School is Back!!!!

School is back in session!  My kids are so happy to be back in school (at least for now).  We have a lot of fun walking to school together but since I have to go in there three times a day it's wearing me out!  Brandon is loving being at school all day and Emily  loves being able to meet some friends that are girls for a change.  She can't believe that they actually get to play every time they go to P.E.  I forget how exciting it can be to learn new things and find joy in the simple things in life.  Maybe I need to be a little more like my kids and not so much like a boring mom sometimes...

Where did summer go???

School starts next week....WHAT???  Where did summer break go?  We had a busy last week trying to squeeze in those last few things we wanted to get done.  Last weekend we took the kids to the Ault Fall Festival Parade, which I think was a little better this year than the last time I went.  The kids love all the big tractors and equipment they get to see. 




Then we went to Elitch's this week for the first time with our kids now that they are all big enough to ride all the kid rides.  They had an absolute blast!  We went with Justin, Jamie, Lexi, and Hayden, which made it more fun.  The kids rode all the kid rides and then we went to the water park and then they rode the rides all over again.  I was surprised at how well they did!  Plus, we got to meet Bob the Builder!  (okay so that wasn't exactly my favorite part of the day but I will always remember the cheesy singers in that show!)


The next day I took the kids to Windsor lake for a few hours so they could play in the water and we made sand castles together.  We had to stop at the dollar store on our way to get more buckets and shovels and water toys because apparently we didn't have enough.  At least we ended up with plenty of stuff to share with our friends. 


Then the next day the kids had their ice cream social at school to meet their new teachers.  We were worried Brandon didn't know anyone in his class but he will sit right next to a girl from his kindergarten class and right across from a boy that was on his soccer team so he is really excited. 
Emily can't wait to start school and it's  killing her that kindergarten doesn't start until Wednesday when everyone else starts on Monday.  I'm pretty sure she'll survive though.  She starts dance on Wednesday too.  Katie is excited to do preschool with her friends and she was so happy to get her tap and ballet shoes I thought she was going to cry.  She is excited to have a lot of time alone with mommy to be my big helper!


By the way, Emmy asked me how many days until Christmas this morning, which I thought was a little random, but then she is my daughter.  So, in case any of you are wondering, Christmas is in 134 days :o)

Camping at Hermit Park

This last weekend we had our 3rd annual family camping trip to Hermit Park.  The kids absolutely love going there and they ask for it all year long!  We had a great time!  Douglas and I got a lot of practice using the dutch ovens, which was a lot of fun.  We made chili and cornbread and blueberry cobbler the first night, then a yummy breakfast with hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, and cheese.  Then for dinner the next night we did a potatoes and ham dinner with peach cobbler.  So yummy!  Then of course we had to do banana boats and smores, because it's just not a proper camping trip without those!  Brandon was our little fire bug who made sure the fire never died out on us.  Katie was terrified to go poop in the porta-potty for some reason but she eventually had to get over it.  Emily got strep a few days before we went so I was glad she was feeling better by the time we left so she could enjoy it. 

We got home Sunday afternoon and seriously like five minutes after we got home we got a horrible hail storm at our house.  The kids thought it was awesome and they ran out to fill cups with hail balls to keep in the freezer when it was over.  Our poor garden didn't do too well though...oh well.  It hailed for almost 20 minutes and the hail was about an inch in diameter.  Our fence is covered in dents from the hail so it was hitting pretty hard.

Our next adventure will be school starting in less than two weeks!  I can't believe two of my three are already in school.  We still have a couple of fun things we want to try to get done before school starts like maybe a trip to Elitches but we'll see if it happens.  There's still a lot to get done before school starts and the girls start dance classes right around that same time.  Brandon is signed up for fall soccer too so we are jumping right back into everything!  Never a dull moment around here!