Back to School Pictures

Okay, I know that I am still behind on blogging about summer adventures, but I wanted to get these pictures up while they were still fresh & current. (Sidenote: We were generously gifted a nice older model digital SLR camera by a family member who got a newer camera. Many thanks to our benefactor. I am awed by the many options and I'm sure the camera would take wonderful pictures if the idiot behind the camera (ME!) knew what they were doing. I'm slowly learning and if I would just take time to think before I "point and shoot" I'm sure I'd have some great photos.)

So here we are. I took the pictures as the kids were leaving for school in the morning. You will see that the lighting was ALL wrong. The light through the trees made cool patterns on the door...but not cool for picture taking of people. I didn't notice until I was looking at the pictures later. So I made the kids all do a second photo shoot when they got home from school at their various times throughout the afternoon. They were NOT excited about this, but were kind enough to indulge me. Thanks kids!

Colby - 2nd grade

 

 

Sadie - Kindergarten

What a poser!!

 

 

And since Sadie is the baby of the family -- starting kindergarten -- 

she was the only one I walked to class the first day of school

and I actually remembered to take a few pictures of that morning.

Sadie with her teacher

Sadie with "her love" (her words not mine)

 

 

Renae - 5th grade

The bow is long gone from her hair...

she looks like she's been through a long hard day (which she has),

but I like this one because her smile is so real.

 

 

Mason - 7th grade

I know this picture is a little blurry -- but I liked it. A lot.

Somehow, in this picture of my 12 year old,

I see a glimpse of the teenager he will become.

 

 

* * *

 

So my photo skills leave much to be desired. There are blurry shots, crooked shots,

horrible lighting shots, and off center shots. But amazing what a change in lighting can do

-- from morning to afternoon on the doorstep was such a difference!

And I'd say a few of them turned out pretty nice, according to my standards :)

But hey, my old camera wouldn't have been able to do this:

 

This little guy was hanging out on the wall behind the kids during the whole photo shoot.

I didn't even get up close...I just zoomed in and snapped this shot.

Hope it doesn't creep you out too much.

Sadie said...

I just had to get this one down "on paper" so to speak before I forgot her exact words. Today I was out weeding in the backyard and Sadie came to join me. Our next door neighbor has a dog and Sadie went to pet it through the fence (he is a friendly dog).
Then she said to me:
"I just love animals so much I can't stand it!"
My response, "Hmmmmmm."
"I mean, it's like it's what I'm made for. My heart is telling me it is who I am."
My response, "Really?"
"I want to be a nature trackers (I think she got that from Wild Kratts). Or a zoo keeper. I mean if I just had one elephant it would get lonely so I'd need some cougars and some lions and stuff."
My response, "Well that would be interesting."
"Mom, it's my destiny. I can't stop thinking about it."

Wow, she is pretty passionate about this idea! Forgive my under-enthusiasm. Sadly, I think it would be hard to find someone who is LESS enthusiastic about animals than me. I try not to be a hater, and I don't wish any harm on animals, but I would be fine if I never had any contact with any animals, ever. So this is NOT an example of "the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree." This is the opposite of that...whatever that is called. But I am happy that she has found her passion and life's mission at age 5. How many of us, even now, know "what we are made for"...



(Note: I meant to write this down IMMEDIATELY so as to not mess up a word of it, but I had to wait a couple hours to get to the computer... so there might be a couple words off. But this is pretty darn close.)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for my kids. ALL my kids. Yep, that's right....today was the first day EVER that all 4 of my kids went off to real school. Sadie started Kindergarten (half day) so I have exactly 3 hours to myself....well only 2 hours and 15 minutes now -- the time is flying by, yikes. What to do? I have a list of about 100 things I need or would like to get done. And yes, catching up on my blog is one of them...but I think mopping my floors, unpacking some more boxes, running errands without any kids, putting away laundry and a million other things trump the blog. But I just HAD to put a little shout out on here about our first day of school. Cute "first day pictures" will be posted later because --- you guessed it -- I didn't take any :) Well I did take a couple of Sadie lining up at kindergarten and with her teacher. I will take the traditional front door with the backpack on photos tomorrow and you can all just pretend they were taken on the first day :)
Just for the record:
Mason has his first day of 7th grade which is at the Junior High.
Renae has her first day of 5th grade at the Middle School.
Colby has his first day of 2nd grade at the Elementary School.
Sadie has her first day of Kindergarten.

