Monday, August 24, 2009

Back to School

Today was Madison's first day of 2nd grade. She has team teachers (Mr. Hardy and Ms. Barnes) this year and a very large class. She is excited because several of the kids in her class were also in her 1st grade and Kindergarten classes. This morning she said she was most excited about having fun teachers and most nervous about meeting the new kids in her class. After school she said, "It was the best first day of school ever!"

Shark Reef

Saturday afternoon it was my turn to host book club, so Justin took the kids to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay for a few hours (isn't he wonderful!). They had tons of fun and saw lots of cool fish, sharks, a sea turtle and even lizards. Joshua seemed to be most impressed with the big lizard (Komodo Dragon) - he was still talking about it last night.

Skate Park Fun

Last week Justin took the kids to the neighborhood skate park with their bikes. They all thought it was so much fun and couldn't wait to show me. So Saturday morning we all went over so they could show me how much fun it is. After a while Jordan and Josh got tired of riding and decided to just run and chase Justin and Madison around.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Animal Cracker Wedding

Jordan playing with his animal crackers this morning:
.
"These two are in love. They are going to get married."
(singing) "Dum-dum-da-dum. Dum-dum-da-dum."
"Do you take this boy to be your husband?"
"I do."
"Do you take this girl to be your wife?"
"I do."
"You may kiss."
"They are married now."
"Now they are going to have a baby."
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Birthday Hoopla!

Madison turned 7 today! We celebrated her birthday on Saturday (which also happened to be my birthday) with a Little Mermaid party. The kids had octopus hot dogs on green seaweed (Ramen) with goldfish crackers and blue kool-aid. Then they played in the sprinkler and threw water balloons. Josh and cousin Logan running up and down the hill.
We also had a very wet limbo contest...
Jordan opted for the duck walk method, complete with quacking.
... and a pinata.

And finally a Little Mermaid cake. Madison requested a strawberry cake with strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream. She was also adamant that Ariel be sitting on the top of it holding a seashell (complete with a pearl inside) and that Flounder had to be on the cake somewhere, too. Unfortunately, Ariel doesn't look quite like Ariel, but Madison was happy with how she looked (and that's what really matters)! Justin's sister, Michelle, and her two kids, Ana and Nik came all the way from the Denver area to visit this weekend, too. Justin's mom also came down from Panaca. Justin's brother, Andrew, and his family drove up from California on Saturday to see them. So we had a very full house! It was a lot of fun having them here! Madison especially loved having the cousins here to help celebrate her birthday (we ended up with 16 kids at her party)!

The kids and their cousins: Nik, Madison, Ana, Payton, Jordan, Millie, Logan and Joshua (4 week old Dallin was also here but didn't join in the photo shoot).


My amazing friend, Stacie, brought me a quilt for my birthday. It is so cute - all made of t-shirts that she got from Justin! There are t-shirts that my kids have worn, some of Justin's old t-shirts, and even the t-shirt from Girl's Camp the year I was a YW leader! And to top it off, she made it in less than a week - serious talent! THANK YOU STACIE!!