Rachel’s Big Week

Our sweet Rachel has had quite the week.  It started off Sunday when she lost her first tooth.  She was so excited to show us what the Tooth Fairy brought the next morning: a 5-dollar bill!!  (Our tooth fairy is super generous and gives the kids a big prize for their first tooth.  After that she gets cheap!)

The excitement continued last night when tooth #2 was evicted.  Look at that cute smile!

 

She was up bright and early this morning.  Not just to check the Tooth Fairy’s work, but to get ready for her big first day of Kindergarten!  I still can’t believe it.  KINDERGARTEN!!!  I don’t know how that happened!  She chose a pink shirt to wear, because that’s her favorite color, and she put on her backpack (which happens to be as big as she is), and she ran all the way to school!

I’m not kidding.  We parked at our new house and she ran the entire way!  I was trying to keep up with her as I was pushing Caleb and Daniel in the stroller.  It was like she was embarrassed to have her mom there!  Wait, that couldn’t be it, could it??  I’m sure she was just super excited.  Yeah.  That’s it.  She just couldn’t wait to get in there.  Afterall, she’s been asking me “How many more days until school?” 285 times a day for the past month!

She had a great day and told me she made lots of new friends.  And she can’t wait to go back tomorrow!

It Happened in Primary

Miss Rachel lost her first tooth today.  And it happened in Primary, of all places!

I didn’t even realize it had happened, until we got home from Church.  She had a funny look on her face.  Something between mischievous and shocked.  Then I asked her to show me her mouth, and low-and-behold that tiny little tooth was gone!  She told me it was driving her crazy, so her teacher said she’d pull it out for her!  From what I could get, she had it out before they even got to the bathroom.

This little girlie is quite proud, and has spent the afternoon working on tooth #2 that is also hanging by a thread.  I think the tooth fairy may be out of money by the end of the week!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school for our kids.  Well, half of them.  Rachel starts Kindergarten next week and Caleb starts preschool after Labor Day.

I made it through this one with no tears.  First time ever, I think.

Miss Emily started 7th grade.  She was so excited to go back, and a little nervous at the same time. 

She says she doesn’t even dislike homework – it’s getting up so early that gets to her.  She did great last year, so I’m sure this year will be the same.

Josh started 5th grade, which makes him King of the School.  (Our district is weird and does a school for 6th and 7th graders, and another one for 8th and 9th graders.  Figure that one out!)  He’s just too darn cool for school!

He says he already knows everyone in his class – except two kids.  And his teacher doesn’t give homework until much later in the year.  Piece of cake.  What do these kids do all day?!?

Stay tuned for part 2 of Back to School!

Walk Star

After a couple of months of absolute hatred, the little mister in our house decided that this walker thing is OK.  He’s been cruising the lengths of the living room every chance he gets.  Every time he does it he gets a little more steady and a little more controlled.

Add this to his love of the stairs and I’d say we’re in trouble.  But don’t think for one second that I’m not smiling about it!

Building a House: Trusses

Today we watched this truck pull into the driveway.

And then the truck grew!

Can you guess how tall that is?  If you said “Why, that’s 100 feet, of course,” you would be correct!!

Once all the growing and stretching were done, that truck went and picked up the biggest and heaviest truss for the house.

It’s actually two trusses nailed together.  We watched the crew scurrying around like chickens for a few minutes before the crane came.  Josh was completely amazed at how fast one guy went around the truss nailing with his nail gun.

The truck turned into a showoff after getting the first truss in place.

Four trusses in one load!  We were awestruck!

We watched for an hour before we had to leave to make dinner.  When we went back for Family Home Evening, this is what we saw…

No – we’re not building a barn.  There are still a few more trusses that need to go up, but the builder can get those done without the crane. 

In total, there were four guys working.  One operating the crane and three placing the trusses.  Pretty impressive.

The excitement level in this place is definitely climbing.

Building a House: Walls!

Wow!  I was going to do a house update last week.  But with Josh’s birthday and then Girls’ Camp, I kind of ran out of spare time!  I am excited to say that we have walls!!  And we have a front porch, a patio, and a floor for Jared’s workshop area.

Here’s a view of the front part of the house

That’s the front porch (obviously without steps or a sidewalk), the opening for the front door, windows in the living room, and to the far right is the window for the first bedroom. 

Here’s a view from the dining area, looking to the north where the kitchen and mudroom will be.

The room with the cement floor is Jared’s workshop.  That’s where he going to be building all the things I want for my new house – lockers, shelves, tables, a nightstand…you know, stuff like that!  I’ve got a list long enough to keep him busy for at least a year.

And this is a view from the dining area into the front part of the house.  Basically, you’re looking at where the living room and bedrooms will be.

