Wrapping up the Summer and Bringing on the Fall!

   In August my baby started preschool and is loving it.  Almost every day she asks if she gets to go to preschool.  She is growing up so fast and loving being bigger like sisters.  I am excited that she gets to go to the same preschool that my older two went to.  A friend of mine runs the “Busy Bee” preschool out of her home.  She does a wonderful job.  She has programs and field trips, and they learn so much.  I have really enjoyed having them attend her preschool. I would recommend her to anyone.

   September just flew by.  School, work, homework and just everyday living filled our days. 

   September also brought soccer.  Shaylee decided she wanted to try playing soccer this year.  She is our first one to be interested in playing.  Pima has a pretty good league.  For $15 she gets a shirt and to play.  It has been a fun experience so far.  I am proud of her for getting out there and trying something new.  I really think she enjoys the experience of trying new things.

   October has been teasing us with cooler mornings and evenings.  We love this time of year in Arizona when you finally start to get some relief from the hot summer days.  It is so funny to me when you go outside in the morning and it is 65 or 70 and the girls complain of it being cold.  I am loving it! I open the windows and let the cooler breeze blow through the house. Yeah for fall!

  Just this last weekend we went to the Graham County Fair.  We all had Friday off from school and work so we made a day of it. (Well four hours of it.)  That was about all we could take.  It was lots of fun though.

  In the past we have let the girls ride maybe one ride and just walked around to see the exhibits and animals.  This year we decided to buy the $13 bracelets and let them ride all the rides they wanted.  They have a lack of experience in the ride department and a fear of heights so most rides were close to the ground.  We did ride the Ferris wheel though.  

   Here are a few other pictures of the various rides.  I was the lucky parent that got to ride on the rides that Courtney wasn’t big enough to ride on her own.  I usually try to avoid being in pictures but it was unavoidable this time.  Jeremy was behind the camera.  It is usually the other way around.  So I sacrificed being in some of the pictures for the sake of my children.

   It always amazes me when this time of year roles around again.  Life seems to go by so fast.  We are all excited for the joy and excitement the holiday season brings.  Hope you all enjoy this fun and exciting time of year!

Back to School

     It is crazy to think we are already back to school.  The kids started this last week on Wednesday, August 15th. The summer has flown by.  There was so much more I intended to do and didn’t.  I guess it will be saved fore a later date. 

   I am having a hard time believing that I have a 5th grader, a 3rd grader and a preschooler.  I can remember bits and pieces of being their ages and I feel that it couldn’t have been that long ago that I was in their shoes.  I guess I am getting old. 

   Without further ado  the first day of school pictures.  

Kelsi is sporting her new glasses.  This year is the first year that she has had glasses.  That now makes four out of the five of us with some kind of corrective lens.  Courtney may not have a chance.  

   Shaylee is my big third grader.  She started at a new school this year.  She was nervous about that but she has a great teacher and is handling it beautifully.  She also got new glasses but she wore glasses all last year so she is used to them. 

   I think the both look very smart in their glasses.  I am proud of the girls they are and grateful that they like school.  Homework is another story though.

We had to get Courtney in a picture but she didn’t want to come stand with her sisters so Kelsi helped out.  Courtney starts preschool this week so there will be pictures to come of that.  Can’t hardly believe that my baby is in preschool.  She is lucky enough that she gets to have the same preschool teacher that the older two did.  Susan Norton runs a wonderful preschool out of her home.  She is an wonderful teacher.

  Kelsi’s homeroom teacher this year is Mrs. Christenson.   She is a new teacher for the 5th grade and so far Kelsi seems to like her. 

   Shaylee got Mrs. Demuth.  She seems like a really nice teacher.  Small world fact about her is that she and my dad went to high school together.  Apparently they even went to a formal high school dance together.  She says she has a picture somewhere of them.  That would be fun to see.

   Courtney has had fun being home with me.  She has been lucky to have her little friend Sophia to play with her every day since the girls started school.  At this rate she is going to expect a friend to play with every day.  She loves having someone to play with.  I think she is going to love preschool. 

