Nie Nie Day

Design Mom has declared today Nie Nie Day,

and blogland is full of silent auctions with the

benefits to help Nie and her family.

You can find a "complete" list at Design Mom,

and some of my favorite items, here.

Joy School for Jonah!

This morning, Jonah started Joy School!
He was moderately excited - or was playing it cool -

and didn't have any problem being dropped off.

(Although he did wonder why I wasn't teaching. I'll get my turn next week.)

We have a large, active group this year.
Things are NOT going to be boring, that's for sure.

Jonah says he had a great time, but isn't planning to go back
on Thursday. He already went to Joy School this week. Duh.
Hopefully it won't be too difficult to persuade
him to go a second time in one week.

While all three boys were at one school or another,
Ruby and I went grocery shopping.
Something she's rarely done with me
because it's just too hard to take all four kids.

She had a lot of fun, and I liked having this evening
free instead of spending it at the grocery store.
I'm definitely going to try this again.

Maxwell's First Day of School

It really hasn't been that long since
Bentley started kindergarten, and today was

Maxwell's first day.

He was sooooo excited, and I honestly

don't think he was nervous at all.

He's been waiting all year for this; once Bentley

was in school, that's what Maxwell wanted, too.

Doesn't he look handsome?
When he got to the classroom, he got a green
name tag, and hung his backpack up on his hook.
Then he sat with the other children and read
a book until it was time for class to start.

Since Friday was his birthday, he got to
bring treats for his class today.
He also got to wear a birthday crown,
and his teacher read a special spotlight about him.

Here he is after school.

He had a great day and says he didn't miss us at all.

Here he is with his amazing teacher.
She said this was the best first day ever. :)
This will likely be her last year, and I'm so sad about it.
I would love for Jonah and Ruby to get to be in her class in a few years.

8 Years!

We took this picture tonight at the

Museum of Art gardens at BYU.

It's the place where John and I first talked about getting married.

We stopped by in between a balloon launch
and a wedding reception.

It wasn't a fancy anniversary celebration,

but it did help me remember some of the things

that are really important about marriage.

Balloons of Hope

From CJane's blog:

"Some of you may know that Steph and Christian have a family tradition of writing wishes on helium balloons to release them in the air. On Saturday, we'd like to invite people anywhere, everywhere to write thoughts of faith and hope to be released at the same time. (Nie is going to love this!)"

If you're in the Utah Valley Area:

Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008
Time: 5:45pm - 7:00pm
Location: Kiwanis Park
Street: 820 N 1100 E
City/Town: Provo, UT

Maxwell is 5!

Today was Maxwell's 5th birthday!

He was born on a Friday, so it was fun for

me to remember that day on this Friday. :)
It was a busy day, but hopefully he had fun.

This morning, we walked Bentley to school

and then came home to decorate and prepare for

his party. John came home in the early afternoon,

and Maxwell and I went on a lunch date.

Then it was back to work getting ready for the party,

and picking Bentley up at the school.

Finally, it was time for The Party.
Maxwell chose a Batman theme,
(after toying with Samurai Jack, He-Man, and Pirates themes),
so we decided to do a superhero school.
Once all of the kids had passed the class,
they got capes and masks,
and an assignment to stop the Joker!

Once the Joker had been apprehended (or destroyed),
(I asked John if we were encouraging violence - he said "probably." Great)
the kids ate pizza, we sang, had cake,
and Max opened presents from his friends.

After the newly-trained batmen and batgirls left,
we opened family presents.

Here's Maxwell on his new bike.
(sans helmet, but we will rectify that tomorrow)

I'm so glad we have Maxwell in our family.
He is so soft hearted, loyal, determined,
generous, smart, creative, and funny.
I learn so much from him (patience among other things) :)
and I love watching him grow and learn.
I hope his 6th year will be another great one!

The Mystery Bag

Yesterday, Bentley came home from school

with the class Mystery Bag.

It's their way of doing "show and tell."
Here are the instructions:

Bentley chose to take this key chain that Mindy
gave to him and his brothers.

He only wanted to give the kids 2 clues, instead of 3.
I think he really enjoyed the "show and tell."
The kids made lots of guesses,
but in the end it was his teacher
who came up with the right answer.

I guess that's why she's the teacher. :)

Mindy and Ruby

Mindy came to visit us a little over a week ago.
She goes back to school tomorrow, and we're so

glad that she was able to spend some time with us

before she heads back to work.

Just before she left, I tried to get a picture of

Ruby with her Aunt Mindy.