Obviously that giant hole in the floor is where the stairs will be.  Right now it’s just a death trap for a couple of munchkins who aren’t even allowed in the house.  I’m sure you understand the reasoning behind that decision!

We’re supposed to have a garage floor this week, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the roof/ceiling trusses go up as well.

Lego Olympics

Josh had a birthday, and we celebrated in style!  He got to have a friend party this year and chose a Lego theme.  (I’d like to thank Pinterest for guilting me into thinking I have to go all out for parties now-a-days.)  I found some great ideas and went to work making a banner and treats and coming up with games and activities to keep 10-year-old boys entertained.

We did Lego-style Olympics (thus the medals up above).  We tested their speed by racing Lego vehicles that they each made.  They really liked that!

We tested their accuracy by playing Lego Toss.

We pushed them higher in a speed-building contest to see who could build the tallest tower.

We tested their endurance by having them pick up Legos with a straw.

We tested their creativity with Lego head drawings.

And just for fun, we did a plain ol’ guessing game.  How many Legos do you think are in this jar?

The answer: 109

I think the boys (and Emily) had a lot of fun.  It was a blast to see them creating and playing and having fun together.  It was good to see all those Legos being put to good use!!!

The hit of the party?  Well, I think it was those yellow chocolate-covered marshmallow Lego heads!  Go figure!?!

Playing Catch Up

This is gonna be a long post – sorry!  I decided to just pay $50 to get a new hard drive for my computer, rather than buy a whole new computer – even though my screen is totally messed up and my battery is useless.  So I’m back in business for blogging!

Someone had a birthday last week.  Not sure who it was, but we had a fun day celebrating!  We spent the morning at the aquatic center.  You’ll thank me for not posting any pictures of that.  We’re all so white it’s scary!  After that we had lunch, and Jared and I did some shopping while Daniel was sleeping.  Then we came home, picked up Daniel and went out to dinner.  The kids love it when we go on dates because they eat cereal for dinner.  After we were done, we grabbed the kids and went for a special treat.  There’s a local food place in town that fills a sink with soft serve ice cream, bananas, toppings, and whipped cream.  They told us it’s around a gallon of ice cream…but they don’t measure, so no one really knows.

We thought that with 7 people we could easily finish it off.  If you do, you get your picture taken and earn a place in the “We Cleaned the Sink” Hall of Shame Fame.

Daniel sure pulled his weight.  He would have eaten (and then spit up) all night long!

 

Unfortunately, Josh has developed an aversion to ice cream since he threw up after eating 24-ounces of ice cream all by himself!  Five bites into the sink and he was complaining that he needed to throw up.  So he spent most of his time in the bathroom (no throwing up) and complaining about watching everyone else eat.

Emily added her personal touch with a little bit of art work on the side of the sink.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish.  That was a lot of ice cream and we were stuffed!!  And, believe it or not, that was waaaay cheaper than taking everyone to Twizzleberry!

On our way out, Caleb saw the rows of newspaper racks (?? – those bin-like-things that you put a quarter in and open the door to retrieve your paper) and exclaimed, “Video games!!!”  A couple walking in chuckled and the guy said, “That’s OK buddy.  They tricked me too!”  Love me some Caleb-isms!!

On Tuesday we had swimming performance day for Josh, Rachel and Caleb.  I brought Emily and Daniel – against my better judgement – so I didn’t get many pictures.  It was unbearably hot and Daniel was miserable.  The kids did a great job.  Josh is becoming quite the swimmer.  I think maybe he should aim for the swim team in high school.

This year he learned the breast stroke, the butterfly, and how to do an underwater summersault off the wall.  During the performance they were supposed to stand where they were and do a summersault.  Josh misunderstood and took off down the the pool as fast as he could and did his summersault off the wall – just like what you see in the Olympics.  I was in awe, and all the other parents were oohing and ahhing as well.  Take a look at this kid!  (Sorry about the crying Daniel in the background!)

Rachel is a natural fish and loves the water.  Look how white she is!!

Caleb is a little more reserved, especially when it comes to getting his face in the water.

They both did great and learned a lot for their first year.

Later in the week, we were at the park during a house showing.  Daniel was sitting right next to me on a bench, and in the 2 seconds that I was focusing on keeping one of the other kids in line, he fell off the bench and smacked his head on the cement.  That is a sound I will not soon forget.

He’s a tough kid though, and after a huge cry, he perked back up and was fine.

And just for fun…this kid thinks he’s a monkey!!

And the best news of the month: I got my birthday wish!  We accepted an offer on our house this week.  The offer was dated on my birthday, so it really was a birthday present!!  We are supposed to close on Sept. 4, so we’re in apartment hunting mode now.

I hope to get a house update up later today or tomorrow.  Please don’t keel over in anticipation!!