Reid's School Pictures Are Here!

I love the photographer that takes the pictures for Reid's preschool. His pictures came out so cute again. I will post the three of him and then one of his class!

The Pottery

I managed to leave the house yesterday to pick up the pottery that the girls painted at Sydney's Party. Check out the beautiful masterpieces. I highly recommend doing this for any party, boys or girls. The kids loved doing it and there are so many pieces to chose from. What an incredible way to foster creativity and yet not have to deal with the paint and the mess in your own house. P.S. The adults had lots of fun too!

Eight More Days and Counting!

Well, this week we have a crowded home. We have added 4 more children to our household for 10 days. Our friends, Tim and Jennifer are on a cruise in Hawaii and we are caring for their children. I did offer to go along with them as a traveling Nanny, but I do not think Tom would have agreed to let me go without him or our kids. Things are a little crowded and sometimes loud at times, but overall it is going pretty well. We have already gotten through two days. I have not taken any pictures yet. I will try to add some later.

Sydney's 6th Birthday

Last weekend, we celebrated Sydney's Birthday. The day started out with a Tea Party at another friend's house just for fun. Many of the girls tried tea and really liked it. (Of course, they all had at least two lumps of sugar and cream in it.) Many of the girls cam dressed up for an English Tea. They were all so cute. Each of them made a craft. Some made hair ties and some made bracelets.

For the afternoon, we invited all the girls from her class to her party at a local pottery painting shop. Each of the girls painted a small box. They all seemed to have a lot of fun. I can't wait to go get the finished products and hand them out to all her friends. After the party, we went to Grandma and Grandpa S's house. The older kids fell asleep on the way. We let Sydney open her American Girl doll and Grandma gave her a cute dress to go with it. After a spaghetti dinner, we went to Aunt Kris's Alma Mater for a special ceremony. She was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame along with her volleyball team mates. They won the NCCAA National Championship! Way to go Aunt Kris!

We then went back to Grandpa and Grandma's for cake and ice cream and to open the rest of Sydney's gifts. It was a very busy, but fun day.

On Sunday, we went to Logan's Steakhouse for a Birthday lunch with Grandma and Grandpa M. The staff led us all in a big Yee Haw, for Sydney's birthday.

Fun with Friends!

Today Reid and Elyse were able to have Drew and Noah over to play for the day. Here we are having some lunch together! We had so much fun. Since both pairs are so close in age the played together very well!

A Very Wet Day at the Zoo!

Yesterday, the first and second graders went to the zoo. It rained all day. We had lots of fun, despite being very wet and cold. The giraffes did not want to come out in the rain and were hiding in the woods for a while. They finally did venture to the feeding station and our group were the first ones to feed them. Sydney was so tired she fell asleep on the bus ride home. We warmed up at home with some blankets and hot chocolate.

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!