August 24 - Bink/Nora's Drug

Me: Nora, you can't have your bink right now.  Put it away.

Nora: Mom, I will just hold it..

Me: Okay.

..........

Nora: [Sneaks bink slowly up to her mouth.]

Nora: Mom, my bink is just resting in my mouth.  Right here.

Me: ..........

 

August 23 - 2nd Day & Park

Andlie.  Man, she's adorable.  She's a sporty little thing, but she also really likes to look cute.  She is getting more & more specific about how she wants her hair and what shoes go with what shirts and which glasses she'll wear for the day.  And I love it.

While Andlie was at school today, we stopped at the park for a minute and then we had lunch with Daddy!

Hazey finished his first homework today!  He worked so hard on it and I'm so proud of him!

August 22 - First Day of 2nd Grade

Andlie started school again today!  First day of 2nd grade!

We all woke up early (like 6:30 early), took some pictures, and were at our traditional "go to breakfast on the first day of school" breakfast by 7:15!  Then we dropped Andlie off at school where they had the traditional "red carpet" & balloons out and music playing!  Andlie was SO EXCITED!  She marched right down that carpet like a boss.  She asked me to "please wear my sunglasses so her friends wouldn't see me cry."  Good thing she did.  All smiles until I watched her walk in to class.  Then there were some tears.  She's getting go big!  I love her SO MUCH!  I'm so proud to be her Momma.  I hope she has a wonderful year at school!

After we dropped Andlie off, we went to Haze's Kindergarten assessment with his teacher!  This is where she can test him on Kindergarten skills and make a teaching plan for the year.  Haze was so brave and did so good!  

He was a bit nervous and wanted to say just the right things.  She said, "What's your name?"  And Haze responded by spelling, "H-A-Z-E."  She said, "But my name is Mrs. Sumsion.  What's yours?"  And then he spelled his name again.  He kept doing the same thing with letter recognition.  "What letter is this?"  And then he'd make the sound the letter made.  Once he relaxed a bit, he did great!  (And even before.  Clearly he's a genius.)  He was happy when we left and excited to start Kindergarten next week!  He was especially proud because Mrs. Sumsion gave him his very first homework assignment!

While Andlie was at school, he came up to me & said, "Mom!  I have a HILARIOUS idea!  I need some tape and a marker!"  And then next thing I knew, he looked like this:

"Andlie, how did school go today?  Show Daddy."

Andlie brought home A LOT of papers to fill out.  Her answers on the birthday worksheet deserved a picture.  She's so funny.

Waking up at 6:30 is hideous hard.

Nora has been loving her princess dresses again lately.  And she loves it when we pretend she's a princess in a parade.  I say, "Oh, look!  There's Rapunzel!"  And then I wave and she waves back and "throws candy" at me.

We played Pick Up Sticks for FHE tonight.  Funniest thing ever to watch the kids play.  Andlie was so concentrated and deliberate.  Haze wasn't as deliberate, but he kept getting lucky (every time).  And Nora was kind of like a little lion cub in the grass and would just find a stick and POUNCE and jiggle the entire pile.

August 21 - Bear Lake: Day 3 & Home

Woke up & just enjoyed the scenery again today.

The kids saw & chased a bunny around.

Cleaned up, packed up.

Took a few more pictures.

Noticed a garden snake slithering around in the grass.

Home!  Arrived around 3:30 just in time to prepare for the first day of school tomorrow!

 

I'd say our "Summer Bucket List" was successful!  On to school!

August 20 - Bear Lake: Day 2

Woke up and enjoyed the warm morning sunshine outside!

Kids played with toys from the trailer (dinosaurs & little bunny family).

Nora found & picked lots of "teeny, white, beautiful fal-ers" from the lawn.

Blew up the pirate floatie (that Grama & Grampa let us borrow).

Beach time!  Spent at least three hours down at the beach!

Andlie is a fishie!  Always has been.  She loved the Boogie Board and kept taking it out in the water by herself and floating around on her tummy.

Andlie & Haze enjoyed having Daddy pull them out pretty far on the raft and then letting the waves pull them back to shore.

The entire fam-damily (all five and a half of us) got on our "boat" (pirate raft) at one point and floated back to shore together.

Andlie & Haze had fun digging rivers and finding seashells!

Nora had fun watching/chasing birdies and throwing sand in the water and eating Cheetos.

The kids thought it was hilarious to have us bury them.

We took a family selfie!

When we were all ready for a break, we came up to our camp,  got dry, and headed to La Beau's for some food and raspberry shakes!

Came back & enjoyed the view & played outside.  Nora found a "bird leaf" (feather).

She also found a comfy space to relax.

Visited & enjoyed the sunset and then the starry sky!

Watched a family of deer (2 adults, 2 kids) cross the property.

Bedtime.

WONDERFUL day in the sun and on the water with the best people in the world.