First Day of School! August 26, 2013

Where did the summer go?  I'm still not sure!!!  Ben is already in 3rd grade and Kate in 1st!  This is a picture of Ben with his teacher Ms. Berlinger at "sneak a peak at your seat" day.  

Kate got the teacher of her dreams, Miss Baker!  Blond hair.  Blue Eyes.  Even the same initials as Kate, KB.  Kate was in heaven.  She absolutely adored Miss Baker.  She even made Miss Baker a card for their first visit.  Miss Baker immediately hung it on her chalkboard (the blue, red and yellow house in the background).  They were a perfect fit...at least until the school added another 1st grade class (3 weeks into the school year) and Kate was one of the lucky (or unlucky) ones that was chosen to be moved to a new class.  When I broke the news to Kate she was HEARTBROKEN!!!  She cried for hours.  She locked herself in her room and didn't come out until she had figured out a plan to tie up one of Miss Baker's students and put their clothes on so she could sneak back into her class.  When she realized that wouldn't work, she broke out singing Taylor Swift's song, "We are never, ever getting back together."  Where and when did she even learn that song?  She was a mess.  What will her teenage years bring?  I emailed the teachers.  I phoned the principal.  No luck.  It was set in stone.  And so, I'm still working on getting an updated picture of Kate and her new teacher Ms. Ritz.  I'm sure in the end Ms. Ritz will be a great teacher (maybe even the best teacher for Kate), but she's going to face an uphill climb from this little blond, blue eyed KB.     

Pictures from the porch and the bus stop on the first day (the day the school bus never came)!  

This is a picture of Ben and his best friend Cooper.  One of my favorite pictures.    

And here is Kate (she is the life of the bus stop too)! 

Summer Moments

 Here are some of my favorite pictures from the summer that helped capture our comings and goings!

July 4th:  The calm before the storm.  Jacob freaked out when the fireworks started and David had to take him to the van. 

Lots of cute pictures of the girls all ready for church.

Somewhere in the mix of things, I finally got around to potty training Jacob.  He did amazing.  Once I finally decided to do it, he only had one or two accidents!  He loved those underwear!  

I put Ben to work.  He started earning an allowance and helped me so much with the other 3 kids!  Emily loves her second mother.

We attempted to teach Ben to ride a bike (again)!  His fear of falling keeps getting in the way.  This picture was David's attempt of cheering him up after one of the many times he stormed off.  That little girl in the background begged and pleaded to have a turn without her training wheels on.  David finally gave in (after 1-2 hours of no success with Ben).  She practically rode off into the sunset on her first try.  Ben was NOT happy!  Kate beamed with pride!  Another example of the fact that we all have our unique talents and struggles!  

We spent many hours at the pool with this cute, little angel.  

                               

And literally on the last day of summer Ben finally had the courage to take the swim test I had been encouraging him to take all summer.  He passed without any problems and loved the 10 minutes he had left to jump off the diving board.  He was so proud of his "Gangnam" style jump!  

 The kids enjoyed the 24th of July Pioneer Day Party.  They were suppose to dress like Pioneers.  Kate and Jacob were excited to, but Ben wanted no part.  He told me he would dress like Brigham Young and came upstairs in his BYU basketball outfit.  Worked for me....points for creativity!  

We made our first trip to the Maryland State Fair.  David had a momentary lack in judgment and let Kate pick a trumpet for a prize.  We all regretted it.  It took awhile, but it finally wore off!    

                                           

And last but not least, David enjoyed his 34th birthday with some German Chocolate cake.  We attempted to re-create his 7th birthday!  

She's 6! July 17, 2013!

How did this happen?  Kate is 6!  She had a few simple requests for her birthday this year.  

1.  When David asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said, "All I really want is for you to be home."  David started his fellowship on July 1st.  We haven't seen much of him since that time.  He leaves before the kids wake up and gets home after they go to bed.  She definitely knows how to pull at his heartstrings!!!!  Of course if David had the choice, he would have spent the whole day with her.  But, since that wasn't an option, he got her some donuts the night before and left them out for her with a sweet note for the morning.  He promised her a date to the movies on his next day off and worked so hard to make it home before she went to bed so that he could be there for cake and ice cream and to open presents.  He had to make a few requests from his co-fellows to make it happen, but it happened! 

 

2.  Her second request was to go down the water slide at the pool.  An adult has to be in the water if you aren't a confident swimmer yet.  Since I always have Emily and Jacob to take care of, it rarely happens for Kate.  My friend Jana agreed to come to the pool that afternoon so that she could help me with Jacob and Emily.  We picked up Chick-fil-A for lunch on the way to the pool and spent a fun afternoon swimming and sliding!  

3.  Her third request was for a princess cake with a bridge and a river.  Thankfully, my cake attempt satisfied her request.  A few neighbors joined us for cake and ice cream.    

Kate LOVES to draw so she was so excited to get this book!

Linda joined us for cake and ice cream and brought Kate a little Hello Kitty bunny that she loved.

Kate is the life of our home.  She keeps us on our toes and always entertained!  We love you Kate!

OBX Days 7-8: June 28-29, 2013

Our trip was coming to a close.  On Friday, we soaked up our last hours at the beach and packed up our bags.

We headed out early Saturday morning (6 am) to avoid traffic and this time it worked!  Yeah!  We found a Krispy Kreme restaurant for breakfast once we were in the traffic clear.  Can you tell who was excited to wear the hat and who was not?!?    

On our way home we were driving by Jamestown so we decided we better stop while we had the chance.  We were glad that we did.  The kids were great and really liked it.  We were able to call Jae and his family on their way to the airport.  They had a late flight out and had some time to spare so they met us there.  If you know us, you know we love to play the game Settlers.  And if you know how to play Settlers you'll find some humor in my favorite question of the day that came from Ben, "So is Jamestown like the first Settler's settlement that they layed?"  I really liked the plaza.  Each state was represented with its flag and a little information about its beginnings.   

Ben and Kate found Oklahoma (their birthplace) first and wanted to take a picture by it and its flag.    

The kids had fun exploring the ships and we got to see them fire the cannon.  

Kate was so happy to meet the real Pocahontas!

The last stop of our trip was to Cafe Rio in Virginia for dinner.  How can you drive near a Cafe Rio and not stop...no matter how tired you might be?  We had a great trip!  I'm pretty sure we took advantage of every hour together before David started fellowship.  Thank you to Nana and Boo for helping us create so many awesome memories!