VIP day for Reid

Last Wednesday was Reid's first VIP day for the year. That meant that I had the honor of helping in the classroom. For snack we took bears, blueberries, boxes of juice and boo napkins. Yes, the theme for the week was the letter B. Some of the kids were suprised to find out that they liked dried blueberries. One child said, "these taste like candy." We had a very busy morning. The kids went on a nature walk with Miss Sandra, made a collage picture with leaves with me and colored in little books with Mrs. M. He has a big class this year, 21 kids. There are definately some active kids in the class and some very independant leaders as well.

Mrs. M reading the kids a story about fall leaves.Reid sitting in the VIP chair.
Abby and Kenison working on their leaf collages.
Miss Sandra chats with the girls during their snack.
Enjoying the B snack.
Abby was cooking up a treat for Bryce and Nicole in her restaurant!
Noah and Seth are cooking up something special too!
Reid, Sam, and Avery are building a mini city.
This is quite a full class! As VIP Reid gets to drive the cart to pick up everyone's name cards.
Maggie and Brooke work on their leaf pictures as well.
Reid made his picture look like a Television set with leaves on the screen.

WOW!

Our American Girl Doll Catalog came in the mail the other day and Elyse found it. She was so amazed with the dolls. She repeated over and over. "Mom you have to come see this one."

She was so delighted just to look at the pictures. She now calls it her doll book.

Tired Boy!

Ried was such a tired boy on Wednesday afternoon. He fell asleep on the chair at Grandma's House while mommy was working in the office. He had such a busy morning at preschool.

Reid has been so excited about returning to preschool. He prayed all suumer that he could go back to his preschool for the 4's class.

Even Elyse was excited, she wanted me to take her picture this morning too!
We had a nice walk across the field to school. We try to walk when the weather is nice! It has been so nice to have his preschool so close.
This is Reid's best friend at school. Drew also goes to our church and his younger brother will be in preschool with Elyse next year!
The boys enjoyed playing together in the gym with all the equipment. The tricycles were very popular this morning!
This is Reid's new teacher Mrs. Sandra. She is taking over for Mrs. H, who was unable to return this year. Mrs. Sandra has children at Sydney's school as well.
And of course Mrs. M is back for a new year. Reid could not wait to see her again. I think he will enjoy going to school 3 mornings a week this year. I know he would love to be able to go every day!

Check out my Hair!

As you know Reid loves to be Super Silly! The other night in the shower he modeled his new hair style! He thought he was so funny!

Our own Blue Man Group!

For a special treat on a very hot day! We took the kids out for ice cream at a local shop. They all chose a cone with Blue Moon ice cream. Well you can see, I had to pull out my camera and capture the blue faces. Elyse had such a hard time, we had to put her ice cream in a dish to finish it.

Sydney started her Dance class!

For Christmas last year, Grandma S. gave Sydney money to take a dance class. Since, I was not on the ball before the Spring greenhouse season hit, poor Sydney had to wait until August to take her class. However, I think that she would agree, it was well worth the wait. She will continue the class for as long as she can without causing issues with school, or the busy season strikes again. Here are some pictures I took at one of her classes.

Sydney's First Day of First Grade

Sydney had her first day of First Grade weeks ago. She was so excited that when I opened her door in the morning to wake her up, she sat straight up in bed. She was bright eyed and bushy tailed right away! That was the last time she did that because she is definately not a morning person!!

Sydney absolutely loves her new teacher, Mrs. M. She seems like an awesome teacher!

We were able to go to Ben's baptism in the lake at the end of August. I had never been to a full imersion baptism before. It was neat to see him take that step in his life. We also stayed for the short church service and picnic in the park. Congratulations Ben on your public statement of faith in Christ! We are very proud of you!

Trip to the Zoo

We were able to end our summer at the Zoo. We went with Tom's Mom and Dad and his sister Nikki and our Friend Kris. We had a wonderful time. The kids loved seeing all the animals and even petting a few of them. Reid said he liked the dinosaur statues the best. Sydney liked the giraffes the best. Elyse loved feeding the giraffes, but was tired of walking soon after seeing them. We are very lucky that Kris had a backpack carrier with her and Elyse fit in it! We were also able to go out for ice cream afterwords. I think that this was the favorite part for all of us!!

Some of our Funny Moments

Elyse fell asleep at the table while she was coloring!

The kids dressed up in their robes and hats and pretended to be detectives!

We had so much fun at Sara and Milo's Wedding. We congratulate them on their wedding and wish them a long and fulfilled marriage. I have one picture to share from their wedding.

It is a picture of four high school friends who still keep in touch many years later. Starting on the left is Jennifer, Sara, Sara, and of course me.

Busy Summer!

Karen and Bill visited earlier this summer with the boys. Bill flew back home for a few weeks and Karen stayed behind, so we were able to spend lots of time together with all the kids. We visited the Nature Center, went to the park, went to the 4th of July Celebration in Holland, Jungle Joes, and to Craig's Cruisers. Check out some of our pictures and the following slide shows for a glimpse into our adventures! Reading with the Boys!
Liam pushed me on the swings on Grandpa's deck!
Reading the Animals of Yellowstone Poop Book with Aunt Karen and Zach!
Playing Cowboys and Indians with Gabe.
Zach enjoys his ice cream.

Celebration Freedom at the Park!