Back to School

The kids were all ready to go back to school after a fun summer of playing our hearts out. Janie was starting third grade. She has Mrs. Joachim. Jane's class is cool because they don't have regular seats, they have different kinds of options like exercise balls and stools etc.  She was excited about that. 

 She didn't seem nervous.  It was nice that one of her best buddies Maxim is in her class again.

 Lizzy was excited to start seventh grade and is already looking so much older and grown up, I only have pictures of her and Nellie at home because that would be really lame for me to take them to school in middle school.

 Nellie is starting sixth grade and Middle school!  She was so nervous and worried about how hard it would be compared to elementary school.  She won't have a problem, she is so smart!  It reminds me of myself when I was her age though. I was so scared to move up to the next schools too, but it ended up not being that big of a deal, and that is what I told her.

 Clara just had to be in the picture with Russ, so I had to take one with him alone too. It seems like I had a picture of me on the first day of kindergarten with one of my little brothers too.

 Russ doesn't really seem to get nervous for things so that is nice.  Either that or he just doesn't let on about it.

 Russ was excited to see his friend Rylee in his class.  It made him not as nervous to have someone from his TK class with him.

 Russell had a great first day in the owl class.  I love his cute owl hat.

I went and picked them up and rode home with them to make sure that Russell would do okay and he did great.  He is such a  rule follower that I had nothing to worry about. haha!

End of Summer Fun

We seriously seemed to pack it all in this summer.  We did so many fun things, took a really great trip and had many days of fun swimming. 

 Annie and Clara have a good friend Piper and her Mom just had a baby, and the girls were absolutely enthralled with him!  They wanted their picture taken with him.

 We love having our family movie night and Clara has started to be big enough to stay up with all of us and watch the movie.  She thought she was a hot shot getting to have her own popcorn adn candy and watch the movie.

 We had to go shoe shopping before school started so the kids would have some shoes to wear to school.  It seriously stresses me out taking all of them because they act so crazy and are all over the place.  They all have to look at what they want and they want my attention and need my help, all at the same time.  It's pure craziness.  But these two found the same shoes and were just so dang cute with them that it made up for the craziness.

 We did some major hair chopping before school started. They watned a fresh look and I think it turned out great!

We alwasy get to celelbrate this awesome guy at the end of summer. We are sure happy that he is ours.  He always asks for the same cake, yellow with chocolate frosting. He is easy to please.

 We discovered this summer that our little Annie girl is a runner.  She wanted to go running with Lizzy and i and she made it almost a mile easily!  She is super cute out there just running her heart out!

 We a great time keeping cool at the pool this summer. Even the little pool in the backyard got some good use.

I just cant get enough of these crazies!  I love having the summer with them and doing fun activities.

Clara was killing us because she got up on the counter and started eating raw onions.  Yes raw!  She loves them!  Such a silly goose.

These tow are seriously the best of friends and worst of enemies.  I sure do love that they like being together, when they aren't beating each other up. Haha!

I was dying when I came in the room in the morning and found Annie asleep like this!  So crazy!

Clara has turned into such a big girl lately!  We love that she can do so much more with the other kids and it isn't like having a baby anymore.

Temple Outing

One of the things on our summer bucket list was to have a picnic at the Temple grounds. We haven't really ever taken a trip to just visit the temple with the kids on our own before, We have done it other times with the ward or for a Wedding or other events, but never like this. We packed a lunch and at on a bench because there weren't any tables to sit at. It ended up being a pretty hot day so it was not quite as great as it could have been. We still had fun though even if we were mostly just trying to find shade to be in.  It also happened to be a flex day for Kevin so we got to bring him with us which made it extra fun. 

 Annie had fun finding lots of acorns and collecting them.

 We had fun walking around and admiring all the beautiful plants and flowers and just what a pretty building it is.

I feel bad because I realized I didn't get any pictures of Lizzy even though she was there with us too!

All about Nellie-11 years

 Nellie didn't get a birthday party this year because it is an odd year, but that meant going on a little date with mom and dad.  We took her to Cheesecake factory, and then to see Spiderman Homecoming. and we celebrated with a skor bar cake on Sunday with the whole family. 

Nellie has grown up so much this year. She decided to grow out her bangs that she has always had, and she is looking so cute and old without them!  This year was really the year of grandma for her.  She became so close to her grandma and it was so hard for her to say goodbye to her.  Grandma and Nellie have very similar personalities so Grandma really helped Nellie a lot when it came to conquering some of the anxieties that she has about things.  In turn it has caused Nellie to be a lot easier to be around and she has been a lot happier than she has been before. 

Nellie is still our little cook and she really does a great job at cooking. She is especially great at cookies and we call her the cookie master.  She has managed to become better at making chocolate cookies than me!  Nellie has also become more into romance and aware of those sorts of things so she has become a bit obsessed with Romantic Comedies and watching them. But this is so similar to me at the same age that it is crazy! 

Nellie is going into middle school this year and is really growing up so much!  She is starting to babysit for us when Lizzy is babysitting for someone else and she is really learning how to do a great job. Nellie is still pretty obsessed with candy and sweets just like she has always been.  Haha! Nellie is such a sweet girl and so full of love and kindness.  We are so happy that we were blessed with our spunky Nellie belle!