Labor Day Fun

Ansen was in Maine this year, but Lisa and Matt were here (they're usually gone).

We went 4 wheeling with the Jeep.  I was sure the Jeep would hold us up and we'd have to keep waiting for Dad, but that wasn't the case at all.  I now consider Dad a true Jeeper.  He came prepared with tire deflator and passed any other jeep on the trail like they were standing still.  The jeep was perfect for the kids and Susan who traded around on the 4 wheelers and in the Jeep.

I think it was my favorite ride ever !  Lisa and I kept talking about what a great ride that was like it was common verbage for us . . . so we just went with it and made it as natural as possible. 

It was mostly the best ride because it had just rained and there were huge mud puddles everywhere.  So the more adventurous drivers came home covered in mud. 

It started to rain as we were loading up and these 4 got to ride home in the pouring rain.  Lisa said at one point she turned around to look at Drew, sure he would look cold, wet and miserable but he was just happy as happy. 

We had to forgo our tin foil dinners and s'mores in the canyon due to the rain, but we just did it all at Banna and Branda's house.  Lisa swears she likes marshmallows more than anyone else - so we've been having s'mores alot.  Trust me though, no one else complains (Margaret came that night). 

We went home for Sunday and church and then came back and spent the night at Banna and Branda's.  I found the Back to Future triology in the drawer for the kids, promising them a "good movie."  Ummmm . . . so much more swearing must have been appropriate back then for a PG movie.  That's actually good to know . . . some things have gotten tighter over the years, not loose-r. 

Matt kept making fun of me and my "good (kid) movie."

We played games, slept in and headed out for a bike ride on Monday.

I don't have a picture of Liv, but she peddled her fool head off the whole time and made it 8 miles.  She was a trooper!

And then we headed to Branda's new favorite place - Sammy's.  It doesn't quite beat my beloved JCW's, but it was good!

All in all . . . a good weekend. 

Drew Jr.

Grasshoppers are a little sparse around the house this summer.  We go through phases around here.  We had an over populated yard of crickets and then we moved onto earwigs for 2 years.  Now we've gone crazy with grasshoppers for 2 years  but this year we just seemed to have a "normal" amount. 

Anyway, Drew wanted to take a "gopper" for show and share.  In the late, hot afternoon of the day before school we had to hunt around the yard for a gopper, but we found one. 

Drew named him Drew Jr. 

We'll have to see what critters this area phases into next year . . .

Meet Margaret

I bought Addison some fake glasses as a prize for all her summer reading she worked so diligently at. 

Meet Addison's alter ego -

Margaret. 

I seem to be taking Margaret places a whole heck of a lot more than I take Addison.  But Margaret is pretty equivilantly awesome as my Addison so I'll go with it. 

I'm not making fun of fake glasses since I clearly remember two separate phases of fake glasses I went through too . . .

First Day of School 2012 - Part 2

I debated on whether to send Drew to pre-school or just keep him happily home with me and now that we're here, I'm glad we went with pre-school.  I think he would have drove me crazy asking to go to school all year long. 

He was stoked to go to his open house at Miss Sarah's (green nail polish and all) . . .

 the  same place Olivia went . . . yesterday . . . I mean 3 years ago. 

On the first day of school he marched in and was ready to go. 

To my amazement there are 7 boys and 5 girls in his class.  I thought no boys his age existed . . . apparently they do.

He knew the drill . . . lots of smiling and jumping.

Now every morning he asks if it's Monday or Friday (or any 2 random days) and all he really wants to know is if it's a school day for him.  And since he's usually the first one up he asks if he can go tell the girls he's going to Miss Sarah today. 

And look at his cute monster backpack that our friend gave him after they felt bad for him all last year with his green, flowered backpack.

He's so super cute!

Summer V

Bowling - We went bowling with the neighborhood.  My camera battery went dead so I only got 2 pictures.  It was kind of a long afternoon getting 20 people to bowl 2 games, but it was fun.  I still want to do a mock bowling league with the kids some year . . . maybe next year.

Madagascar 3 - Since Madagascar 2 is our family's all time favorite movie, we were really looking forward to No. 3!  We went opening weekend with Banna and Branda and then went again when it hit the cheap theaters.  Afro circus, Afro circus, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot . . . . (terrible pictures)

More Bike Rides - without whining.  The without whining ones have been more fun.  Weird, right?  Liv has finally developed some stamina and can make it sans whining. 

