Go Cougars!!!

First Day of School

It's that time of year, BACK TO SCHOOL! We have had a fabulous summer, but everyone was so excited to go back to school today.

We really kicked off the back to school stuff last week with orientations. On Thursday, Michael went to 7th grade orientation at his middle school. It was mainly just a chance to get his schedule, new student i.d. badge, books and locker, but Michael was pretty jazzed to see old friends. On Friday, Hayley and Trevor went to their Ice Cream Social and got to meet their teachers. Hayley's 1st grade teacher, Ms. Russell, is new to the school and seemed really nice and excited. Trevor's 3 grade teachers are all teachers we had with Michael and are great.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner and a special back to school night. We talked out our 2008-2009 Family School theme, "BE INVOLVED", had father's blessings by Dad, and some super yummy desserts to end the evening.



This morning came with lots of excitment. It wasn't anybody's first year at their school, so nobody was nervous, just laughing and having fun together.





We took Hayley & Trevor to their school first. We got to school early enough for the kids to talk to friends on the playground and for Hayley to do a dry run on all the monkey bars - her favorite! Once the bell rang, they grabbed their backpacks and headed into their classrooms, full of smiles.







Then it was off to drop off Michael - for some reason he didn't want us to walk him in...so strange! Wouldn't you want your cool mom, dressed all nice in her workout clothes and little brother in his swimming suit, to walk you into your 7th grade :)



After school we met up with our friends the Hunters and redeemed our summer reading library prizes for free ice cream at Baskin Robbins. A great way to chill out after a really hot first day of school.












Tonight we had our Family Home Evening lesson on "Being Involved" and talked about working hard at school and at home.

For treat we had the Back to School "PENCIL" cake Jake & I made during our time alone today.



GOOD TIMES!!!

Jake's Church Star Chart

Jake doesn't like church very much. In fact, it had become a real problem on Sunday mornings. Some of the milder acts of rebellion are like the flipping of his clothes around backwards in the middle of church...see Exhibit One:



I will spare anyone who hasn't witnessed other acts of rebellion the lovely details...it just isn't very pretty (and really, church is the only time he acts that way - Jake is normally a funny, great kid to be with!). So after trying all the typical threats, lectures & punishments, I was getting really desperate and looking for something new to try.

Well, Jake loves these toys FisherPrice makes called Planet Heroes. He can't wait for his birthday, and that is all he talks about. So I thought, maybe we can try a different type of "reward" system and he could earn a toy based on weeks of good behavior during church. So for the last 2 months, Jake has been trying to earn 10 Stars to be able to get this toy he has wanted forever. In reality, he could have earned the toy in 3-4 weeks, but we had a couple of incidents where Jake wasn't able to earn full points, I was pretty stingy with them. The week before last he was just 1/2 star short! But our big news is Jake did great on Sunday and earned enough stars to get his Earth Ace. And boy, was he excited!

Way to go Jake - keep up the good work!

JAKE AND HIS EARTH ACE AND CHURCH STAR CHART

More Fun in the Rain and Birthdays

I took the kids to Dallas earlier this week to visit my family. My mom's birthday was Tuesday and we had a lot of fun partying with everyone. Because of different work schedules, we were able to meet my little brother Ben for a birthday breakfast at a fabulous pancake house in the morning, and then party in the evening at my brother Bob's house. It was great!

The Original Pancake House - YUM!

Grandmommie opening presents with lots of helpers!
Blowing out the trick candles - so funny!

We brought the rain with us and it rained the whole time we were there, so the kids weren't able to go to Six Flags and swimming with their cousins like we had originally planned. But the kids improvised and had a blast playing in the rain on the trampoline and having fun Wii tournaments thanks to Uncle Ben. It was a great trip!

The Magic of Rainbows

We've been getting a LOT of rain lately. Saturday was one of those days where the rain was so heavy we even had some flash flooding. But there is something magical about the way things look after a rain...especially when you get a full rainbow like this! Once we stopped the car and took a picture, you couldn't see the whole arch because of the trees, but we were able to see it while we were driving.



