Homework

I am going to have to get back into the swing of things for homework with Connor. His homework load has been multiplied by probably 25 in the ALPS program. Seriously, his spelling tests alone are insane, and he has to do 4 projects a week with his spelling words, the easiest being putting them in alphabetical order for the 25 words. Then he gets to choose whether he wants to make a crossword puzzle out of them, find their meanings in the dictionary and write them out, do a word search, write them out one letter at a time (i.e. spell s sp spe spel spell), along with about 10 other choices. It takes quite a bit of time, then add on his nightly reading, math sheets and we can't forget his vocab practice. The words on that are amazing - etymology, concentration, embody, lexicographic - those are the ones Ryan and I can remember. I think I will be going to purchase a dictionary today! Pretty sad when you can't do your 2nd grade child's homework!
He also has a book report coming up - he has to read the book (duh!), and plan out a marketing plan to get the kids in his class excited about reading it, then he gets to give an oral presentation and everything. I'm getting tired just thinking of it all - not to mention I have to read a book about Larry the vegetable so I will know what he is up to. Better get to it! But really, I am excited about this year for him, I can tell he is going to learn a lot and so will I!

The big send off...

Well, both boys went to school together today - the first day of many. They were both up before the alarm clocks, cooperatively got in the shower and dressed, ate all their breakfast and had a few minutes to spare. So I decided to give them the "mom lecture", I am sure you are all familiar with it, I received it many times growing up. I imagine I have tweaked it a bit from what I was told - the main point of my mothers lectures for school went something like this ... "don't do anything to embarrass me!"

I focused on remembering to keep the school/class rules and make sure to choose good friends. Really, that's probably just another way of saying "don't do anything to embarrass me!" So in the middle of my well planned lecture I asked Tate to tell me some of the school rules he remembered - these were his answers:

1. No bringing knives with blades or guns

2. No bringing drugs to school

3. Do not dance on the ice.

The last is particularly important as we are in the middle of the summer here in Utah. I hope he doesn't break that rule today!

I was hoping for the rules of the classroom, i.e. no bullying, raise your hand to talk, listen to the teacher the first time, etc. But at least he won't get arrested if he keeps the rules he can remember, or slip on the ice!

I hope he will be as excited when he gets home today as he was when he left this morning. He didn't even have time to say goodbye to his brother, he was too excited to join his class. Connor ran after him at the school to say goodbye and give him a hug, but Tate was beyond that already.

Gage on the other hand has enjoyed his "alone" time with mom and McCall. He has played quietly and nicely all day and has requested that we play pre-school. So I pulled out the alphabet cards, Memory, and writing materials. Apparently those are not pre-school things - he wants to play Dominoes and watch a movie. I'm afraid he may be disappointed when it is his turn to go to kindergarten. We'll have to work on that.

Time to head out, this 11:18 release time is going to really split up my day!

First day of Kindergarten

I don't know if I have ever seen a little boy so excited to start school. Tate has been planning this day for months! He was especially excited to wear his new school shoes today and get his clothes all picked out. When I asked him what he was going to wear he told me, his new shoes, white socks, white underwear and some shorts. Hmm, interesting combo.
He was thrilled to meet his teacher and do the assessment testing. Every once in awhile he would look up at me and raise his eyebrows and give me the thumbs up. He was so proud of himself and he should have been, he did very well!
We're excited for this new adventure for Tate, he is pretty stoked himself.

2nd Grade!

Watch out 2nd Grade, here comes Connor! He has been so excited to start his first day of school, his clothes were all laid out two days in advance, his back pack ready, lunch box cleaned out and all. The night before he couldn't sleep. He came upstairs every 20 minutes to report that he was too excited to sleep! It paid off, he had a great day and is so excited that two of his friends will be in his new school and one even in the same class room. This will be a great year for our little guy!

Finishing off July!

Somehow July got away from me! I can't believe it is already over, I didn't even finish putting up pictures from the 4th! I need a nanny/assistant. The nanny would be for me to make sure I do the things I am supposed to - shall I take out an ad or will this suffice?
But we did have an enjoyable 4th. We ended with fireworks at Grandma and Grandpas house. The kids loved it, even McCall, she wasn't scared of the big noises or anything a little surprising!

Refrigeration

Today I am grateful for refrigeration.
Over the past several months we have had several family visit us from Canada. On each of their visits our little rambuncious 3 year old has put on his best behavior and charmed his grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. I have had many comments on how he possible could not be a trouble maker, there is no way he is not an angelic child. Well, read on I say, and decide for yourself whether this child is angelic or mischief wrapped in blue eyes and dimples.
For several days Ryan and I have been smelling something odd, especially around our room. I have looked several places for a misplaced diaper or something of the sort, but without finding anything I figured it must have been just a passing thing. Well, when we got home from church today the smell was even worse so we went on a more thorough search. I told Ryan to check the drawers in his nightstand as the smell was worse on his side of the bed.
He did.
He found something very nasty - no pictures were taken for this blog, you will thank me!
Wrapped nicely in a grocery bag was a package of T-bone steaks, reeking of rot and nastiness. They of course had dripped and when Ryan removed them they dripped all over the carpet, nightstand etc. YUCK!
Gage had helped himself to our freezer and put a package of steaks in a grocery bag and then placed them in Ryan's bedside table.
He fully admits to doing it with a smile on his "angelic" little face. Now I must ask, Jana, Karli, and Grandma G. do you want a little destroying angel to come stay with you for a few weeks? Do you value anything in your home?
Other capers of this little dude this past week have been:

• Searching through Grandpa M's closet to find a shotgun and pulling it out to play with. It was in the very back of the closet, tucked away safely from little prying hands. But he found it and pulled it out. Angel.
• Hiding his cousins special blanket. Cousin Luke (18 months) came for a visit. His blanket came up missing, everyone in the house searched through boxes, cupboards, refrigerators, freezers, garage, cars, etc. Well, we didn't find it for two days. I stumbled upon it under the stairs hidden amongst the boxes. Gage admits to this as well.
• Cereal was on sale this week and we grabbed a few boxes for food storage. Apparently he got the hankering for some Honey Combs and opened up a box in the basement, ate a few and then proceeded to dump the entire box on the floor and crush them up.
• A favorite of Gage's is raisins. He knows just where to find them at Grandma M's house. He helped himself to raisins again just yesterday and polished off a half a bag before anyone found him, I am still waiting for him to get a natural consequence from this, but nothing bothers the boy.

That's probably enough for the week, let's see what the next week brings. He is however honest and never denies any charges laid before him, so he does not have a career in politics. Any suggestions of what to direct his "curious" attentions to would be greatly appreciated.

Parade!

A few of my favorite parade entrants! I love marching bands, soldiers, bag pipes, cowboys and missionaries.


And who doesn't love honest Abe? Seriously, I thought this was a pretty good impersonator, if only he were about a foot taller I think he could be his clone.
And it doesn't get any more American than Captain America, he has taken a few years off and has filled out some, but still, he IS Captain America!Look at these marching band uniforms, seriously so cool. I have been trying to talk my boys into playing an instrument, drums, trombones, bag pipes - only I am worried about a practice place because I can't take any more noise around here!Called to Serve! The missionaries of the Provo, Utah mission march each year in the parade. They were distanced out from the cheerleaders for the parade route, but in the staging area, they were set up right next to them - not right!This guy was my all time favorite of the parade. I wonder how long it took him to grown that fabulous mustache, and the "costumes", SO COOL! I almost wanted to be Scottish.