random-ness

 Some family time at Bahama Buck's. The kids and I don't go there nearly as often as before, mostly because they get in the way BIG TIME.

 Our daily pool time. Levi has gotten so good at swimming this summer.

 Macie is usually in Jeff's arm or within arms distance whenever he is home. He gets lots of cuddle time with her. Lucky duck.

 At a free dance class we're starting to go to on Monday mornings. She warmed up after awhile, walking around with the various props.

 Levi was so excited when he found out he won all this stuff at the dentist office because he guess the right number of skittles in that jar. He kept saying, "I'm a good guesser, mom."

 Sydney wrote this for one of her homework assignments. I'm happy to know she is loved!

 Oh, yeah....let me just climb between the walls and hold myself with just my arms. Such a strong climber.

 And here's another monkey in the family. I was holding her, standing next to this pole, when she leaned over and grabbed it. I could tell she was holding all her weight, so I let go and there she was holding herself up.

 Here's a fun picture of me. Half of my face is numb, thus the awkward smile. I had to get a root canal. It was fine, painless, and just glad the hassle of it is done. Now, I should probably stop blogging and starting flossing to avoid anymore root canals :)

 This adorable girl went to a skate party today. It's fun to see her happy with friends and having a good time. Sometimes I feel I'm hard on my kids, with Jordyn, I get on her case to focus and pay attention, then I see this face and tell myself to see her how God sees her, especially during those difficult moments. I love Jordyn so much!

back-to-school dinner

 I chose a lego theme back to school night dinner. I gave the kids this lego calendar to build while I was getting dinner together.

 I made these signs to put in this pencil container. During dinner we discussed these items in relation to school: choosing good friends, being kind, stand for the right, etc.

 I added a yellow square to the top of the plates to look like the lego people heads and also added the faces. On special occasions we eat with our GOLD-ware to be fancy. I can't have a special dinner without a special treat so we had these sugar cookies that were apples. Later that night Jeff gave the kids father blessings.

school starts

The beginning of August looks like this: hot weather, lots of swimming, staying up late, sleeping in late, playing with friends, and oh wait....SCHOOL STARTS. It creeps up on you, probably because it's the middle of summer still. The kids got the teacher they wanted but most importantly, I was hoping they'd get. Jordyn is in Mrs. Morris' 1st grade class and Sydney is in Mrs. Bachali's 3rd grade class.
Levi is going to Kinderbugs again for one more year. His teacher is Ms. Mallory. He is very excited to have his own desk and is feeling like a big kid.

 Levi already seems like a kindergartner to me. I say it a lot in different ways, but he seems so mature for his age. Maybe it's not maturity but just easy-going, even-tempered, obedient. He knows when to be silly and when to work, when to listen, and when to play. Whatever it is, Jeff and I just love it and love him.

 

The girls were very excited to start school. We had our special back to school night dinner. The first day I drove them to school. Sydney found some friends and Jordyn, on the other hand, starting crying and didn't want me to leave her. Her teacher wasn't outside, she couldn't find her friends, so she started to get sad. She calmed down and I eventually left. When I picked them up from the bus stop that afternoon, they both loved their day and teachers.

 Sydney told me all about the teacher's reward system and everything about her classroom. When I asked how she liked her teacher she said, "Teachers are always nice the first day and then they start to be mean."

 Every other year the girls get a new back pack. This year, it was Sydney turn. She picked a back pack with the headphones she's wearing, not like she has a phone or i pod. She's just posing with my phone :)