First Day Adventures

We always try to do a few fun things the first day of school.  This year I made candy pencils for the kids out of Rolos and a Hershey Kiss. 

The big, crazy adventure of the day was Jake's Missing Lunchbox.  We got to school extra early with all our supplies.  Being the old timer that he is, Jake stuck his backpack and lunchbox in the boys line outside and ran to play.  When the bell rang, he ran back to his place in line to find only his backpack there, his new lunch box had been swiped!  A missing lunchbox and first day of school jitters about did him in, but Jake pulled himself together and teary-eyed, still managed to remember to give his new teacher the special apple he had picked out for her.  Trevor and I searched the classrooms and playground, but couldn't find his lunchbox.  We left to take Trev to school but ran into the principal on the way out who put out an A.P.B. on the missing lunch box.  Apparently they take these things quite seriously :) 

The force is strong with this one!

I made Jake a second lunch and Luke and I went up to the school at lunchtime, just in case the lunchbox hadn't surfaced.  As Jake came around the corner to the cafeteria, he was swinging his lunchbox.  Jake was happy to have his new Clone Wars lunchbox safely returned to him, and Luke was excited have his own lunchbox, now that Jake didn't need the second lunch.  Hayley later told me that someone had come to all of their classrooms, looking for a "Star Wars Lunchbox", but she didn't know it was Jake's that was missing until the end of the day.  Apparently another boy had the same lunchbox and saw Jake's and grabbed it, not realizing his was in his backpack. Whew, crisis averted!  Jake informed me the next morning, he would be putting his lunchbox in his backpack so no one could swipe it again.  And who says you don't learn anything on the first day of school?!!

After school we were ready to chill out in the 100+degree weather.  We headed over to  Baskin Robbins and redeemed one of our summer library rewards for free Ice Cream cones. We met some of our friends there and had fun chilling and talking about the day.

Much later that evening, Michael finally arrived home, complete his own set of adventures on the bus.  Apparently his bus driver likes to drive around in circles and wasn't quite sure on the location of the schools.  Too bad the bus isn't equipped with GPS or air conditioning for that matter, it was a long, hot ride home!  We are glad everyone survived and are ready for another day!

First Day of School Pictures

Back to School!!!

Jake - 1st Grade

Hayley - 4th Grade

Trevor - 6th Grade/1st yr of Middle School!

Michael - 10th Grade

Excited for a great new school year!

Be Prepared - 2011-2012 School Year Theme

This year we rolled out our back to school theme a week before school started instead of the first day of school.  We started the night on Monday by talking about some concerns or fears we might have going into this new school year.  Then we talked about how we could take away some of those fears.  

In the Doctrine and Covenants there is a scripture that says

"...but if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

(Doctrine & Covenants Section 38, verse 30)

So this year we are taking that wise counsel to Be Prepared and made it our family theme.  There are lots of ways to be prepared, so we talked specifically about a few ways being prepared could help us with our back-to-school fears.  Then we talked about some more ways being prepared will help us succeed this school year. 

We sang one of our favorite songs, that we are learning the 3rd verse to which starts out, "We know his plan, and we will prepare, Increase our knowledge through study and prayer.  Daily we'll learn...". 

We finished the night with a treat, M&M Ice Cream Sandwiches...because if you are prepared, you won't be "sandwiched" into a bad situation! 

(I know, kinda a stretch...let me know if you have any good "Be Prepared" treat ideas.  It was hard to beat the weights for last years theme, "Be Strong and of a Good Courage.")

Last Day of Summer Vacation

This week we squeezed every bit of out the last days of summer that we could, sandwiched in between getting ready for school with shoe shopping, middle school orientation, elementary school meet the teacher/ice cream social and high school textbook pick-up. 

We went swimming several times and had fun at the Bellaire Aquatic Center Friday with some friends, thanks to the Bellaire Summer Reading program prizes.  The kids all earned free passes for hitting the 50 book/5000 page mark and it was a fun way to celebrate the last official day of summer vacation.

Kennedy and Hayley

Hayley and Luke coming off the slide

Trevor on the slide

Luke on the Frog Slide

Luke splashing at the pool

After swimming for a few hours, we went home for quick clean-up before heading over to the elementary school to meet Jake and Hayley's teachers.  Jake's 1st grade teacher has only been at the school a couple of years, and is new to us.  She is super nice and Jake was first in line to meet her.  They had a good conversation about the classroom and swimming (she saw his newly scrapped chin & he told her it was from the bottom of the pool that morning).  Hayley's homeroom teacher was also Michael & Trevor's 4th grade math teacher so it was fun for Michael to go with her and talk to all his old teachers on that hallway.  They loved seeing him and couldn't believe he was taller than all of them now.  Trevor had already deserted us to go say hi to last year's 5th grade teachers and find old friends.  After meeting the teachers, everyone cooled down with a Popsicle before going home again.



Jake enjoying his Popsicle



I snapped this picture as they were walking back to the car. It's hard to see Hayley in front of the boys, but fun to see Luke trailing behind them, bringing up the rear at the school, just like he will be in a couple of years.

Our Past, Present & Future Kolter Cougars

Friday night we ended the fun at Princes Hamburgers, cashing in on the free kids meals the kids had earned as another summer reading library prize. Boy we sure love our library!  By the end of the day, we were pretty tired.  It was a great last day of summer!  We will miss you summertime!!