The Summer is Flying By

   Here we are almost to August.  In just over three weeks the kids will be back to school.  I just keep thinking that there is so much more I intended to do with the kids this summer.  I better get busy or time will be gone. 
   Well,  with that being said here are a few things we have done this summer.
   In June we celebrated Shaylee’s birthday.  She turned the big 8!  We are so proud of her and the choices she is making.  All our daughters are growing up so fast.  We love them so much.  (Fun little fact, the Happy Birthday sign in the back on the wall is one I made for Jeremy on the first birthday he had after we were married.  We have put it up for almost every birthday we have had in our family since.)
   Shaylee has taken an interest in science and in doing experiments.  One of the gifts she got was a science kit and book.  She has enjoyed it very much.
   On the 4th of July we participated in our town parade at 6:00 in the morning again.  I didn’t get pictures this year, but it was lots of fun.  The older girls and I rode our bikes and Courtney rode in the bike trailer again.  The program was wonderful, as usual.  Unfortunately Jeremy had to work again this year.   He did make it home to enjoy a dinner of ribs and corn on the cob cooked on the grill and a dessert of homemade chocolate ice cream.  That night I took Shaylee and Courtney to see the fireworks.  Kelsi was too tired so Jeremy stayed home with her.  It was fun to watch their excitement while watching the fireworks light up the sky.  What a great country we live in and what a wonderful way to celebrate it.
   On July 7th we got to enjoy Shaylee’s baptism.  What a wonderful day!  We had many family members there and those that weren’t, we know they were there with us in spirit.  It is awesome to watch as my little girls grow up and learn to recognize the spirit teaching and testifying to them of Jesus Christ and helping them know how to live their lives so we can one day return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father as an eternal family.
   What a wonderful blessing the priesthood of God is.  What a wonderful treasure it is that my husband holds that priesthood allowing him to baptize our children and bless our lives in so many other ways. 
 
  I am very grateful for the love and support that both mine and Jeremy’s parents have always shown to our family.  They all do so much for us in so many ways.  What a blessing it is to have the  family we do.  A big thanks to all of our family!  Here are some before and after shots of Shaylee and Jeremy.  I don’t have an after picture of Jeremy but here is one of Shaylee.
  
   What a wonderful day!  Thanks Shaylee for being a wonderful daughter and your choice to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized.  Love You!
   The next weekend we headed to Alpine for the Edington family reunion.  We had lots of fun.  Sadly, once again, Jeremy wasn’t able to be there because of work.  The girls and I tried to make the most of it though.  I didn’t get as many pictures as I probably should have.  I just got a little too busy living and enjoying the time with family.  I did get some of the grandkids decorating a bag to take on the nature walk as well as the nature walk and some other activities of that one day.
   For the nature walk we walked around following Grandma and Grandpa while they told us about various plants and trees in the area.  At the end there was a special treat.  They found a rare candy tree.  It had fun treats hanging all over it for the kids to enjoy.  The creative mom I have, had names for each of the candies.  For example, the Skittles were rainbow ladybugs and Hershey Kisses where unicorn droppings. There were a few other types of candies but I can’t remember their fun names.
      
  One of the favorite attractions of all the kids, young and old, was Grandpa’s Ranger.  When the kids weren’t being given rides on it they where playing in it.  It brought hours of entertainment.  I even got to drive it.  Lots of fun! 
  One of the other fun adventures of the trip was fishing.  The girls didn’t catch any fish but Kelsi caught her first crawdad.  The girls tended to just want to cast the line and real it back in.  Makes it a little hard for the fish to find the worm.  
   One night we even got to watch the movie “Dolphin Tail” under the stars.  Grandpa had a big screen set up outside and a projector attached to a Blu-ray player.  Grandma popped popcorn for everyone to add to the fun.
   Other highlights of the trip were: the beautiful weather, the many crafts with grandma, hours of playtime with cousins, baseball in the meadow, roasting marshmallows, picking wildflowers, going on a bear hunt and finding gummy bears, and being dirty from head to toe within 10 minutes of getting there. Gotta love the mountains!   
        

Happy Summer to you all!

May and the End of School

May and the end of school always brings busy and fun times.  Shaylee had her 2nd grade music program toward the beginning of the month.  She got to dress up like a beetle.  The costume wasn’t fancy but I think she made a pretty cute bug.  The program was as cute as can be.  It is always fun the see the kids in these programs.
She also had her track meet.  She participated in the ball bounce, jump rope and sack race.  I was proud of her for getting out there and doing her best even when some of the events didn’t come easy for her.
For the sack race they had to hop 50 yards in their sacks.  This wasn’t easy for her but I was so proud of her for finishing.
Around the middle of the month the girls started T-ball and softball.  It has been so much fun to watch them play this year.  I sure hope they have enjoyed it because I know have.  I hope they decide to play again next year.
Here they are in their uniforms.  Courtney was having a blast posing.  I should have only posted one but I couldn’t resist.