I say it is magic because before we saw the rainbow, I had a car load of grumpy kids(and a grumpy mom), but once we saw it, it was so cool, everybody forgot about being grumpy. It was magic!

The Sleepover

Trevor and Hayley had 2 of their friends, Morgan and Kennedy sleep over last Thursday night. This was something they have been planning all summer and they were so excited. It was the easiest sleepover ever, the kids just all linked up together on their DS's and played Mario Party for hours. They even managed to sleep a little too!

New Eyeballs!

This week Michael got contacts...or as Jake calls them, "Michael's New Eyeballs!". We can't wait to see what he can do on the basketball court now that he can actually see the basket!

MICHAEL AND HIS NEW EYEBALLS

Swim Party

THE BIRTHDAY GIRLS

Hayley and her friends Kennedy and Karlilie from church had a small swim party at the Y on Monday. The 3 girls birthdays are all within 4 days of each other, so we just decided to get together and celebrate with our families (which really makes a lot of kids since each family has 4 kids!). They all love swimming, so what better place to have it than at the YMCA pool! On the way we picked up another sweet girl from their class, Anna.



The kids all had a lot of fun, staying cool in the water. Since we were at the pool, the girls had decided on an "Under the Sea" theme with a blue cake with fish and sour worm/eels decorating. Super easy to make these girls happy! Since we did this at 11, Kennedy's mom made her delicious homemade kolaches for the kids to eat for a quick lunch before they got to cake and presents. It was a fun and laid-back party!



Thanks for the fun party! Maybe next year we will be brave enough to try it with school friends too :)

Let the Games Begin!

We are excited for the Olympics to be here. We kicked off the Olympics with our own opening celebration, ordering Chinese food and watching the opening ceremonies together. It was great to watch the amazing performances, see all the different countries enter the Birds Nest (and learn where they were!), to stand and cheer for the USA Oympicans entering the area, see the torch lite, and watch Yao Ming and the little boy from the earthquake in China being interviewed. It is fun to learn the stories behind the athletes. Favorite sports we will be following here are basketball, gymnastics, table tennis, track and field and of course, swimming.

Go USA!

Jake kept going back to to table, eating more than the other 3 kids combined. His favorite was the Wonton Soup..who knew?!

Hayley buried under the Olympic Mascots. Hayley, Trevor & Jake had a lot of fun playing with these mascots Don brought back from his trip to China last fall. They know each of their names & everyone has a favorite.

Party at the Library!

Tonight was the end of Summer Reading Program at the library. The kids had a blast, gorging themselves on free hot dogs, snowcones, ice cream, cookies, popcorn & candy. They also had areas where they could play games and win prizes, face painting and bouncing on the moonwalk (and surprisingly enough, I didn't see one kid barf after eating all that food and jumping!). And just in case they didn't eat enough junk food there, they handed out goody bags with candy and gum to each kid on the way out the door.

Talk about motivating a kid to read...the library rocks!

Jake and Hayley with their goody bags

Tropical Storm Edouard

Tuesday we had a visit from the sad excuse of a Tropical Storm, Edouard. It was wet and a little windy, but didn't slow us down too much. We sure like these storms that fizzle out before they get to us. Don's company had closed for the day, so we had extra Dad time to play. We also made a yummy chocolate cream pie to eat for a treat.

Hayley, Trevor & Jake (wearing a swimming suit of course, just in case he got the chance for swimming!)

DON'T WORRY, WE CAUGHT JAKE BEFORE HIS FACE ACTUALLY TOUCHED THE PIE! (ALTHOUGH IT DID START A WHOLE CONVERSATION ON PIE EATING CONTESTS...FUNNY STUFF!)

Quebec City

Check out the hotel (CASTLE!) Don got to stay at when he was in Quebec City this past week for work...I've really got to get me a passport one of these days & tag along on some of these trips!

