End of August adventures

You know how I try to be a cool mom. I'd like to think that even though I am strict and demanding, that I can be fun and adventurous. To prove my awesomeness I asked the boys on the last week of vacation what was one thing you really want to do before they go back to school. Ryan picked going bowling. But you don't just go bowling in North Texas. You go bowling, arcading, laser tagging, and snacking. They had unlimited bowling and laser tag. Each kid got $10 in arcade money. It was half price arcade game day!!!

Each boy brought one friend. Alex brought Andrew, aka Flash.

Gabe came with Ryan. I love that Gabe wore his awesome free marathon PE t-shirt. Ryan insists on also wearing this very awesome shirt in public. In contrast to Gabe's cool shirt, is Ryan's field day shirt. Nice yellow, no? I know that Gabe's mother and I do buy nice clothes for our kids. I guess we should only invest in fundraiser clothes and hope they get a free PE shirt every year!

So... I brought Macey. She and I did not bowl. We hung out and played and colored. She was a good sport. I think she would have liked to bowl, but I wasn't up to it. We did play a lot of arcade games. she got some awesome prizes. We also had a yummy lunch and ice while waiting for the boys.

 

 I can't remember who won now that it has been a few weeks, but they all had fun. The boys played 4 games of laser tag. And everyone got a large haul of cheap toys from the prize counter. It was Great!

Alex picked eating frozen yogurt bar at Racetrack for his final hurrah. Considerably less exciting, but nearly as expensive!

I am coordinating DI at Wyatt this year. I made this rather bizarre display. There was an instant challenge on it. Minion Challenge: try to get the minion as far from the pole as possible.

The boys had a some great solutions.

I wish I had thought of this for sneak a peek at school for the kids to get interested in DI. Maybe next year...

Macey and Sophie eating pretzels at Target. The girls love cinnamon pretzels!

Over Labor Day weekend Dan went to his fantasy football draft in Phoenix and I took the kids to Arkansas. Interstate 540 is the most beautiful road! I love the vistas and the gently winding roads. While in AR we visited my mother, some old Bentonville friends, and my uncle's family. It was a short trip in time, but long on distance. I am glad to be home and not have to travel for a while. :)

1st Day of School

On the first day of school my true love gave to me, Verizon Fios (fiber optic) Internet! Adios AT&T. We have abandoned DSL for good. We have abandoned a traditional LAN line and now have Ooma, an internet phone, with all the advantages of a LAN line.  Hopefully this will clear up any network issues, like my wifi phone not working when you call me at home. And faster video chatting.

But also, on the first day of school, but boys WENT to school. :)

Another year and another round of back to school pictures. The boys' Lloyd Ninjago (he's green) alarm went off and the boys got up and ready with very little urging.

This year's school theme is Rock 'n' Roll. They got some very sweet t-shirts out of the deal.

Look at these unique blue shoes. However, if your buddy in class shows up in the same pair I guess they loose their uniqueness! Curse you Matt Baker! (Not really, because mom loves Matt...)

Alex does not enjoy goofing off for the camera. Or maybe in the front yard while the neighbors are watching...

Dan usually tries to match the boys on the first day of school, but I guess it didn't cross his mind. I thought that they had a similar theme going, but Dan shot me down with, 'We have nothing the same on.' So, I guess I was wrong. Dad trekked down to school while I stayed home with sleeping beauty.

5th grade. Yep, he is in 5th grade. Next year he goes to Jr High. He is psyched to be the oldest kid on campus. 5th grade is the best year with tons of awesome special days including the Outdoor Learning Camp.

2nd grade. Ryan is so awesome! He loves school (he denies this if you ask, but it is true!)

I should mention here that our school district participates in a fundraiser at the end of each year where you can buy supply packs. You order your school supplies (at an elevated price) in May and they are on your desk in August. I was so proud of myself to have accomplished this. It was a great shock to my system to learn 3 days before school started that that wasn't the case. I must have started to order school supplies and then got sidetracked because neither the 3rd party nor my bank account say I actually hit 'purchase'. So I scavenged the house for all available supplies and only shopped for essentials on Saturday. True, I saved a lot of money. But it is easier on the teachers to just get bulk of all the same stuff, and some things I couldn't actually get. Next May I'm going to be more careful about finishing that order on time!

Princess Playdate

Our Macey turned 4 on Friday. It was also Sneak-a-Peak for brothers at school. I had a long day of morning bday, party set-up, school volunteering, meeting teachers, party, and swim party with family friends. But to start off, our girlie got her bed present.

This was the awful 'Pop the Pig' that she wanted for Christmas but Santa didn't bring. Since it is 8 months later and she STILL wants it, I guess we could buy it. It is as lame as to be expected, but it makes her happy. :)

I decided to keep the party on the down low. We invited 5 friends over for a playdate in the afternoon. I put up minimal decorations. (More than these pictured, but still a small amount!)

I did make this very snazzy cake. It does look very cool, but it is mostly fake! I stacked donuts on a Styrofoam base. I topped it with bagels for the 'house' on top, and then a candy dipped waffle cone. Don't mind the support beam. It is hot in north Texas, and things were getting a bit saggy by showtime.

Macey was very excited when she saw it. That made the effort with it!

On our invites we put, 'come dressed in your princess best.' These girls were not kidding; they were looking awesome!

I had no games planned. The girls played in Macey's room mostly and had a very good time without any adult guidance.

I did make one craft activity. I made Rapunzel wigs and had the girls decorate them with flowers. They can wear the wigs or they can hang them on the wall to put their hair bows on them.

 

Having a girl party is so much quieter and gentler than a boy party. I safely used my china tea set with 4 year olds with zero problems! Because we had a donut tower, we had cake donuts for the main dessert. I also served fresh fruit and chocolate milk.

