Sophie eating bread naked in rain boots-classic

One Very Lost Tooth

Maddie's front tooth had been loose for over 2 weeks now. And today while she was playing outside she finally pulled it out. (that makes 4 baby teeth gone) She didn't even come in and tell us. A neighbor kid came to the door and said he wanted to help Maddie find her tooth. And sure enough she had lost it, not only lost it out of her mouth but in her excitement to show all her neighbor friends she dropped it and a tiny white tooth is a hard thing to find.

She's going to write a letter to the tooth fairy and plead her case and try to convince her to leave some money even though there is no tooth. We'll see what the tooth fairy decides.

Goodbye to a dear friend

I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends here in Rock Springs. Amanda and her family headed out on a new venture of going back to school. Amanda was my park/craft/babysitting buddy. We met at the park at least 3 times a week to play, she was always helping me with projects, and babysat my kids everytime I had to be somewhere. We miss her and her family very much already!

A goodbye lunch-

I got to have Amanda's girls (Milan and Eden) for two days while they moved all their stuff out to Laramie. It was so fun to have them and reminded me that I don't really want 5 kids. :)

A goodbye party-

The girls-

The guys-

A sneak peak of the basement preschool...

Black is the perfect color for a preschool right?

ok, It's actually magnetic paint. We will prime and paint over it and then I will be able to stick all my calender and song pictures, etc to that wall with magnets without having to hang a big ugly piece of metal or cork board. Pretty cool, huh. We have a lot more work to do, but the basement is coming along and will look like a preschool in one week from now!

Good Morning from the girls

Post Office Tour with the Girl Scouts

I took Maddie and the girl scouts to the post office. It was actually really cool, I've never been in the back of a post office before.

what we've been doing...

I feel like Summer is slipping through my fingers. Instead of getting out these last few weeks before school starts we've been spending every extra moment on the basement. Since the basement is the preschool and preschool starts in 2 weeks, we've got some work to do. All we have to do is one more layer of mud, texture, paint, trim, doors, electrical, and then set up an entire preschool.

Besides the basement, our kids have managed to keep us busy. Garen stepped on a nail so he was taken in for a tetanus shot. Maddie split the side of her eye open, this was followed by a pointless and expensive trip to the ER.

And Sophie's Asama has been horrible with lots of wheezing, labored breathing, and no sleep! Breathing treatments before bed with the nebulizer has really been helping.

So on these last few sunny days while you're out enjoying the sun, think of us working hard down in our basement and hopefully avoiding the ER. :)

Flashback Friday- Bucket heads

Sophie and Andy with the exact same bucket on their head-

Elders Quorum President

Andy got set apart as the new Elders Quorum President yesterday. The blessings given to him and his counselors during the setting apart were wonderful and it was a very spiritual experience. The Stake President blessed that he would be able to balance being a husband, a father, his work and his new calling.

Andy is very glad he now has Sundays off and that he has the opportunity to serve. I think he will do wonderfully.

ice cream break

On our way home we stopped at Little America for some 50 cent cones. It was a nice little (sticky) break from the car.

Maddie and Garen found it hilarious to feed Sophie some ice cream-

Bear Lake

After my week in Burley my mom was nice enough to drive me to Logan to my in-laws. From thier I rode with them to Bear Lake. In Bear Lake we helped Andy's grandparents with a garage sale and Andy met us there Friday night. While the grownups helped with the garage sale on Staturday the kids played, rode the four wheeler, and roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.

playing on the garage sale stuff-

A very loose tooth (she still hasn't lost it)-

Steadman's Ranch

Steadman's ranch was super fun. It started out a bit chilly bu the kids were still sliding down the waterslide. We shot off the candy cannon and spend hours sliding down the hill and then climbing back up!

Garen kept his distance from the cannon-