A Day in the Life of a 15 year old

This summer Michael has managed to stay pretty busy.  In addition to basketball camp in June and playing basketball every chance he gets, he did a few other things.  He went to Scout Camp in July and helped his troop earn the prestigious camp award, in addition to his other merit badges. 





Michael on top of the peak at Scout Camp


When Michael has been home this summer, he has had a couple part time dog-sitting jobs and a pool cleaning job for the summer.  He was on his own for the pool cleaning duties, but his younger brothers and sister loved helping out with the dog duties...it's really the best way to have a pet :)

Getting ready for another fun afternoon of shelving books

For the second year in a row, he also volunteered over 36 hours at the local library this summer.  The librarian's all love him and while he is great at spending hours shelving all those books we love to read, Michael helped out a lot with the various children activities they hold throughout the summer.  He spent 4 1/2 hours last week helping run various parts of the End of Summer Party.  But by far his favorite shift was the one where they were having a Gaming afternoon on the Wii for ages 6-10.  He got to play Wii for 2 hours and beat all the little kids.  That is the way to volunteer!

Michael getting into the Dino-Dance at the library activity

Trevor visiting Michael on the hot MoonWalk duty at the party

As the summer winds down, Michael is ready to tackle another year of high school, seminary, and probably the scariest job of all...drivers ed!! (probably more scary for us than him!)

We are really proud of Michael and the young man he has become.  He is such a good example to his younger siblings, he does great in school, has so many talents, and honors his priesthood duties at church.  He is so fun talk to and just a fun person to be around.  Watching him interact with different siblings this week, talking to Trevor about middle school starting next week, tutoring him in the ways of Nike shoes, Scouts and so much more, it was just great. 

We love you Michael!

Hot Enough to Fry an Egg?

Not quite, but it was a fun experiment during this hot, dry summer!

The Beach

Friday we went to Galveston Beach with my brother and his family. It was fantastic! We got there early, found a prime parking spot for the car and our stuff on the beach.

Luke excited to be out of the car at and the beach!

The waves were incredible, bigger than anything I remember in recent trips to the beach. The kids had so much fun riding the waves. Luke was crazy over the "bubbles" the surf make, just giggling and pointing, yelling bubbles over and over.


 


Jake running in the surf

  

Luke losing his suit in the water

Hayley and Luke cooling off in the water



Luke loving the water



Riding the waves



Playing in the water

Of course there were hours spent playing the sand, building and digging, searching and finding shells and partial sand dollars.

Bob and Cynthia relaxing on the beach

Luke building in the sand

Alex and Anna filling their pails

It was a perfect day at the beach!

COUSINS!

What better way to end the summer than with a fun visit from the cousins. My brother Bob's family came down from Dallas Thursday night for a long week-end and we had so much fun.  We played, swam, went to the beach, had sleepovers, ate great food, and swam some more.  Friday we had a blast at the beach in Galveston.




Jake and Anna at the beach


Bob got a fun hotel room with some vouchers he had for a two of the nights which was a great treat.  So Friday night we had a Girls + Jake Sleepover at the hotel and Cynthia painted crackle nails on the girls.  We slept in dreamy beds, had so much fun talking, giggling and playing, and had a fantastic breakfast and lazy morning.

Anna at the Girls + Jake Sleepover

Anna, Jake and Ashlynn at breakfast

Poor Bob's morning wasn't quite as peaceful...Michael conned him into playing three hours of basketball early Saturday morning before heading over to swim with us.  Wouldn't you want a 6'7" uncle on your team?!  But it sounded like they had a lot of fun. Later we had a great time swimming together at the pool, and Bob was able to relax some in the hot tub.



Trevor, Michael, Ashlynn and Cynthia chilling at the pool

 


Jake, Anna, Bob, Abby  and Hayley having fun in the hot tub
while Luke splashing in the shallow part of the pool




Trevor styling with Uncle Bob's shades


Later we went back to the house and grilled hot dogs and played.  We ended the day by having a late night swim at the hotel.  There is just something fun about swimming in the dark by the lights of the pool.  Trevor stayed with Alex and Ashlynn and Bob and Cynthia at the hotel that night & the rest of us headed home.  Early Sunday I took the kids back to the hotel for a fun breakfast of carb overload before grabbing my kids and bringing them back to the house to get ready for church.  Bob and the gang met us back at the house for a little last bit of fun and then they headed home. 




Carb overload...snuggling after breakfast

By the time they left Sunday, everyone was worn out but still didn't want the fun to end. It was such a great visit!

What do you do in the Summertime?

We go swimming a lot...

Luke splashing at the Y pool

And then find lots of things INSIDE because of the intense heat we've had.  Things like...



Making Homemade Jam and Bread, Library fun, Dog Sitting, Playing Video Games, Mask Making, Reading Lots of Books, Watching Chopped on the Food Network together, Eating Yummy COLD things, Playing Games like UNO, Monopoly and Apples to Apples,  Dances, Harry Potter Movie Marathons, Basketball, Indoor Playdates with Friends and lots of other fun stuff.


Here are a few pictures of some our adventures this summer...

Jake playing Star Wars

Hayley with one of her masks

Movie Time!

Tyler and Michael playing ball

Jake painting his Pet Rock at the library

Luke and Pearl - a month long dogsitting adventure

Typical Trevor pose

We've been library crazy this summer...I knew we had a problem when I
saw we had 76 items checked out one day!

Ice Cream...why dirty a bowl?!

Play Hard, Sleep Hard!!

 

Jake and Luke worn out