Gettin caught up

WOW!  It's the middle of September!  Where does time go?

The kids go Progress reports this week at school---really progress reports already!!!!

I always get behind on pictures and blogs in the summer because we have 2 birthdays, Premier rally, then sports start, and it's back to school all too soon!!!

SO---If you'd like to see Jaden's Birthday party pics (and some are super cute!!)

Go back to my JULY POSTS and you will see 2 posts for Jaden's birthday!!!

I am thrilled to have finally finished those in September!!

And, soon I will be catching up on FOOTBALL and SOCCER!!!

But, for now---here's a sneak peak of what the boys have been up to.



YIKERS!!  He is so cute in his football uniform.  I love being a soccer/football mom and

 going to the games and YELLING and CHEERING!!!!!

And our little Soccer guy!  Also, super cute in his uniform!

Jaden hasn't played soccer in 2 years---but it doesn't show!  He's such an athlete!!!

Paige's First Day of Kindergarten

Wednesday was Paige's first day of KINDERGARTEN!!

Paige LOVES this white little shrug. She was DETERMINED to wear it the first day of school!  So, this is the dress we decided looked the best with her shrug!

Backpack--She wanted this PEACE backpack that looked like a "College one"!

Can you say 5 going on 18!!!!!

This was Paige POSING...making sure I got a picture of her BACKPACK!

First Day of KINDERGARTEN:  Paige and Miss Williams

**We LOVE Miss Williams!  She  was Jaden and Tyler's Kindergarten teacher as well**

She is a strick teacher who is all about "business"---this is EXACTLY what Paige NEEDS!!

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Funny quote from Paige--"Mom, I need to practice raising my hand."

mom--"at school?"

Paige--"no, I need to practice raising my hand at home so I remember at school because some kids are getting in trouble for not raising their hands."

Mom--"ok Paige, just raise your hand at home if you want to talk."

**This could be GOOD FOR US at home!!!**

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Paige's Friends---Leah Wilkinson and Bryce Paul

Both live in our neighborhood.

Can you say...Small, Medium, Large

She really is so TINY!  This is what 5th percentile looks like!!!

Playing the first day...

Day TWO---riding the BUS!

Waiting for the bus

Do you see Paige???

Standing up looking over the seat.....

Look at the JOY on her face!

Is it because the bus ride was SO FUN or because she sees mom at school taking pictures?

I am going to go with the 2nd.....

(The bus driver did let Leah, Bryce, and Paige all ride in the same seat together!!)

Walking into school

And....there they go...down the big halls of Explorer Elementary!

Can you believe I have THREE kids in the same school!

So, the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL has come and gone!!!

Here's to a FABULOUS year for ALL 3!!!

Day 2 Bus Report:

On DAY 2 of riding the bus, Paige got IN TROUBLE on the bus for standing and trying to switch seats! The bus driver had to talk to me when he dropped her off....ON DAY 2!!! We told her the boys have rode the bus for years and they have NEVER gotten in trouble!

Paige sat in her room after school and has had to review the "bus rules" with us frequently the next few days!! Hopefully that is the end of it!!!

See why we wanted Miss Williams with structure, rules, and strictness!!!

The First Day of School!

BitterSweet--the PERFECT word to describe the First Day of School!

Tuesday was that day!

The kids are bored with Summer and I am ready for a "normal" routine!! 

The boys started on Tuesday, Paige on Wednesday!

I told the boys they had to wear "nice, cute clothes" and this is what they each picked out!

APPROVED!!!

Waiting for the BUS...

Tyler ran and was the first one on the bus!

Jaden let the neighbor girls go in front of him!  (Or that's just how it worked out!!)

Doesn't he look SO LITTLE next to that GIANT BUS!!

The fourth window from the back....

J-Man giving mom and dad a GREAT BIG SMILE and WAVE!!!

He's going to be gone for 8 hours. 

This is the BITTERSWEET!  Kindergarten isn't so bad, it's 1/2 day just like Pres-school.

But, FIRST GRADE is A L L  D A Y  L O N G !!!!

More Waves!!!

I like to follow the bus the first day of school and watch the kids get off

(and take more pictures!!)

His FIRST real DESK!  He is big time now!!!

First Day of FIRST GRADE:  Jaden and Mrs. Short

Mrs. Short taught Kindergarten last year (Jaden didn't have her, but knew her).

I "requested" (you can't really request a teacher!) Mrs Short thinking it would make the transition from Kindergarten to First Grade easier and smoother for Jaden!!

SO FAR----it has worked!  Jaden loves First Grade and doesn't mind the 8 hours at all!!!

First Day of THIRD GRADE:  Tyler and Mrs. Whelan!

YES---we had Mrs. Whelan for 2nd grade too!!  (We "Requested" her as well!!)

We loved her last year and did great with Tyler so WHY NOT have her again! 

So---another year!  We are excited to see what they learn and who their new friends will be!!!

BitterSweet....

Summer FUN List

For the 2nd (maybe 3rd) year in a row we have made a SUMMER FUN LIST!!!

