school when you are just two

Some morning yoga before we headed out to swim in the pool on Friday.

I love my little copy cat/shadow. Now that the older kids are in school I get so much time with her. And she really does copy everything that I do! Which is good and bad, you know.

Brinna will be doing a little low key joy school/preschool/playgroup once a week this school year. So low key that I'm not even sure what to call it. But we hosted the first rotation at our house. I am in love with this sweet group and I think it will be just right for Brinna (and me) this year.

back to school 2019

These kids are going to thrive this year. 10th, 9th, 3rd, and 2nd grades.

Kyler backed off on some of his honors classes this year compared to last year to make some room for some fun. He is taking sculpture and drawing/painting in addition to spanish 3, algebra 2, honors english, seminary, and ap chemistry. He is runnig cross country right now and plans to participate in wrestling, track, and a few of the clubs on campus. And he just loved posing for pictures at 6am on the first day of school.

Kacin has a full schedule. I know it will be a bit of a shock when all the homework starts coming in (because this kid has never really had any homework before), but I know he will do well and manage it all just fine. He has wrestling locker, spanish 2, ap world history, honors english, honors geometry, honors biology, and seminary. He is going to join tennis, wrestling, and track. He is so ready for high school!

Perry has a new teacher this year, but the same class room. The new teacher is familiar with the students from her student teaching last year so that will be helpful. He is so excited to be back in school! 

Layla has a really awesome teacher this year for 2nd grade. She is excited to start taking piano lessons this year and join a choir. She started doing her own hair. And she is sooo ready for second grade.

We have new chores around the house and schedules and expectations this school year. I made new charts. :)  For example, Perry is getting himself ready in the morning! We discovered he is motivated by money so he is working hard to be independent to earn a dollar every day that he gets dressed, brushes his teeth, eats, and puts his shoes on by himself. I also prepped him that as soon as he started 3rd grade he has to start doing a house help chore around the house every day after school before his screen time. He protested at first, but I prepped him enough that he gets it and is doing it just fine. Layla is earning her own money this year, too. She has a few more expectations, but she is ready to rise and will do just fine.

We are all excited for another school year and can’t wait to see what 2019-2020 holds for us.

the seventh (and last) week of summer

The last week of summer. How quickly it came!

We celebrated my birthday. 

And then the rest of the week was pretty devoted to back to school. And more doctor appointments (mostly for the kids and not me this week—a strange feeling ). And Eric was out of town.

We had four different back to school/meet the teacher times. Though I’m pretty excited that we are down to only two schools this year. I was awful at taking pictures when I took each of the kids to their schools. But it was nice to spend a few minutes of one on one time. I snuck in a super fast (like 15 min) run to target with each of them for some back to school shopping. We were super low key—no new backpacks or anything. Just a few notebooks or glue sticks and maybe a water bottle or lunch box if it was needed. So simple. 

Eric and I got back into town on Thursday night and then Friday morning we left for a weekend trip together. A much needed time alone together to have some fun.

We floated down the salt river and then spent the rest of the weekend in flagstaff.

It was the first time that either one of us had been down the salt river. We loved it! Why have i never done that before?!

We spent most of our time in flagstaff hiking through walnut canyon and around the top.









These caves were so cool to explore. And a bit frightening because you never do know what might be lurking in the dark corners of a big cave.



A highlight of the trip was our visit to Lowell Observatory. We just happened to be there for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. It wasn't planned, but it ended up being quite cool. We started by rowding in to hear a panel of people associated with NASA and the moon landinh in various positions over the years. I thought it was super interesting to be in that room.



We went outside to watch a video in which we would be watching Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon 50 years exactly to the minute. Pretty cool! We were more excited than this photo shows, but the cool parts are all in videos I'll have to post later.



I have always had a deep fascination with the night sky. My astronomy classes in college were my favorite. It is magic to spend some time gazing up at the sky. And then to do it with a telescope! I was in heaven. We saw Jupiter (and 3 of its moons!), Saturn, M12, and a nebula. It was my first time gazing at a nebula--that was pretty amazing.







This one is the moon is at is rising.





We explored some more of walnut canyon the next day and got up close to some of the fascinating ruins.






















The kids were doing just fine back at home. They were having fun with friends and cousins. I got this picture and knew they were each having their own adventure. Haha.



Then we had one last monday to close out our summer vacation. We joined some friends and took a family float down the salt river in the evening. It was a good way to end the summer with a splash.














And then the next day we were back to alarm clocks and schedules. But so grateful for everything we were able to fit in to seven weeks of summer.