Kate and Yeb Start Preschool

Both of these cuties had been looking forward to preschool for months.  Kate usually takes awhile to warm up to new situations, and since she went to preschool last year and knew what to expect, she was excited all summer to do it again.  Yeb, on the other hand, saw the other two going off to school last year, so he had been begging for about 6 months to go.  The way that the district preschools work is that the 4 year olds are signed up for 4 days a week of school, but when I registered Yeb last spring I got permission for him to only go 2 days because we're still working quite a bit on attachment with him.
As the summer ended, and we felt like 4 days a week was too much for Kate and that what she needed this school year was to be home and getting parent attention.  The district worked with us and allowed Kate and Yeb to split a 4 year old slot, so they each go two mornings a week, and then the other days they're home with me one-on-one.

It has worked out beautifully.  It's been so fun to have time with each of them, and to have it be so much more relaxed than when everyone is home.  After we take the other kids off to school, we do our morning housework, and then they get to choose an activity to do with mom.  Kate usually invents a game for us to play, then wants to color or do play dough.  Yeb usually chooses to paint, and then play with toys while I fold laundry or something.  It's very low key, but they have my undivided attention on a consistent basis.

This is a typical play scene at home.  Kate and these stuffed animals were all being kitties, and all looking out the window.

Meanwhile, they're both loving school, to.  We were worried about how Yeb would do in a school setting, but he's done really well.  They both love their school friends, and are learning a lot, and are always excited to tell me what they did in class.

This is after the first day of preschool for both of them.  I asked them to show on their faces how they felt about school.  Pretty sure they were trying to smile big, but they both settled on the fake no-teeth smiles.

Labor Day Huntington Family Vacation

We headed down to Huntington where Kerry's sister and her family live, and had a blast of a weekend!  They took everyone out to the reservoir just outside town, and we all got to do some tubing behind their boat.  Kerry tried waterskiing, too, with not much success.  Surprisingly, the kids all loved the tube, and Yeb couldn't get enough of it.  I think he had 4 or 5 turns, and was still going strong.  I wish we had pictures of his face!  We ate lunch at the reservoir, and then headed back to the house.

Kate played with Tay during any unscheduled time the whole weekend.  The boys tried out some kites, and we all relaxed and chatted.

After church on Sunday we got to go up the canyon for a cookout.  The kids had fun digging in the dirt and exploring, and making s'mores after dinner.

Steve Urkel Mini Me

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't stop laughing at this dollar store "FBI Agent" getup that Tam bought.  Does he not look like Steve Urkell with a gun?

Tam's First Day of First Grade!

Tam started first grade this year, and he was super excited to be going to school all day.  He was mostly excited to be able to eat lunch at school, but was thrilled when he found out the first day that first graders get three recesses as well.  It's been a big transition for him, and there's a lot more expected of him behaviorally this year than last, but so far it's gone pretty well.  There have been a few times where he wishes he was back in kindergarten, but he's not shy about the fact that he's learned a lot so far in first grade.  As he frequently says when he's explaining why he's so awesome and knows so much: "Because I si-ix" (said with a head bob and a no-you-didn't attitude).

Sunday Best

The Sunday before school started everyone was ready for church with a few minutes to spare.  It's such an unusual occurrence that I didn't even know what to do with myself, so I decided to grab the camera and snap a few pics of the kids, who had gone outside and started to play.  There are pros and cons of having kids grouped so close in age, but for the most part, it's pretty great, particularly because they get to be friends with each other as well as siblings.

End of Summer Hike

Before school started we realized that we hadn't done any family hikes during the summer.  We decided to attempt the Lower Bell Canyon Reservoir hike, a hike we did last summer with the kids, which we barely survived.  We at least had a baseline, and figured the kiddos would be much better hikers this year than last, so it would be a good bet.  Fortunately we were right!

All of them hiked all the way up to the lake on their own, and just took turns getting piggyback rides from Kerry on the way down.  We laughed when we got 5 minutes up the trail and realized that spot had been the first of many rest breaks last summer, while this time our kids only needed a few water breaks till we got to the top.

Once we reached the reservoir, the kids fed the ducks and threw rocks into the water to see the splashes, and we had lunch.

After that we headed back down.  Hooray for family activities!

Summer Storms

Alright, it's been awhile, but I definitely wanted to share these pictures.  This past August was an unusually wet month for Utah.  We got rainstorms every other day or so for about three weeks.  It was fantastic, and the kids loved playing out in the rain.

Their favorite thing to do is to get bikes and high-center them in the full gutter so that when they pedal the tires spray the water up.

Bonus points if someone is standing behind you when you're doing this.

   And then switch places.