Welcome back to our castle, honey! :)

Called to Serve

In July at church, the kids had been talking about being missionaries. We have such a fun song leader. She was teaching the song "Called to Serve" and dressing up a future missionary in her husband's suit as the kids learned each line. It was really cute & the kids loved it. Check out a future missionary...I guess he really does need to "grow a foot or two"!

Trevor & Gabriel as future missionaries!

Our future and present missionaries!

Family Fun

WE LOVE OUR GRANDPA!!

A couple weeks ago Don was in Germany for business but the rest of us went to Dallas to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday and play with cousins. We had a great time doing fun things like partying with Grandpa, swimming, crashing at Uncle Ben's swanky place, and going to Six Flags twice (making good use of our season passes!). The first day we went to Six Flags there weren't any lines...probably due to the fact it was the middle of the week and 100 degrees! We only stayed a couple of hours but rode plenty of rides during that time. The next evening we went to the park after dinner when it had cooled off a little and stayed until closing. So fun!

ABBY, ANNA, UNCLE BEN & TREVOR

ANNA AND JAKE, HAVING ONE OF THEIR CUTE CONVERSATIONS

GRANDPA AND HIS FAVORITE TREATS...IT'S GOOD TO BE 60! GRANDMOMMIE HOLDING THE SUPER FUNNY PLATES SHE GOT BY ACCIDENT. IT WAS SO FUNNY WHEN WE ALL REALIZED WHAT IT REALLY SAID ON IT!


UNCLE BOB REELING IN THE CATCH OF THE DAY - A JAKE FISH!

PLAYING A LITTLE BASKETBALL IN THE EVENINGS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, WE LOVE YOU!
(Dad is sporting the great shirt from Beth!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYLEY!

6 years ago today the balance of our family changed...we had a girl!

And our world has been colored pink ever since...

Hayley was so excited to turn six. It has been a countdown for a long time. Everytime we did something in the last week, she reminded us that it was the "last time" she would do that being five. Like Sunday was the last time she would be 5 at church, Tuesday was the last time she would be 5 at the denist, etc. It was really cute.

HAYLEY'S WALL OF FAME FOR THE DAY...LOOK AT HOW SHE HAS GROWN!

We actually started celebrating Hayley's birthday last night with a special birthday dinner after Michael's basketball practice since tonight we had our friends housewarming party to go to. The Y was giving out Blue Bell Ice Cream during the basketball practice for the first time ever, so we actually had ice cream before dinner :)



Hayley picked 59 Diner for her birthday dinner and the waiter let her pick any dessert for a treat. She picked a chocolate milk shake (which was voted best shake in Houston by the way...and it was tasty!).



This morning we redeemed our library summer reading program circus vouchers and went with our friends to the circus. It was a lot of fun. Hayley's favorite part were the clowns and the little car one of them rode in at the beginning. She also really enjoyed the massive snow cone she got to pick out for a special birthday treat! It had a cute pony cup she got to bring home too.

I THINK SHE GOT A LITTLE BRAIN FREEZE!! That was one big snow cone that she shared with her brothers and friends.

After a late lunch/playtime at McDonalds (a treat in itself, since I never let them go in to play!), we headed home for a few hours. Hayley helped me decorate her cake and added the candles herself.


As soon as Dad got home, a very excited Hayley hit the presents. She loved the art projects from Grandma & Grandpa, the Webkinz from her cousins, HSM2 Barbie, and yoga mat she got from her brothers, but the jackpot was the present she had been asking for the last several months - her own PINK Nintendo DS. Hayley's best friends have these games and come over and play Mario with Trevor, so Hayley has REALLY been wanting to get in on the action too.

Michael getting Hayley set up - check out that smile! :)

After presents we had to leave and go to our friends housewarming party which was a lot of fun. We ate so much yummy food there, we were too stuffed to have birthday cake tonight, but Hayley still made her wish and blew out her candles.



We will get to party on tomorrow with the cake and her grandparents. Don'tcha just love those birth week celebrations! We sure do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYLEY - WE LOVE YOU!