Family Time and Field Trips

It's not very often that Anthon gets a day off work so when he does, we try and make the most of it. He took Labor Day off back in September and we decided to go to Classic Skating as a family. It was a lot of fun!

We are a part of the Home Builder Association for our business and a couple of times a year they have little events. Recently they rented out Provo Beach Resort so we got to have a fun time there playing arcade games, bowling, laser tag and doing the ropes course.

I decided this year that I would try to go to every field trip that my kids have. I feel like I miss a lot of mom-ing because I work a lot now so I want to make time for certain things that are important to them.

In September Damon's first field trip of the year was to the zoo. He had a few friends that were in our group. In order to keep track of them I would say, "cookies!" and then they would know to find me and that we were going to the next area. It worked really well and I think they liked having that code word. At the end of the day I handed out cookies to all of them that I had brought with me.

In October Sophie's preschool had a field trip to Hee Haw farms. All parents were responsible for driving their kids there, but I guess we got there early because no one was there from her school when we got there. And there was only one other small group of people in the whole place for half the time so Sophie just wandered around together and did whatever we wanted without any lines or waiting. After about 30 minutes her preschool class showed up, but she just wanted to stay with me so we did our own thing. We went down slides together, did the zip line a bunch, pet animals, played in corn and did more slides. It was a lot of fun, just her and me.

Also in October, Monson's grade went on a field trip to the Curiosity Museum. We had pass there for 1 year when Sophie was a baby. I would bring the kids to Thanksgiving Point almost every Monday. We haven't been in a while so it was fun to go back again. Unfortunately I only took one picture. (They said in the emails to the chaperones that we weren't supposed to bring other siblings, but I was not going to get a babysitter for Sophie and leave her at home while I went and did a fun kid thing so I just brought her with me and no one said anything about it.)

In November Damon had a field trip to the Scera Theater to see the play Junie B. Jones. I wasn't going to go to that because it was on a work day for me, but Damon really wanted me to go so I knew I needed to make time for it. I didn't bring Sophie this time because she had preschool. It was a great play and all the kids had a good time. (I didn't get any pictures of it.)

The kids' school had a carnival back in September. Anthon and I were leaving that night for Florida, but we knew we wanted to bring the kids to the carnival so we made time for it. There were a lot of fun things and we all had a good time.

Monson's favorite part was the farm animals. He would have stayed there all night if we would have let him.

This is just a fun picture of the boys on crazy hair day.

First Days of School 2018

Words cannot express how ready I was for school to start. Summers are exhausting for me. I try to make them fun for my kids, which results in exhaustion for me, especially since I have 6 kids for most of the summer. We had swimming lessons, 3 family reunions, soccer camp, sports camp, girls camp, a day at Lagoon, piano lessons, a company party, youth conference, and various other daily activities. We have a lot of fun, but by August I am ready for the structure and schedule that school brings.

Damon was the first to go back. He started 2nd grade two weeks ago Thursday. He was really excited to go back to school because he loves school and mostly loves playing soccer with anyone he can find who is willing during recess.

I'm not good at editing photos, but here's a look at Damon the past 3 years:

It is crazy how quickly they change! I still think of him as being that little kindergartener.

Sophie started her second year of preschool on Monday. We went to her school open house the week before and she got herself all dressed and ready to go for that.

She never leaves the house without her purse (full of makeup) and a baby, just like mommy. And all pink of course.

When it was time to go to school on Monday she was so excited to go...until we got there. I brought her in and she cried and cried and I eventually just had to leave. When I picked her up 2 1/2 hours later she was happy and said she had a great first day.

Last year and this year:

Monson was the last to start. Kindergarten starts a week later than the rest of the school so that they can do assessments. At Monson's assessment his teacher told me that Monson was smart enough to test out of kindergarten if I wanted him to. That is a huge decision that I'm going to have to spend some time thinking about. The school said that it's best if he goes to a couple weeks of kindergarten so we can see how he does and we can do the test after that if we want to. I'm not sure if I want to yet.

Monson is so excited to be in kindergarten and at the same school as his big brother. They have seen each other a couple times during recess and they love that.

I drove carpool on Monson's (and Damon's) first day of school. Last year I went into the school with Damon for his first day, but this year I figured Damon could show Monson where to go and what to do so I just dropped them off. When they were getting out of the car Damon said, "Monson, I'll show you where to go." Monson said back, "Damon, I already know. You don't have to show me."

Here's Monson last year and this year.

I know Monson is having a lot of fun in kindergarten because after I pick him up, this is what usually happens:

Since it took me so long to get this post up, I've had a few kid-free days. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do carpool for the boys and 3 other kids. I bring everyone to school at 8am. Sophie and I come home and I finish getting her ready and bring her to school at 9am. At 11:15am I go pick up Monson, then we pick up Sophie. At 3:30pm Damon gets dropped off at home from someone else in our carpool group. It's a pretty good schedule. On Tuesday and Thursday I get some good alone time with Sophie and three days a week, I have 2 hours alone. I have a ton of stuff to catch up on (like blogging) so I should be using my time for that, but for the past week and a half I've been using my free time to rest. I did exercise one day and get my lashes done yesterday, but the other days, all I want to do is rest. I'm sure I'll be more productive soon, but my body and mind are tired right now so I'm letting myself have some me-time.

Here are some stats:

Damon
Height:  4 ft. 6 in.           Last Year: 4 ft. 3 in.
Weight:  62 lbs.              Last Year:  57 lbs.
Shoe Size: 2                    Last Year: 1
Favorite color: Red (I did not see that coming because it's been green his whole life)
Favorite Superhero: Spiderman
Favorite Food: Burritos
Favorite Friend: Dano (his cousin)
Favorite Thing To Do: Play Super Smash Brothers and Classic Smash Bros.
Favorite thing to learn in school: Math
Favorite Book: Lego Star Wars
Favorite Toy: Pikachu Plushie
Favorite game: Chess and Checkers
What do you want to be when you grow up: a teacher and Authority Heating and Cooling

Monson
Height:  3 ft. 11 1/2 in.   Last Year: 3 ft. 8 in.
Weight:  50 lbs.              Last Year:  44 lbs.
Shoe Size:  1                   Last Year: 10
(I gave him a size 12 shoe to wear on his first day of school but when I picked him up his teacher told me that his shoes started hurting him and he took them off. So apparently he's a size 1.)
Favorite color: Teal (again, did not see that coming because his favorite color has been yellow forever)
Favorite Superhero: Iron Man (because he has an Iron Man costume)
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Favorite friend: Lily (our neighbor)
Favorite thing to do: play with friends
Favorite book: Biscuit Books (an easy reading book series we have)
Favorite toy: Paw Patrol plushies
Favorite game: Mario Baseball
What do you want to be when you grow up: a missionary

Sophie
Height:  3 ft. 4 in.           Last Year: 3 ft.
Weight:  36 lbs.              Last Year:  31 lbs.
Shoe Size: 9                    Last Year: 7
Favorite color: purple (sometimes she says pink)
Favorite Princess: Elsa
Favorite Movie: Elsa movie
Favorite Toy: Unicorn
Favorite Book: Mickey Mouse one
Favorite thing to do: Play animals
What do you want to be when you grow up: "Get some kids"

We don't ever get to be there for the older kids' first days of school, but Danielle did send me this picture:

Jr. is starting his sophomore year and Avery is starting 8th grade. Danielle's college doesn't start until September 16th so we have some time before we get a first day picture for her.