That is THREE schools I now have to keep track of and be involved in. Gulp.

Bear Lake - Aug 2012

We took our annual trip to Bear Lake in mid August...a couple weeks before the kids went back to school. We were supposed to meet my sister there for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday, but at the last minute Eric decided to take an extra day off and so we went down a day early. It was the first time we had ever been by ourselves...just our own little family...at Bear Lake. It was actually quite nice.

We spent an afternoon at the park:

 

...Took a walk down to the beach via this fun boardwalk path...

notice my son is holding my hand...how much longer will he do that???

...And went on some fun family rides using the mini-motorcycle, quad, and golf cart that are available at my aunt & uncle's trailers. It was relaxing and great for family bonding.

 

Mason loves being on this motorcycle!

Eric & Colby led out on the quad.

And we girls brought up the rear...nice & slow in the golf cart.

One of the pretty views on our drive.

 

 

 

We had a nice time with just our own little family...but we were ready and waiting for the cousins to arrive on Friday afternoon. My sister Rachael and I had kids within a year or so of each other every time...so our kids match up well. They got along great and had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

Relaxing on the porch swing

A sleepover at Rachael's trailer

Meals at the picnic table

 

Of course, what would a Bear Lake trip be without a day at the lake?

 

We had swimmers...

Surfers...

Wave jumpers...

Sand castle builders...

And beach bums.

I think everyone was happy!

 

And last...Pool Time. There is a nice swimming pool at the trailer park where we stayed. All the kids had a blast...but I just had to throw in these pictures of Sadie. She is our FISH! She loves swimming!!! And this trip happened during the Summer Olympics so cool dives and competitive swimming was on her mind.

 

 

Her starting pose. She would say, "Watch me do my Synchronized Swimming!"

 

 

The camera man missed most of the jump (and Colby is in the way)

but I am impressed at the extreme straightness of her legs!

 

A cannon ball

 

Oh, I love her in these yellow goggles.

She adores them and HAD to have them on whenever she was in the pool.

This is my absolute favorite. I can't look at this one without busting out laughing.

 

Okay, maybe this one is my favorite. They are both just so hilarious!!!!

What a free spirit she is.

 

 

 

It was a great trip. Thanks Marde & Ross for so generously letting us stay at your place.

 

More Before/After pics

No story to this one. Just a little color on the walls and taking down the 70's curtains.

The Dining Room

BEFORE:

Surprise -- stark white.

 

 AFTER:

Okay, the kitchen is where all the blood, sweat, and tears were shed. This took the most time, the most money, and the most headache. We stripped wallpaper (the horror!); tore out countertops, cabinet doors, and backsplash; painted cabinets; painted cabinet doors (2-3 coats each side); repainted cabinets and doors (when the white just wasn't white enough); painted the walls; installed a sink; installed and painted a backsplash...oh yeah and the sub-contractor did a few things too: built the cabinet doors, hung the doors, and put in a new countertop. It felt like it would never end. But we are so happy with the results. Here are some pictures (a lot of pictures) of the process.

The Kitchen

BEFORE:

More white. At least this house was consistent.

The big wall of wallpaper in the background was my mortal enemy.

Notice the placement of the cupboard handles. Dead center. Groovy.

DURING:

The wallpaper came off in little chunks. It was so painstaking.

After taking off the cabinet doors and removing all the shelves

(no simple task with 40 year old hinges and hardware)

you can see that the inside of the cabinets were actually NOT white,

the first color we'd seen in this otherwise colorless house.

They were butter yellow.

After Eric removed the countertops and sink

Cabinets with their first coat of primer. Bye-bye yellow.

Notice the bit of olive green paint in the bottom center of the picture.

Apparently this kitchen used to have lots of color.

I think this was my least favorite part...painting the new cabinet doors.

It took FOREVER!!

Here is what it looked like when we moved in. Countertop in....but not the edge.

Cabinets done...but not the backsplash. Still a lot of work ahead.

But here is the final product.

AFTER:

It could still use some decorating, but the hard labor is done. Done!

***

A special thank you to all the helpers. We didn't do this alone. We had lots of help from friends and family with painting, sanding, loaning tools, and watching kids. Thank you, thank you, thank you!