Last Day if School

Well a lot of stuff happened between my last post and this one. But one of those things was growing. 

That was for you Tutu!

the first days of school

I think I get as excited as the kids do for the first day of school.
This year Betty started first grade in a new school due to some changes in school boundaries.
Luckily she has a good friend from church in her class and many friends from her old school also at the new school.
She is doing great so far. She is a very focused child.  She initiates her 20+ minutes of reading time each day. And is anxious to finish any homework as soon as she is home.
I really hope this keeps up for the next 12 years.

And Oscar started preschool!!!!
He loves it and is doing really well. We are especially proud of the days when he gets 2 stickers for being extra good and helpful. I love it when he comes home excited to tell me about how helpful he was (and which kids weren't).

And Iris is enjoying our trips to the store alone.

Look MOM, no training wheels!

So the very last thing that got checked off our list this summer was Betty learning to ride her bike without training wheels!
It was pretty exciting.  Steve did all the hard work (running behind the bike.)
But luckily for him it only took Betty 3 short afternoons before she had it down!

She loves to ride and luckily we have been having a very nice fall. Perfect bike riding after school weather.
I think Betty might need a bigger bike by next summer though.

The other activities

So we didn't complete everything on our Summer of Fun list. 25/38 was our final tally.
And, unfortunatly, not everything got photographed (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?)

This is what else we did.

• have a water fight
• draw with sidewalk chalk
• play with play-doh
• Play Frisbee
• picnic in the park

We also did lots of things not on this list.
It was an amazing summer and I think I may be making lists like this every year, just to keep us on track.
I am so glad that we were able to spend so much time with so much family.
IT WAS AWESOME!

#7 -Lunch at work with Dad

When the kids were less in number and in age we used to have lunch with Steve a lot.  Now, with school times and more kids, this has become harder to do.  And that is why I put it on our Summer of Fun list.  And it was the last thing we completed. On our last day of summer vacation.

I drove the kids to a shopping center by Steve's work, telling them we were going on a surprise outing.  After a summer in the van they weren't happy about another drive (30 mins) just for lunch.
We went into the restaurant and I ordered food for everyone.  And while we were waiting for it, Steve walked in.  They loved it! It was so nice to see him in the middle of the day.  And the M&M cookies were a nice touch too.

#26 -Plant a garden

The last 2 years of our garden have been great learning experiences, but also pretty productive.
This year... not so much.  Well we learned a lesson.
So, if the main garden tender (me) is going to be gone all summer, just don't bother.
Because if you do try to make it work, the squirrels will sense that no one is taking care of said garden and turn it into their own, personal buffet. 

We did learn that we can plant corn in garden boxes. And that it must have been yummy because the squirrels ate them all, along with our cantaloupes.
And it wasn't all a waist.  There were a few tomatoes for the kids to eat when we got home.  And I had beets to roast and then slip into fruit salad with strawberries and apricots.  And we had enough potatoes for a couple of dinners.
Hopefully next summer will be better.

#35 -Make homemade popsicles

Do you know about ZIPZICLES? They are awesome!
We took some to Utah so we could make up some of our own smoothie popsicles.
I just made any old smoothie (bananas, peaches, strawberries, yogurt...) and then poured it into the bags (using a funnel) and froze.
The next evening we got to enjoy them.

BIG HIT!