Fashion

Sweet

                                  

Egyptian

Sprinkler

         


















We didn’t get pictures of Kelsi and Shaylee before the game but here are a few during and after shots.
Kelsi, my 10 year old who has never played softball before, was recruited on the first game to be the catcher.  She has been the catcher for almost every game since.  She is doing pretty good, in my opinion, for never having played before.  It does make be a little nervous at times to have her so close to the batters.  Thank goodness for the protection provided by her helmet and pads.  So far so good.
Shaylee is also doing great.  This is also her first real year of playing.  She was going to play last year but see only made it to one practice and then we had to pull her.  (She broke her collar bone at school.)  This year has gone much better. 
Here are a couple of after shots.    
Go Rockies and Royals!  We have just a few more games and the season is over.  It has been great fun!  I hope they decide to play again next year.      
We also got to celebrate a couple of birthdays this month.  My dear husband turned 35.  I love him and am grateful for all he does for our family.  He does a great job providing for us and showing such love for us in all he does and says.  We had a fun time celebrating with him.
Courtney also had a birthday. She turned 4.  It is crazy to think my baby is getting so big.  We got to celebrate her birthday at CG and Gramps house.  It was lots of fun to celebrate with some of our family.  She was so super excited.   She had been asking for weeks how much longer until her birthday.  Birthdays are a lot more exciting when you are a kid.  You actually look forward to getting older.  I am so happy to have her in our family.  She is so much fun and brings so many smiles to our faces. 
The weekend that we went to CG and Gramps house and celebrated Courtney’s birthday we also got to go shopping for Shaylee’s baptism dress.  This is always a fun time.  We took her to the same little shop that we bought Kelsi’s at two years ago.  I love this little boutique.  There are so many beautiful dresses to choose from.  It is called Crismons.  If you are looking for a baptism dress or blessing dress or suit this is a great place to go.  There are lots of beautiful dresses in many sizes.  There are also other beautiful dresses as well as baby furniture. 
Here are some of the dresses that she tried on in her efforts to find the right one.  She had so much fun and liked so many of them.  I am sure she felt like a little princess trying them all on.  They are actually pretty reasonably priced also.  I think the one she ended up getting was right around $45.    

Option #1

Option # 2

                    

Option#3

                  
  

Option #4

Option #5

                                                 

Option # 6

Option #7

The one she finally ended up picking was option #3.  She had so many to choose from so it wasn’t an easy task.  I think she picked out a beautiful one.  Thanks CG and Grani for helping us to get this dress for her!  
I am so proud of her choice to be baptized. She is such a sweet girl and a blessing in our lives.
While we were out and about we also took the opportunity to stop by Pop-o’s grave site.    It is hard to believe that he has been gone for over a year now.  Pop-o is truly loved and missed.
    

We had a great weekend at Cg and Gramp’s house.  We had a blast swimming, shopping, partying and spending time with family.  It was also wonderful to see Grani.  We love you Grani!  Thanks for all you do and the wonderful example you are.
The next weekend we had some family fun for memorial day.  We have taken to having breakfast picnics.  Especially in the summer.  We decided this time to take our breakfast  to the EAC campus.  It is a beautiful campus and one of our favorite places to walk around and play at.
We had a blast playing Frisbee, soccer, racquetball and riding bikes.  There is just so many things to do on campus.  We love taking our family there.           
We also discovered this wreath the college had on display by the clock tower in honor of the many men and women who have served our country and fallen in battle.  I am so grateful for their sacrifices.  It is such a blessing to live in this country.  There are so many wonderful people who serve in our armed forces.  Thank you!  Thank you! Thanks also to their families who sacrifice so much during their service to our country. 
We had a busy and fun month full of exciting adventures.  One more picture and I promise I am done for this post.  I just had to throw this one in because it was too cute.  Daddy had to do some work from home one morning so Courtney decided to join him.  What a sweetheart!