One morning we rode with Addison to Activity Days.  There's a pretty good size hill on the way home from our church.  It was super fun to go down of course, but not so awesome coming up.  It was already hot and I knew it would probably come pretty close to killing me, but I decided to just do it.  I had to take two breaks on the way up (to honestly prevent a heart attack and keep my quads from cramping up and probably falling off), but I did it with Liv AND Drew in the trailer.   Yeah for me! 

It was just terrible for Olivia and Drew though . . . I mean they were getting bored - what a travesty AND she was starting to get hot as we were nearing our house.  I have no idea what came over me to put her in such a terrible circumstance.  Never mind I was dying, she was possibly bored.  (I love her  - lots.) 

The Jeep - Branda let us borrow his/Jeff's jeep for the last week of summer.  Liv and Drew would yell "this is awwwwesome!" everytime we drove around, it really cooled Ansen and I off after out workouts, the girls I picked up from soccer thought we were pretty cool and it was just plain fun.  My 16 year old girl dream finally came true!

Sharp Family - All my Sharp family was here for my cousin, Becca's wedding.  Becca was in Mexico all summer so the shower and reception was all packed into one day.  I only got one picture of Liv and Ella at the shower before my battery went dead.

Of course Asian Star was involved . . . .

Chris & Andrea

I missed this picture and I didn't want to leave it out  . . . 

Summer Visitors

Our favorite, all time summer visitor is Chris (and now Chris and Andrea). 

We went to dinner at Andrea's family's house and had a really nice evening talking (Andrea's dad is an accountant too and I won't ever pretend that I didn't love the interesting conversation about his job that may have bored others to tears) and playing with them . . . oh and of course lots of golfing for Chris and Ansen.  Andrea - we should go quilt store shopping next time they're golfing . . .  

I was a little camera shy there so I don't have a picture, but the best part was all of the impressive tricks the Jolley girls had.  Easily the best though was Lizzy who could twist her arms through each other and then shimmy them of her head.  Liv worked all night with Lizzy and pretty much got it.  She's still talking about it and working on it.

The kids all really loved Daisy.  Why don't we just get our own dog already?!

Hopefully we get to do more of that over the years!

Boating with Liv (and others)

We went boating on Branda's boat a couple of weekends ago and despite some rain, had a great time.  

Matt and Drew - the water was a little cool, but that didn't keep this Mermaid (again, self proclaimed) from jumping in second with Matt.  

Reading never does these things justice, but I wanted to remember Olivia's "jump" (with the rope) towards Ansen that dowsed him in water.

The brave girls went tubing.  Not necessarily "brave" due to the tube, but brave due to the fact that it was pretty chilly by then and no one else wanted to get in the water.

This was a fun experience

since Addison was begging for faster and Olivia was freaking out for:

1.  to slow down

and 2. because she couldn't hear the music.

No joke, one weekend later Olivia claimed to be a "big risk taker" . . .

Lisa didn't let that one slide and asked if she meant "risk taker" like with the tube . . .

As we were coming into the dock, I threw Liv's shoes at her to put on and one flew into the water.  Olivia had an impressively IMMEDIATE breakdown claiming those were "her best flip flops ever"  (the $2 buy from Old Navy).  I suggested we leave it and buy another, but the freak out got everyone in motion.  Addison was just preparing to dive off the back of the boat as Ansen trolled around the flip flop, but in the end Banna saved the day and leaned over far enough to grab it. 

Emergency Evaded.

What would we do without a little "Ollie Dolly excitement"?

First Day of School 2012

I'm going on record - this was the fastest summer ever. 

Do they just get faster and faster as your kids get older and older?

Addison started the 4th grade

She got Mrs. Doel.  For the first time in 4 years, she's not in Alexis' class (one of her good friends), but after 3 years, she got to be in Kate's class again.

 

Olivia left me for good and started all day 1st grade.

She got Addison's favorite teachers - Mrs. Plank and Mrs. Barger!  Plus she's in Bella and Hailey's class again. 

It's just me and my Drew-man home now. 

 I love it and I hate it. 

(and we're still working on avoiding the iPad.)

And since I didn't want to start the new year off with high expectations - I picked them up 10 minutes late on the first day of school.  (But I give myself a break . . . I hardly drove last year and I forgot what time they got out). 

Plus I would have missed seeing them walking home together holding hands.  I hope Olivia realizes how lucky she is to have such a great big sister.

And this year we had homemade ice cream while they girls told us all about the big first day.

And for our last official day of summer, the girls "chose" an hour worth of extra work . . . I know they're awesome.  They've just been "choosing" that over friends and fun a lot lately.  I'm good with it . . . I'm just surprised.