First Day of School

Today was a the girls' first day of school.  Michelle:  7th grade, Ella:  5th grade, Gabby:  2nd grade.  They all were a bit nervous since they were all starting at new schools.  Gabby was especially nervous/scared!  But they all had good days.  Gabby and Ella gave their teachers owl shaped bowls with a bag of M& M's.  It had a note that said, "Whooo has the best teacher?  I do!  Owl always do my best!" Gabby said her teacher really loved it.

Twas the night before school and all through the house, the children were eating scones as quiet as a mouse.  They added powdered sugar and honey, their nerves were calmed and they acted quite funny.

How can this beautiful girl be starting 7th grade?

 

My sweet Ella was the least nervous.  She is happy to be at our neighborhood school and I know she will do great in 5th grade!

Doesn't that smile melt your heart?  So glad she had a good first day!

Gabby Turned 7!!

Gabby turned 7 on Tuesday.  I can't believe she is growing up so fast.  She is smart, sweet, silly and spunky.  She adds a lot of smiles and laughter to our home.  I am so glad she is ours!

She had a birthday party here at our house on her actual birthday.  She wanted to do a party where everyone would get wet.  It turned out to be a perfect day for such a party.  It was sunny and hot.  A group of her cute friends came to celebrate with her.

Ella made her a sign.

Three of her friends showed up with the same swim suit!  How cute is that!

We played several games. The first game was Drip Drip Splash.  It's like duck, duck, goose except with a sponge and you drench the person with the sponge.

Then we played Musical Sponges.  We passed around two sponges while the music was playing.  When the music stopped, if you were holding the sponge, you had to squeeze it on your head and you were out.

Kids enjoyed jumping on the tramp and going on the zipline.

We played Water War.  There were buckets with water and everyone got squirters.  You were trying to squirt the other team as much as possible.

They also played Surfer, surfer, where's your board?  Just like Doggy, Doggy Where's Your Bone...

Then we had cupcakes.  Everyone got to decorate their own...adding frosting, sprinkles and other toppings to make each cupcake unique.  After they decorated them, we sang Happy Birthday and everyone ate their cupcakes.

Gabby enjoyed opening her gifts and has spent many hours already playing with her new barbies, Monster High doll, art supplies and other gifts.  

Another game the kids played was Red Light, Green Light...but the person who was it had a squirter.  If they saw you move after they turned around, they got to squirt you and send you back to the beginning.

So close to tagging her!  Will she soak them?

Gabby had a great time at her birthday party!  She has such darling friends.  Happy 7th Birthday to my cute girl!

7 Things About Gabby at 7:

Favorite Color:  turquoise

Favorite Food:  chayote

Favorite Part of School:  art

Favorite Memory from this Summer:  going to San Francisco...especially seeing the sea lions and going to the aquarium

Favorite Books:  Pete the Cat, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus & other Pigeon books

Favorite Candy:  Nestle Crunch

Favorite Toys:  My Little Ponies, Monster High Dolls, Ever After High dolls, Equestria Girls, Kinetic Sand, Legos 

Getting Ready to Head Back to School

School starts this upcoming Wednesday for my girls and the following Monday for me.  All four of us will be at new schools this year.  That leads to lots of feelings of excitement and nervousness.

Michelle is heading to junior high!  It's hard to believe that my little girl is old enough to go to 7th grade, but she is.  She had orientation this past Monday and then on Tuesday we were able to get her schedule and check out her locker and where her classes will be.  She has many of her classes with her friends Liv, Kate and Keaton.  So that's reassuring to know that she will know someone in most of her classes (and perhaps even others because she has only compared her schedule with those three.)

Ella is heading to 5th grade at Hunter Elementary.  She will have Ms. Gunkel.   Gabby will be in 2nd grade with Mrs. Tregeagle.  I think they will both love it...and it will simplify our life a bit to not have them spend an hour of their day commuting to and from school or to have them learning Spanish.  (Which saddens me, but I really felt it was the right decision for us to make at this point in our lives.)

And I begin teaching 3rd grade at Ensign Elementary in a week. I am filled with excitement and a little trepidation. Many things will be different at Ensign, but I think most of the changes will be good.  And the teachers I have met seem to genuinely like it at Ensign which is definitely a good sign.

As we have prepared to go back to school, the girls wanted to get their hair done.  So my dear friend Heidi was able to do our hair today.  Both Ella and Michelle got highlights and a trim. I really love how it turned out.  I got highlights and a completely new cut/style.  I hope it looks as good tomorrow when I have to style it myself.  Sure love the way it looks today!

While Heidi was doing our hair, the girls took turns playing with her cute daughter.  Apparently, they took several silly photos while waiting for my hair to be done.

Trip to Logan

Last Friday, the girls and I took a trip to Logan with my friend Annette and her children.  First we did a tour of a soap factory where they make soaps out of sheep or goat's milk and other ingredients. It was pretty interesting.

Then we went up Logan Canyon and did a hike to the Wind Caves.  It's a 1.8 mile hike up which was pretty long for Gabby since we don't do a lot of hiking.  She wanted to stop at about the 1 mile point...but she made it.  Annette has 4 children that are all 8 and under.  So she often had one in a backpack and sometimes she also carried one.  She is tough and strong!

These two girls hiked a lot slower than everyone else, so I hung back with them.  (And felt a bit impatient, if I'm being honest.  Is it bad that I totally bribed Gabby by promising a two scoop ice cream cone if she finished the hike?   Desperate times called for desperate measures...And it worked.  She made it up the mountain.)  They kept picking the tall grass and pretending it was a magic wand or that it contained medicine or other things.

The lower caves

We made it!  Thank goodness!

There was a great view from up at the caves.  The kids enjoyed climbing around in the caves (which are really more like little wind tunnels).  It was a beautiful day and a fun hike...until nearly every kid tripped and fell on our way down.  Then there were some tears.

After we finished our hike to the Wind Caves, we headed to the Willow Park Zoo in Logan.  It's a very small zoo, but it was fun because they have quite a few animals that I don't expect to see in a zoo.  There was an albino porcupine, reindeer, coyotes, elk, and others.

A hornbill

Coyote

The albino porcupine

Michelle was a really good helper with Davlynn on the hike and at the zoo.  She's such a good girl.  Ella also helped the little kids.  They are both very nurturing.

This black swan had such gorgeous feathers...especially its tail feathers which looked like big ruffles.  There were a lot of different birds.

After we finished at the zoo, we began to head for home.  But I decided we should stop in Brigham City to see the temple.  It's beautiful.  Ella was tired and no one wanted to walk around the temple after the long hike, but I did get a couple of shots of Michelle and Gabby.  Then we got some delicious ice cream in Brigham City before heading for home.