Our princesses were very polite and had nice conversation during the snack.

Following the snack we watched "Tangled Ever After" before Macey opened presents. Look how they all sat so sweetly. Macey loved her gifts. I have a very open idea about presents. The kids brought them, and they want to see them opened and then PLAY with them. So we opened everything up and let the girls play for the rest of the party. It was so quiet that Dan left to run an errand during the event.
Once our princesses all left, we put on our swimsuits and walked over to the pool. The D's, Contreras, and Sumners met us at the pool for dinner. It was a sort of pot luck. I WAS planning to grill, but the Sumners beat me to it. It was very kind of them to take that task off my hands. We had a wonderful meal, the kids had fun swimming, and the grown-ups enjoyed a very warm summer evening chatting.

To finish off our very long day we went back home for ice cream. I bought Macey's favorite Braums birthday cake ice cream and my favorite rocky road. Served on waffle cones, yummy! And finally sister got this scooter. In June we read a book about birthdays. On the last page were 3 gifts and we asked Macey what were inside the gifts: "A scooter, Pop-the-pig, and a soccer ball." Sure made gift buying easy this year.

Macey trying out her scooter the next day.

Going to Megan's, a regular adventure, this time with the safety of helmet and pads.

A puzzle of Sofia the First. And now Macey is 4. We have been telling her, 'When you are four you'll... like fruits and vegetables, read scriptures and say prayers, etc.' We love this princess and are so blessed to have her in our family.

7 Days Left

Summer is drawing to a close. There is only one week left of the 12 granted us for summer vacation. It is unbelievable how short 12 weeks can be: we didn't make it to all the local places we wanted to, we didn't have playdates with all the friends we promised we would, and we didn't accomplish any fitness/learning goals! But we did have a lot of fun and a lot of family bonding.

We met Dad at work and picked him up for a picnic at the temple. My boys got dressed so handsomely that I had to take pictures of us. They are looking very sharp with their new haircuts.

 Ryan didn't want me taking a picture of him. He closed his eyes and kept turning away. He is so crazy! But he had the best Mohawk and I wanted to show it off!

After the picnic I took the kids to the BSA National Scouting Museum. It was pretty cool. The kids enjoyed racing derby cars and 'camping'. Alex filled out a trivia form and earned a ribbon for the Pack Flag. It was worth going to. But again with kids I only got to browse, not actually read any of the signs.

We had some real excitement the week after our vacation. Coach Dan and the Wildcats had 2 regular season games and then Playoffs. The playoffs were a tournament held all day Saturday. Our first game was at 12:00. Our team started the game with 4 players! It was the most stressed out I've been at a basketball game this year. Gracious! Eventually 3 more players trickled in. But our boys played their best game of the season and won the game. They had an hour break before going back.

Here coach is talking to the team about the first game and how to prepare for the next one. They played awesome the 1st quarter of the next game. The score at the end of the quarter was 4-2 Wildcats, against the #1 team in the league! But alas, they were tired and didn't have enough oomph to get the ball in the basket. They rebounded and made 3 or 4 shots per trip to the basket over and over, but just couldn't get it in.

Macey was extremely bored by the whole affair. And then we stayed to watch the championship game... She fell asleep and woke up in time to get shaved ice afterwards.
I can hear the kids this morning. They were playing Minecraft and have now shifted over to the Wii. Detoxing them from video games and soda after our long summer is going to be a very painful thing!

Summer trip to AZ

At the end of July we went to Arizona for 2 weeks. Yes, it was hot! But we've been there, done that, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was great for swimming at least.

 Macey and I went the park one evening to get out of the house. The boys had each other and cousins, whereas Macers was stuck with the old ladies as companions. She was sure missing her friends by the end of 2 weeks!

 This is the latest art project at the Phoenix Children's Museum. The boys did not go in the arts and crafts room!

 However, they did have a good time working in the grocery store. Alex and Macey are in the front; Coby and Trey at the register; and Ryan is way in the back at the other register.

 Note to Ryan's future roommates and wife: do not eat with Ryan in front of a TV; he will not be able to hear you or focus on his food!

 We spent an afternoon at Skyzone. Macey's little head is peeking up over the blue blocks.

Macey got to celebrate her birthday while at Grandma's. Here is her Unicorn (Cupcake) on a stick. It was a serious temptation for her to hold this fine equine and his galloping buttons. Brothers were tired of listening to it!
The disadvantage of current technology is that pictures are taken on various phone devices and few from the actual camera. And going to AZ, is like going home, so we didn't take too many pictures. But we did visit with all the family there and had good times eating pizza with Grandma Frassa at Organ Stop Pizza and swimming with the Inmans and Williams.

PB II

 Day 4 still. Dan and the kids built kingdoms and attempted knocking each others down. The beach was certainly less satisfying under the weather conditions. So we headed inland to Lulu's for some fun and grub.

 Ryan braved the Mountain of Youth by wearing a harness and climbing up to the top.

 It was a very hot day, but he climbed all the way up with no complaints.

 Conquered it!

 Thumbs up? Sure, why not!

 On the way home we caught the signs we missed on the way in. But I didn't see a Mississippi one. Guessed we overlooked that one.

 We had a great trip. Certainly it was worth the drive. 4 days there was the perfect amount. I did have to do laundry 2 days in because no towels or suits could dry in the humidity. We were happy in Pensacola, but I can see why folks would choose Gulf Shores over it with the wider shore line and many more opportunities to eat and shop and sleep right on the coast. It was especially fun for the kids to have their friends with them on the beach and fun for us to have extra adults around to supervise and chat with at dinner.

Macey was very glad to get home. She missed her toys! And Megan. Always a fancy dresser, she got all dolled up after getting home at 8pm.