First Day of School 2011

Has anyone seen that commercial where the little mini wheat cereal guys are counting down to the beginning of the school year like it's New Year's Eve? Well, that's exactly what I felt like I was doing for at least a week before school started this year. Of course when the day it finally came around was bitter-sweet.

I had my first baby starting kindergarten! Mandatory school 5 days a week. I'm still getting use to it and it's been a month.

I also had my baby boy starting preschool. Now that's only 2 mornings a week, but it still means he's growing up darn it!

Here is my handsome boy off to his first day of Kindergarten!

Carter did great! Not a single tear. He was a little apprehensive, but he went no problem! I'm so proud of him. In the month since he has made tons of friends and has decided that he loves school. In fact the other day he asked me if he could go 6 days in a row in stead of 5.

Kyle had his first day of school the next day, because he goes Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was so excited. He has been dying to go to school since Carter started preschool last year.

First we had to drop Carter off.

(Look at Kyle standing tall with the knowledge that he's next!)

Kyle's big moment,his very first day of school ever!

Cammie had to get in on the picture taking too

(even though someone would have to pry her out of my arms to get her to start school this year.)

Kyle did great! He also did great when he went back on Thursday. After that first week (2 actual days of school) Kyle happily told me, "Okay Mommy I went to school, now I'm done!" He wasn't kidding either.

In the month since he has made lots of friends and decided that he HATES school! In fact he throws a very embarrassing kicking screaming fit every time we drop him off. The teachers say he always calms down very quickly after we leave and does well all morning. When we pick him up after lunch he always says that he had fun.

Hopefully it's just a phase. Carter never really did "like" going to school until this year, but he never threw fits like his brother does. We will have to see if Kyle gets better or maybe needs therapy! :-)

2011 first days of school down, 17 more years to go!

Summer Catch Up Part 2 - The Activities

Here are some of the things that kept us busy this summer, kept us cool this summer, and kept us (Me) from blogging this summer.

While Cameron and I were in Ohio this June Gregg and the boys got to go to the Air Force Base in Fresno to watch Gregg's brother Jeff fly. He is a F-16 Pilot. It was apparently very hot and the boys look unhappy in some of the photos, but they LOVED it. I got quite an earful from them about how cool it was.

Uncle Jeff in his Jet

Hot, but having fun.

The kids spent a lot of time on the Slip 'n' Slide this summer, (or near the Slip 'n' Slide in Cammie's case.)

Like the true "red necks" we are at heart, most evenings ended with the kids playing in the sprinklers...

...in their underwear...

.... in the front yard...

...and the baby usually ended up naked, okay they all usually ended up naked. Like I said "Red Necks"!

We are really into FREE entertainment, so we made lots of trips to the bookstore for Story Time.

And who needs a Zoo? I just take my kids to the Pet Store.

Kyle was in a "make a funny face and see what it looks like on camera" mood one day. Carter was just being weird! They both make me laugh!

On mornings that it wasn't too hot, and by that I mean still under 100 degrees at 10:30 AM, we'd go to the park for a while.

Courtney and Ashley stayed with us a couple of times this summer which was great. On one of their trips we went to the Bug Museum. It was pretty cool, and did I mention free? Cammie actually seemed to like it the most.

Yep, that's her trying to figure out how to get the giant Hissing Cockroaches out so she could hold one. Sometimes I don't think she's really my daughter. I feel all itchy just looking at this picture. (No joke I can't stop itching, yuck!)
Lucky for me Courtney and Ashley had no problem lifting the kids up so they could get close to all the nasty bugs I didn't care for.

Of course we also spent time with Matt, Mandy, Macy, and the babies. I only managed to get one picture of them though. Having a picnic lunch after spending the morning in the pool.

This summer was fun, hot, and busy, and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Summer Catch Up Part 1 - The Trips

This summer was very fun and very busy. Besides my and Cammie's trip to Ohio, and our big camping trip to Mammoth, we also made some small trips out of town to escape the Bakersfield heat.

A three day 4th of July weekend with no plans

+

a weather forecast of 103 degrees or higher all weekend

=

An impromptu day trip to Pismo Beach.

Happy Independence Day


We drove out to the dunes to spend the day in cool breezy weather playing in the sand.
It was so nice to have to wear sweatshirts!

Gregg and the boys slid down one of the big sand dunes.


What goes down must climb back up.

And of course there were quad rides!

"Beaker-Man" stole Daddy's hat. Isn't he cute!

The first weekend in August we had the opportunity to go back to Pismo. This time we camped and got to hang out with Chris and Penny and the girls for Ashley's 13th birthday. It was such a fun weekend.

Kyle "staking his claim" on our camping spot.

Carter practically lived on the quad all weekend. He got very good at riding it by himself. Even when he wasn't on it he kept the helmet on just in case he needed to get back on it in a hurry. Silly boy!

Courtney and Ashley had fun riding the quads too. Here is Ashley having a turn. Happy Birthday Ash!

There were lots of "loves" to be had by all. Auntie Penny got some good ones from Cam.

Courtney got some good ones from Kyle after they wrestled each other to the ground.

Gregg took Carter, Penny and the Girls out for some four-wheeling fun in his truck. Amazingly no injuries occurred and no truck parts broke!

Our little princess watching all of the action from her thrown in the sand!

Like I said, he lived on it!

Like Father like Son.

One of the best weekends of the summer in my opinion!

A few weeks later we decided to make one more day trip to the beach. This time we went to Santa Barbra. Gregg had never been and I hadn't been since I was a teenager. The weather was beautiful and we had fun playing tourist and window shopping through town with the kids.

The parking lot where we stopped to go to the pier was backed up against a big skate park. The boys hadn't ever really seen big kids do tricks on skateboards so they were happy to watch for a while.

I just thought all these flags on the Pier were pretty.

We fed Kyle to a whale,

and the boys rode a dolphin.

It was a good way to escape some of the valley heat this summer!