First Day of school

I think the whole house was consumed with excitement on Monday.  We all awoke early, had a hot and delicious breakfast and made it to the bus stop with such giddyness I couldn't shed a tear...it was too contagious.

I was so happy that the kids were so happy to be going back to school.  I was so happy I would be able to start a new routine that would benefit everyone and that I can get it "established" before baby arrives.

It was fun to see the same smiling faces that left the house, enter the house in the afternoon.  Even with homework in tow.

We had back to school night the Thursday before school started and I was the nerdy mom and took pictures with the kids and their teachers...

Monday was a great day!  Happy and productive.  While the kids were enjoying themselves at school I decided to make it a June Cleaver day and donned my apron while baking the day away...4 loaves of zuchinni bread, 4 loaves of semi-wheat bread, a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and since the house was hot and I was still in the mood, I made my "special" lasagna...it felt sooooo good to have that kind of energy (for a day).

At the end of the day, though...my toes couldn't even touch the ground...

We are so happy to welcome the 2011-2012 school year!  Bring on the books, math,  homework, events, carnivals, holidays and all else associated with school-we welcome it all!

PRINCESSES

We attended the Miss Idaho Falls Pageant on Wednesday. I had gotten a few tickets from one of the contestants in our ward. The girls were so eager to go see the "princesses" (and then I remembered half way there that I forgot my camera, so I used my poor quality picture phone...)

They had a blast watching the girls dance on stage, twirl in their gowns and watch the intermittent shows from the current Miss Idaho Falls...luckily there were only 11 contestants-the girls got a little bored at certain points, but there was a lengthy intermission before the new Miss Idaho Falls and Miss Southeastern Idaho was crowned. We headed for ice cream in our pretty dresses immediately afterward! It was a great girls night!!!

My happy Princesses!!

RIOT ZONE

Jake had his company picnic a few weekends ago and we were able to enjoy an entire day at the local fun park. There was so much to do...I think we got most of it in. It was a hot, humid and muggy day, so I tried to find reprieve in the "shade", but mostly just walked around taking pictures of the kids enjoying themselves. Bryant finished his lunch early and decided to be on his own for most of the day, therefore, I do not have many pictures of him, BUT he claims he had a blast! so I believe him...I'm pretty sure he was able to do EVERYTHING at least once cause he was on his own-he enjoyed that freedom ;)

I took so many pictures, I just have to share...enjoy seeing the fun on their faces...

I thought she was enjoying it...until she turned the curve and lost her confidence and crashed into the tires...she broke down in terrible sobs, poor girl was so scared. I felt badly for her, but I was still laughing-she truly thought she was going to be severely injured.

proud of this girl...she was super intent, all the while having fun

he just had a blast

he wanted a chance to test his skills...we need a little more practice, but he had fun!

she had so much fun bouncing by herself in the bounce house!

she climbed and climbed and climbed. she was determined to make it to the top and ring the bell...unfortunately there was the same section each time that gave her troubles, she just couldn't hold on long enough to reach the next "rock"...we figured out after this turn to take her shoes off...she climbed even higher, but still got stuck...she wants to go back just to climb and get
to the top

these two had fun on the rocket ship...it was a very slow moving rocket, but they thought it was about the best invention ever-ha!

and then there's sarah...she was screaming the whole time! it was soooo stinking funny. there was nothing wrong with this ride, but she did NOT like it! (I'm thinking she was still tramatized by the go-cart)

jake was oversized for these double carts, but the kids really wanted to ride fast and he was about the only one to take them (until my brother showed up)...as you can tell it was worth being squished! even Emily liked going, but I never got a picture of her in the car :(

they loved feeling the wind in their hair (this is my brother driving)

for a girl who doesn't like to get wet, the most fun she had was on the bumper boats...I think it helped she was with her daddy-he makes everything more fun!

he was smiling and then the camera took the picture...go figure.

she was soooo tired by this point and incredibly hot! we took a walk around the park and she was able to get in a 30 min nap...it helped ease the irritability

I love that they had some kid toys that could be done solo...fun, fun

fun, fun

poor lydia was having a hard time trying to figure out how to get her boat to move...and then her sister came to the rescue and they had a lot of fun following each other in the small pond...

We had a fun day! Thanks to daddy for working so hard and earning a fun day off...until next year!

Sprinklers

The girls just love their swimming suits! If I would let them, they would wear them all day, every day...I'm so glad they pretty much understand the concept of modesty...
A few weeks ago, they were begging to get wet-so we lathered on the sunscreen, slipped on the suits and out we went. I didn't, for the life of me, think Emily would enjoy the water or even really join in the fun. boy! was I wrong! she didn't even hesitate! and she had a B.L.A.S.T!!!

can you tell??

she can't stand all that fun

running right through all that delicious water!

she wanted a taste test! ha!

they all wanted to lay on their towels and dry...it worked for all of 1 minute-pretty funny.

**Sarah is not seen in any of the water pictures because she is very much NOT a fan of water, but she loves to pretend and of all of them, wear her swimming suit! **