Dallas

Rick got to go to Dallas this week for work & some pleasure. He went out a day early so he could go to the Monday Night Football Cowboys/Redskins game with his brother, Ryan. It's too bad it wasn't that great of a game, but at least it was close the entire game and they got to see a cool stadium.

They also got to go to the Dallas Temple. That was the temple I would go to as a youth & it's just like the one he would also go to as a youth (Boise). It's nice that he has been able to get to different temples since the Denver temple has been closed for the last six weeks (he got to go to the Washington DC temple a couple weeks ago).

First Grade Treasure Hunt

This afternoon we got to go to Joseph's class for a Treasure Hunt to celebrate the end of their Map Unit. It was fun watching them use a compass & follow the directions to find all of the clues. The clues eventually led them to the cafeteria where they had ice cream.

Once we were done in there we went back to the classroom & the kids made pirate eye patches. Joseph really liked pretending to be a pirate. And we sure loved the fun activities! (And it was also fun for Rick to come & surprise him!)

She's the Cutest!

And I love her, TONS!! And I love how Lexie puts outfits together. Hearts and flowers do go together, right?

At least the colors do match.

The Walker

We've had this walker since Lexie was a baby & Rick suggested getting it out for Liza. We finally did yesterday & she took to it right away. She loves it.

And the kids love hovering around her, too.

Homework

I've decided this week that 3rd grade is a lot harder now than it was when I was in 3rd grade. And that my creativity skills for spelling word sentences (for practice tests for Lexie) are not up to par this week. Nonetheless, I will try to come up with more exciting sentences for words like trilingual, quadrangle, heptathlon, pentathlon, decagon, and hexapod than just using the number of sides or events, etc. I'm pretty good with the bicycle, bikini, triplet, pentagon and the like, but coming up with a good variety this week is not my forte. (That's what happens when there are 20 spelling words.) I guess she'll just get really good at knowing all the definitions of these words and if they are Latin or Greek prefixes. Did you know that the prefixes oct- & penta- are both? Who knew?

And to think her homework was the hard one this week, oh wait, maybe not. (And not necessarily hard, just lots of busy work.) Joseph had to make tally marks (in groups of 5s) & he decided to use a whole paper for it: 1,080. And yes, I did verify that one. And today Joseph got to write a page about "I wish I were a..." and he said, "I don't want to be anything but me. Can I just write that and be done?" Not the easiest task to convince him to write about being something else-even about what he would like to be when he grows up. He finally decided on a dolphin trainer. At least he doesn't want to be a guitar like Andrew does.

Ah, homework. It always makes for a fun evening. (No, it really does. I'm so grateful the kids are doing so well in school and love to learn! It's really awesome!)

Playing the Piano

Lexie is loving playing the piano with Eliza.

And Eliza is loving it, too.

Growing Spaghetti

Andrew planted some seeds at Joy School on Wednesday. This morning he noticed that they were starting to sprout. When we asked him what we thought would grow he excitedly answered, "I'm growing spaghetti!" Since the sprouts do look like spaghetti noodles it does make sense.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if that's really what he's growing.

Boy's Reading Night

Rick got to go to Boy's Reading Night at the school tonight with Joseph. They called it "Rough, Tough, & Funny Stuff." (It was a bummer that Cheryl & Lexie couldn't go to the girl's one last week because Rick was out of town-hopefully next year.) They started off with mad-lib type stories around the campfire, followed by reading time in the library. Joseph picked books about Paul Bunyan & Daniel Boone as well as an Aesop's Fables book for them to read. Then it was off to the gym for "The Brave Knight's Challenge" (an obstacle course). Joseph really enjoyed it, especially swinging on the rope.

Then we went to the cafeteria & built log cabins out of pretzels, graham crackers, & frosting.

They also got their picture taken & Joseph was so excited that they got an action shot of him swinging an ax.

It was a fun night for the boys & are so glad that the school goes out of their way to create fun opportunities for kids & their parents to enjoy together.