We get a BIG Piece of paper and the kids and I make a list of things we want to do FUN!!  I let them come up with ideas (I suggest some too) and then Tyler writes them on our list!  This year Jaden made the boxes in front of each item for the check-marks when the task was completed!

So---here's what we DID DO:

Reading Club at the Library

Y Pool

Drive In Movie

Movie Night at home

Go see a Movie

Ride our Bikes to Sonic

Tuesday $1 movie -- 2 times

Tyler Back to school party

Paige B-day Party

Jaden B-day Party

Wash mom's car on drive-way

Bible School -- 2 different ones, 3 for the boys!!!

Orange Leaf -- several times

Bowling

KC weekend

Spend the night at Grandpa/Grandma Balzer's

Spend the night at Grandpa/Grandma Roth's

Swimming--LOTS!

Things we DID NOT check off our list....but we will keep working on them this Fall

WaterPark--ok, won't work on this, this Fall

Make Homemade Chocolate Chip cookies -- I know, so easy!!

Spend the Night with Mason and Taylor

Pure Entertainment---it closed

Fishing---we keep waiting for the kids to spend the night with Uncle David---

he said he'll take them :)

Sg County Park -- just WAY TO HOT this summer for a park !!

Camping by the Lake--we were going to do this when we finished memorizing our summer bible verses.  We memorized some of them, but not all.  And AGAIN, it was TOO hot to camp!

Go swimming with Tyson and Taylor--our new friends from Jaden's baseball team

Spend the night in Aunt Barb's camper---each of the kids stayed the night with A. Barb and U. Jim, but they were going to go back and all sleep in the camper together!!

So---we did a lot, but we left a few undone as well. 

Last Summer we marked EVERYTHING off our list!  That's ok though!

We were busy this summer and I think the kids had FUN!!!

But, now it's time to get back to a S C H E D U L E!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Drive In

Summer is over....but we still have pictures to blog!!!

Our Summer went SO QUICKLY!

June was filled with Baseball.  Then Paige's b-day.

Fourth of July.  Then, Jaden's b-day (pictures to come soon!)

Then, August brought football practices starting.

And, school starts!

One FUN thing we did was go to the DRIVE IN MOVIE!!!

We went in July when it was WAY TO HOT!

Last year when we went other kids had glow in the dark necklaces,

so this year we were "cool" too!

                 And we don't go to the drive in without a cooler and bag FULL of snacks!!!

So--we watched the first movie---

It was HOT!  Steve and I sit in lawn chairs at the back of the truck and the kids lay on blankets in front of us.  I laid on the bed of the truck with the kids for about 5 min. and there was NO AIR down there!  It was awful!!  So, back to my chair I went!  We were just sweating...... 

and ready to go home!!!! 

But, you can't go home after the 1st movie.  However, we were saved by dark clouds and a LITTLE RAIN (or maybe a few sprinkles!)  We felt 3 sprinkles of rain and told the kids "it's going to storm, we have to go home."  I don't think there was any complaining about leaving.....

it was going to storm.  Needless to say---it didn't storm, it didn't even rain. 

But, Steve and I got out of the heat and into the air conditioning and the kids still had fun!

THANK YOU for the few sprinkles!!!



FOURTH OF JULY FUN!!!

   I'm only 6 weeks behind on blogging!  But, the kids are back in school----so I'll be caught up soon!

Fourth of July is always a FUN Day for us!! 

 We hang out with neighbors and friends all day and just relax!



The holiday starts with the guys golfing at 6am and then meeting the wives and kids

 at the pool around 11am!

There is lots of rough play---at least between the big boys and little boys!!

These pictures crack me up---crazy or sweet!

After swimming we head to shower and change and head to Wilkinson's for

GOOD FOOD and FIREWORKS!!!

Me and my boys!!!

Me and Paige!!

This is rare that I am in all the pictures!  Usually I am the one TAKING the pictures!

Holding their fireworks!

For some reason---the 2 youngest are having trouble smiling!! What is that all about?!!!

Paige and Leah!

FIREWORKS are fun in the neighborhood because every family goes and buys some fireworks and then we all just shoot them off and watch each others!  Becky's drive way is full of chairs and people and the other side of the street is lined up with dads and kids waiting their turn to do their FIREWORKS!!!

It's a FUN TIME had by ALL!!!!!!!!

The Birthday Banner

   A long  BIRTHDAY tradition, for who knows how many years....

is hanging a Birthday Sign on the door of the BIRTHDAY PERSON! 

The sign is hung the night before the birthday, while the birthday person is sleeping!

The kids LOVE THIS!!!

We even put the sign on our door when Steve or I have a b-day!  The kids just love it that much!!

So, this year as Steve and I went to find the sign...it was gone!

Then, I suddenly remembered (after searching EVERYWHERE) that I think I threw it away because the ribbon strands hanging down were all breaking!

So, at 11pm Steve and I  MAKE A NEW BIRTHDAY BANNER!!!

The new banner is actually cuter than the one I bought many years ago!

And, of course the kids all noticed it was NEW and LOVED it!!!

It's the little things that Kids LOVE!!!