Missing

I think someone is missing Sister now that she's started school.

First Day of School - Evelyn - 2nd Grade

My beautiful 7 year old girl started 2nd Grade a couple of weeks ago.  She's growing up so fast.  I was teaching 2nd Grade when Evelyn was born and now I can't believe she is the same age as those kids I taught.

Maddox was happy to pose for pictures, but didn't really know what all the fuss was about.  Megan, on the other hand, knew it was a big morning and wished it was her first day of school too.

Jadyn, Alyssa, Evelyn, Alayna, Kaylee, Bryn

Since Evelyn started Kindergarten 2 years ago, we've been getting to school a little early on the first day to take pictures with some of our best friends.  I love this tradition.  I hope it continues through highschool.

walking to class

Evelyn with her teacher, Mrs. Jebsen

Evelyn loves her!

"Okay Mama, you can stop taking pictures and leave now!"

Gymnastics

Evelyn has taken gymnastics for a couple of years now.  It's been great for her.  She's acquired many new skills, but most importantly, she's gained a great amount of self confidence.  She has moved up through levels and done things she never thought she would be able to do.  We are so proud of her.  Michael and I take turns staying home with Megan and Maddox while the other takes Evelyn to her hour and a half class.  Recently, I got to snap a picture of out little gymnast.

Lunch with Daddy

We love to meet Daddy for lunch during the summer.

The girls' favorite place to go is Trail Dust.

Megan has not always been a fan of the big slide, but each time we go she gets a little braver.  During this lunch she quit holding on to the sides with her hands (skin sqeaking loudly all the way down) and just used her feet to slow her down a little.

Count Down to School

We love to count down to just about anything - school, vacation, birthdays, holidays, etc.  Making something tangible to help count down the days helps the girls visualize the amount of time before something starts.  And . . . when I get asked, "How many more days until _____ ?" , I can say, "Go count your rings!".  So, with a few weeks left before school started this summer we made count down rings to mark the first day of school for each of the girls.

Hopefully, Megan's class will be working on cutting skills.

Maddox was happy to color while we worked.

Evelyn

Megan

A Sleeping Angel

Summer Book Club

Over the summer my friend, Alyson, and I decided to have a book club with our girls and a few of their friends.  We heard that a Ramona and Beezus movie was coming out towards the end of summer and we had our book!  So, Alyson and I read Beezus and Ramona came up with some plans and did some shopping.

The girls made some fun t-shirts.

Each of the girls read a chapter a week and then we would get together to discuss the book and have snacks, do crafts and swim.

Emily with her bunny pears

Evelyn with her bunny cupcake

 

Me and Alyson with some of the group - Alyssa, Evelyn, Ashlea, Alayna, Megan and Maddox

 

Bunny ears - Jadyn, Alyssa, Alayna, Evelyn, Bryn, Maddox, Megan and Ashlea

 

painting imaginary animals

 

making checkerboards

 

Some of our craft ideas were better than others.

 

We ended each get together with a swim.

Evelyn and Emily

 

Megan and Ashlea

 

Megan, Alyssa and Ashlea

 

Ashlea, Evelyn and Bryn

 

Jadyn and Alayna

 

One week we gave each of the girls a dollar and took them to some garage sales.

They learned the art of negotiating and some of them found some real treasures.

 

Megan had the first purchase of the day with money left over thanks to Alyson's negotiation skills.

Ashlea with her special find

Jadyn was a wise shopper.

Evelyn

Bryn

We had a guest speaker, Alyson's mother-in-law - Sharon, who taught them some fancy cake decorating skills.

Evelyn putting her new found skills to use.

Megan

 

Evelyn

 

We even sang "Happy Birthday" to Beezus.

 

The whole group - Ashlea, Alyson, Emily, Alayna, Evelyn, Bryn, Sharon, Alyssa, Jadyn, me, Megan

 

We finished the book and had our last meeting watching the movie, of course!

It was a blast!  My girls eagerly anticipated each week of Book Club and didn't want it to end.  Thank you, Jake and Laurie, for letting your girls participate.  And a BIG thank you to Alyson for hosting our group at her house each week.