First Steps

Eliza took her first steps today! She's been balancing for quite awhile, but hasn't really tried to walk too much. But this afternoon she found lots of reasons to try!

Which is a good thing, so we could try to take some pictures of her standing & walking. It didn't go so well, but she did think it was a funny little game.

(Rick even put her other sock on her for this picture but you can't even see it. Oh well.)

It was fun that the kids were all home so they could all see her do it because they were super excited! She also is a champ at going up the stairs. All week long she's climbed them & been so proud. We're still working on the coming down part (gratefully she hasn't fallen yet) but she likes going up much more so it may take a bit longer to really teach her.

Super Dad

I got this email from Joseph's teacher today. At first I was a little nervous that he was in trouble, but he wasn't and it made me smile.

"By the way I meant to e-mail you this weekend but forgot, but Joseph had a note from Rick that he kept looking at during writing last week. It was so sweet. He would put it under his papers and keep working and then get it out every so often to look at it. I went over and asked him about it and he said with a big smile that it was from his dad and they were going to have a daddy son date and that meant they got to watch football together. I told (her hubby) about it and that he's going to have to do that for our son. It's neat how something that took Rick 1 minute to write meant so much to Joseph. What a great dad. :)"

She is right. Rick is a great dad & we are all grateful that he does make time for each of the kids and helps them each feel so important. (Because they are!) Rick left the note in one of his folders at back to school night which was about a month ago so he'd forgotten about it.

It's so much fun to see how much these kiddos adore their dad! And how much he adores them right back.

Early Morning Wake Up Call

I woke up to a bunch of screaming this morning. It was quickly followed by much laughing.

Lexie & Joseph were reading Calvin & Hobbes to each other. I hadn't really given much thought to how much Calvin really screams. But, once you read it out loud, there is a lot of it. They were having so much fun that I couldn't ask them to stop. But I could have them scream quietly. :)

PebbleGO

Lexie had to get onto PebbleGO for some homework this evening. Once she was done learning cool facts about crocodiles the boys had such a great time learning about so many things!

Andrew was hilarious! After every new fact Joseph read to him, he would run into the kitchen to tell me all about it. I learned a lot about whales, dolphins, wolf spiders...

I hope this love of learning keeps up!!

Someone Woke Up Happy

I'm sure glad that once he saw how silly he looked he busted out laughing!

As crusty as he is, he still is super cute!

We're Ready for Halloween

Lexie lost her 8th tooth this morning! She was very excited that now she can be a Jack-o-lantern like Joseph. They decided that they have their costumes figured out now, they just need me to get them lots of orange. Awesome! (We'll see how long that lasts.)

Rick is heading out to D.C. today & so he needed a picture with his jack-o-lanterns & a possible one (who knows maybe Eliza will grow some teeth & become one as well).

Then Andrew wanted in on the action. It's so funny how goofy the kids are in the morning. Morning is really one of the best times of day around here.

Our Sunday

Today was the Primary Program at church. Gratefully, it was in September so our numbers for Sacrament Meeting got a real boost. The children did a wonderful job on all of their parts & their singing. Rick told Andrew to just smile really nicely if he didn't remember the words & it was so awesome to see him just stand there grinning ear to ear for half of the program. He really did know so many of the songs but I think he just really liked looking at us smiling. This is truly one of the best Sacrament Meetings of the year! It's awesome to hear all of the sweet testimonies of all of the cute kids in our ward.

We noticed all of the flags were at half staff this morning & we talked a bit with the kids as to why. They still don't understand the significance of what happened today but I found it sweet that this is what Lexie wanted to draw with me this afternoon.

In the sky she wrote "God Bless America" but it's a little hard to see it.

Even though they don't understand the significance of this date, we're grateful that they have a love for their country & an appreciation for those that served to protect the liberties we enjoy.

School Clubs

Today Lexie got to go to Knitting Club for the first time. She's pretty excited to learn lots of new things there. Today they worked more on finger knitting. She taught me when she got home. She's really good at it.

In a few weeks she & Joseph will both get to go to Art Club as well.

