1st Day of School

The kids started their new schools last week.   We were all feeling a little anxious.  Since we had lived in our previous house for 12 years, this is the first time the kids have ever gone to a new school outside of their familiar school district.

Riley is now in 8th grade.  His last year of middle school :(

Which means next year, he will go to a new school again.

Ciara is in 5th grade which is the last year of Elementary School here.  

(So new school next year for her too!)

Ella started 1st grade.

The girls are riding the bus to school for the first time.

Check out the insane amount of school supplies Riley has!

This doesn't even include the workbooks that we had to buy and pick up the weekend before school started.  All of this, as well as his textbooks has to fit in a half size locker! 

All in all they had a great first week!

Ella loves riding the bus to school and adores her teacher Ms. D  

She is going to be starting ballet in a few weeks.

Ciara is adjusting well to being in such a large school.  Her teacher Mr. R is very nice.  

She is working on the Yearbook Staff and will soon be starting a Pottery Class.  She is wonderful at taking care of Ella, making sure she gets off the bus and to class okay.  It's very comforting to me to know that they have each other.

Riley always seems to go with the flow.  He has a pretty full workload at school.  He is taking three AP classes, a Technical class that will earn him a Microsoft certification and an Honors Math class.  He is working to finish up his Eagle Scout.

Memorial Day

Mom has actually been feeling a little better the past two weeks.  She has been driving a little - a quick trip to the store and back.  She hardly ever coughs or wheezes.  She has a little more energy and her color looks good.  

I invited her to come out to our Church picnic and she and Charles met us at the park.

She looked super cute in her hat don't you think?

Check out my girlies...

Ella's summer fare.  Fruit with fruit on the side.

Usually not much of a meatasauros, but who can pass up a delicious burger

cooked by your bishop who just happens to work for Hardees?

Finally - a lost tooth....and another!

Ella was starting to think she would never lose a tooth.  I think she was the only kid in her kindergarten class that didn't have her name up on the "Lost Tooth" chart.

She finally got a wiggly tooth and that thing was just holding on for dear life.  Today she came home from school and was super excited to show us a little baggy holding the tiniest baby tooth.

Ten minutes later, Ciara showed up from school and wouldn't you know it, she lost a molar!

Sure hope the tooth fairy has some cash handy!

Cookies for Santa

Every year on Christmas Eve we decorate cookies and leave some for Santa.  We usually make gingerbread cookies, but the kids don't like the way they taste, so this year we just made sugar cookies.  We always have fun and I love how the finished products reflect everyone's personalities.

 

Chris made a grinch cookie but I think it got eaten before I managed to get a picture!

Ciara's Sewing Project

For her birthday, Grandma Mari and Aunt Cheryl took Ciara out to lunch and shopping.  They made a little stop at the fabric store.

 She picked out this fabric panel.

  She immediately jumped on the sewing machine to turn it into a skirt.

 Modeling her finished project.  

Her favorite kind of sewing project - no pattern cutting!

Ciara's version of the Titanic

Some people say that they think the titanic sank from the iceberg it hit, but lots of people have different theories on what they think happened. What I think happened was that when they hit the iceberg, somehow there was a sharp point and it made a little hole and caused water to soak into the boat. There were not many survivors in this crash. Over 1000 people died in the crash, but only 2000 people survived the crash. Lots of the people that were so sadly killed were adults and very few were children. Although the people that survived were very sad about their wife, husbands or child's death. Not everyone was married.

Ciara's Big Change

Ciara has talked about cutting her hair for quite some time now.  She wanted to cut it short.  But then she would change her mind.  Last night I was cutting Riley's hair and she asked me to cut her hair.  I thought she meant a trim, but she told me she wanted 5 inches trimmed off.  Then she said wanted it cut shoulder length.  She seemed pretty determined.  Trimming the ends of her hair is one thing, cutting of 12 inches of her hair is definitely a job for a trained professional!  (Plus if she hated it, I didn't want her blaming me!!!)  So I told her I would make her an appointment at a salon for the next day after school, and she could think about how much length she wanted to take off.

So today she came home from school and was pretty excited to go to the hair salon.  I asked her what she planned on doing and she said she wanted it cut to shoulder length.  She seemed a little nervous, but excited at the same time.  (I have to admit, I pretty much felt the same!)

Ciara's beautiful mane of long thick hair.  I think the last time she had a significant amount of hair cut was when she was about 5 years old and we cut off 7 inches.

 Since she was cutting off 10 inches of hair, she had enough to donate.  The stylist tied it into a ponytail to make the initial cut and keep the hair all together to send in to Pantene Beautiful Lengths   I have to admit, a little tear came to my eye when she started cutting!!

 The new cut is adorable and I think she looks absolutely gorgeous.

Ciara's new haircut helps her feel great about herself.  And a wig made partially with Ciara's donated hair might help another girl feel a lot better about herself too.