Everything was going well . . .

. . . until Ruby pinched Mindy!

Pinching is her latest thing, and it's driving me crazy.
If I won't pick her up, she sits by my feet
and pinches my ankles until I pick her up
(and put her in the other room where she throws a major tantrum).

Somehow, Mindy managed not to run screaming from
our home, and I was able to get a picture of her
with my four sweet, angelic (ha ha) children before she left.

Hmmm, now that I think of it, maybe Ruby was just getting
even with Mindy for this post, or possibly this one.

First Day of First Grade

I finished our California recap just in time for

the annual "back to school" post. :)
Bentley was excited to start 1st grade, and just

a little bit nervous.

Here he is by his desk.
The school had an open house last week,
and he got to choose where to sit.
Each Monday the kids get to pick a new desk.
He's right by most of his friends, so I'll be interested
to see where they all move to.

("OK Mom - you can leave already.")
It was hard to go, but he was really happy
and excited for the day. That helped a little.

Ruby was so excited to see Bentley after school.
She ran over to him screaming and smiling,
then led him over to where the other kids and
I were waiting with the stroller.

Bentley said he had a great day.
He liked recess, and lunch (he ate carrots and celery!),
the stories, his teachers, and the kids in his class.

After we got home, he crashed on the couch for
a couple of hours - and today was early out day.
Tomorrow will be the real deal.
I hope it's not too exhausting for him.

(Kindergarten starts next Monday for Maxwell!)

Prayers

The End (of our vacation)

I think the last day of our vacation may have been my

favorite. We spent the day at Judy's house with Ginger,

Elliott, and their kids. All 11 grandkids got to spend the

day playing, lounging, and eating (ok there was a little fighting, too).

That evening, most of the family was able to come up
to Judy's place for dinner.

(and a pre-dinner In-N-Out run)

Uncle Lyle helped Ruby and Sophie swing,

then he and John played football with Ruby
and some of the boys.

Jonah got in a game with Grandpa,

while the other boys played outside.

It was great to have so many of the family in one
place at the same time. We missed Joseph and Loi.

David and Ruby took a turn on the swing.
Bentley was thrilled to try out James' skateboard.
If he gets one for his birthday, he'll also be getting
full body armor. He wants to do more than skate.
He wants to do tricks.
Once it cooled off a little, the kids really had fun
playing outside on the swing set.





The relaxing family time was the perfect
way to end our vacation.

(I tried to get pictures of everyone, but I still missed some people!)

Travel Town

Monday morning, we went with Grandma

and Grandpa to Travel Town.

We got to look at and explore some amazing old trains.

Bentley, Jonah, and Ruby

Ruby and Maxwell

This old caboose was the kids' favorite car.
They loved the being able to climb to the top and look out.

They also liked climbing around inside the car
on some of the many different shelves and the ladders.
It was difficult to persuade them to move on to a new one.

After we looked at all the big trains,
we got to take a ride on a small train.
The boys were really excited, but once the
train started to move they were a little frustrated
with the lack of speed. Jonah fell asleep for a minute,
and Bentley wanted to get out and run to prove that
he could go faster than the train. I thought it was great,
and Ruby didn't seem scared at all. :)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun morning!

Thanks Judy!

I'm going to be lazy, and refer myself to this post

on Judy's blog when I want to remember the details

of what we did the Sunday we were in California.
The short version:

we went to church, celebrated 3 birthdays,

and took some family pictures.

*this photo stolen from Judy's blog

11 Little Cousins (and Hugh)

Disclaimer for this post, the two previous posts, and several posts to follow:

I plan to slowly, but surely, document our vacation here on my blog.

It's unlikely that I will ever print any of the hundreds of photos that I took,

and this will help me remember some of the fun things we did in California.

We spent most of our second full day in California

relaxing and playing with family.

Here are Ruby and Sophie coloring.

David and Maxwell took on Hugh.
I'm pretty sure they won.

The four older boys didn't spend all day playing
video games, but that happens to be the only
photo I have of them all together.

Andrew, James, Ethan, and Bentley

I think all of the kids loved Grandma's chickens.
Bentley, Maxwell, and Jonah spent a lot of time
outside talking to the chickens,
and even more time pretending to BE chickens.
Even Ruby liked to follow them around outside.

Emily and Emma with the chickens.

While everyone else was busy playing,
Jonah helped himself to the popcorn.

That popcorn was in high demand,
so Jonah was smart to make his move while
everyone else was distracted. :)