They are both also in Mileage Club. They love that. They've both logged in over 6 miles so far. They get a toe clip each time they go to add to their necklace & earn other things along the way as well for attendance.

Unfortunately, the school choir meets at the same time as mileage club & so Lexie had to make a choice. She's sticking with running for now. I'll have to talk to the music teacher & see if she can join that once mileage club is over. If not, maybe they won't be on the same day next year. (She also had to choose between Knitting club & 3rd grade intramurals because those were on the same day/time, too. It was actually a harder decision for her to make than I thought it would be.)

The school offers lots of different activities to keep the kids busy before school. It's been fun to see them get excited about the different opportunities.

Jack-O-Lantern Joseph

He's just getting an early start for Fall.

Three teeth lost in four days. If this keeps up he's really going to be rich!

Go Cougars!

Fun Friday

We've had a nice & productive day today.

It started out well with Joseph (super excitedly) noticing that the tooth fairy left 2 coins for him this morning. :)

We've had so many great tomatoes & I've been wanting to try canning diced tomatoes. (I really wanted to can salsa but not enough time to get that done. Maybe next time.) But I decided since I had nothing else on my calendar for the day, I had better get the canning done before everything goes bad. The kids had a great time picking all of the red tomatoes from the garden this morning before school. Lexie's class is talking about how plants grow so she wanted to take some of our veggies in to show her class. Poor girl carried about 5 lbs of veggies in her backpack (2 kinds of squash, a carrot, bean, tomato, & what she called "the most perfect pepper"). I'm glad she gets so excited about her veggies.

Once the kids were dropped off & Liza was down for a nap, Andrew & I started dicing tomatoes.

It didn't take too long, so that was good. And we ended up getting 5 1/2 quarts canned. Not too bad for a mornings work.

Yesterday Lexie started piano lessons. She was quite nervous about it to begin with but ended up loving it! She loves her teacher & loves that the pages have "silly pictures" she can look at when she practices.

She loves to play the piano already! She came home from school today asking when she could get her practicing done. I hope that keeps up. She also likes to relax a little while practicing.

Andrew has started getting books at preschool and is a great little reader. Tonight he got to read with Rick for the first time and did a great job reading the book straight through.

He thinks it's a silly book.

And Rick is still happy about last night. College Football has begun. Yep, still a Fun Friday, more games tonight. And many more tomorrow...it's going to be a great weekend.

Joseph's Tooth (or Teeth) Adventure

About a week ago Joseph was begging me to put an apple in his lunch so he could lose his tooth at school. I did. But he didn't lose it. He wanted to lose it at school so he could get a tooth holder from the school nurse (& so he could be like Lexie who lost a tooth at school but didn't get a tooth holder, she got an envelope).

Behold, the coveted tooth holder:

When I went to pick him up from school today, I ran into the mom of one of his friends & we started talking. She told me to be sure to ask Joseph about his adventure he had today. I asked, "um, what adventure?" And she said, with his tooth. She saw him searching the gym floor for his tooth that he lost when it fell out of his mouth. I was excited because this is just what he had wanted. Then I find my Joseph & he had a big closed mouth smile & wouldn't talk to me but just kept on grinning. He also had a cool sticker. I asked him to tell me about his day & finally he smiled & surprise!!

Yep, he didn't just lose 1 tooth at school. He lost his 2 front teeth! A boy in his class accidentally elbowed him in the mouth & knocked them right out of his mouth.

Then he got to go to the nurse, clean up his mouth, get this cool holder and sticker, & then went searching for his second tooth that he lost on the gym floor.

It was lots of fun to hear all about his tooth-teeth adventure. This cute boy is so excited to surprise his Dad when he gets home from work! It's going to be so fun surprising him with this adorable, toothless grin!

Mmmmm!

Andrew is loving school. He was so excited to tell me today about his painting. He painted a picture with chocolate pudding. He said his favorite part was painting it and eating it.

But he told me I couldn't eat his painting because it was now light brown and is only yummy when it is dark brown. Makes sense. It's great he enjoys school and learning so many things.