Back to School 2011

August 8th was the first day of the 2001-2012 school year for my kids.  Gavin is in Mrs. William's fourth grade this year.  When we went to the open house I noticed that Gavin was not much shorter than Mrs.Williams.  Mrs. Thelen his gifted teacher said he can't grow anymore cause she doesn't teach kids taller than her.  Ashlyn is in Mrs. Howard's kindergarten class this year.

Ashlyn and her giant backpack!  I always forget how big they look on the kindergartners.

Gavin at his desk.  Ashlyn's teacher was not allowing parents in the classroom.  I guess she was worried about getting a bunch of over anxious parents out of her classroom.  I swung back by Ashlyn's classroom to sneak a peak through the window on my way out.  She already had her glasses on and was hard at work coloring. 

Whitney started the 7th grade at Tortolita Middle School.  There are around 1,200 7th and 8th graders at her school!  This is just mind boggling to me!  The thought of that many kids is just crazy to me.  Notice the shirt, it reads: Chick with Brains. That's my girl!

I teased her about coming in and taking pictures in front of her locker and the school sign.  I really wanted to. . .but decided not to set her up for that kind of humiliation.  I have been driving her to school in the mornings and it has become our time together.

We drove Ashlyn & Gavin to school that morning.  Landon was so sad when Ashlyn got out of the car too.  He just cried and cried for his Ashlyn.  He has been really clingy with me since the kids started back to school.  I think he realizes I am the only constant now.  Despite Ashlyn's large smile exiting the bus she is not a fan of the bus.  Most kids love the bus at first but not her!  Gavin is the bus driver's helper and helps all the kindergartners with their seat belts.

Ashlyn is a shopper!  She begs me to buy her new clothes whenever we go to any store with clothing.  I took her to Carter's to pick out an outfit for the first day. She was having a very hard time narrowing it down to one outfit.  But once she found this shirt that was it.  Whitney was not a fan at first but then when she put the leggings with it, Whitney said, "Wow, that's really cute together!"  She does have style.

Completely and utterly exhausted after her first day of school!

Gavin's Pool Party

Gavin opted for a pool party this year to celebrate his 10th birthday.  He had been wanting some aviator sunglasses for some time and finally got a pair.  The first time he wore them he told me,
"These glasses look really good on me!"  He wasn't really bragging more like stating a fact.  We waited to have his party till August 5th so that his best bud, Quinn could make it.

The party was at the YMCA's pool.  The kids had fun swimming and horsing around.

Having fun!

All the kids were doing the mediating man pose to go down the slide.

Landon's main concern was consuming as much soda as he possibly could.

He actually fell asleep when I made a quick car trip home after the strap of my swimsuit broke.  Thankfully nothing was exposed.  Amazingly he stayed that way even after I moved him to his stroller. 

We looked at several bakeries for a cake and nothing was really tickling Gavin's fancy.  He finally picked out this Transformers cake because "Landon would like it."  It looked nothing like the cake in the book that we thought we were ordering.  He was right, Landon loves his robots! He has spent a lot of time carrying them around and playing with them.

The swimming seemed to really whet the kids appetites though cause they all ate big pieces of cake!

Jessica's Visit

 

We had the pleasure of having one of Whitney's best friends, Miss Jessica Calvert come all the way from Maryland to visit.  Whitney & Jessica became friends while we were stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama.  They were both in Mrs. Raichle's third grade and have been great friends since then.  Jessica is such a fun and lively girl.  We really enjoyed having her visit!

Whitney had always been the taller one but Jessica was thrilled to find that she is now the taller friend!  Not by much but definitely taller.  Even though the girls are now the mature age of 12 they got out the littlest pet shop toys for old times sake. 

We visited some underground caverns in the area. 

We also made a trip to Breakers, a local water park.

 

I thought this was kinda funny, Whitney working on her tan while Jessica tries not to get sun burnt.  Jessica is a redhead with gorgeous creamy white skin, skin that does not do well in our strong desert sun. 

 

Little Swimmers

If June was the month of travels then July was definitely the month of swimming!  Ashlyn had been begging to take swim lessons for months.  But I kept telling her we had to wait for summer to take swim lessons.  Patience is not one of Ashlyn's strong points so we had many conversations about the matter.

  On her first day of lessons she was the only child to show up so she had the instructor ( a college girl) all to herself.   She managed to scare that poor girl silly by going limp and rolling her eyes around.  The girl came and got me and said I think there is something wrong with her.  Upon further investigation I decided that Ashlyn did not want to put her face in the water and was getting tired.  Naturally that required a performance on her part.  I mean its not like she could just say I'm tired or anything like that!  She then told me she did not want to take lessons anymore.  I told her she would be finishing the course.  Things improved greatly after that first dramatic day. 

Towards the end of the course I asked the instructor which level I should put her in for a second round of lessons.  She said, "she's swimming but she still doesn't really want to put her face in the water.  Just put her in this level again."  After our conversation I started thinking about how she hates to have water in her eyes.  She keeps a towel by the side of the tub so she can dry her eyes.  I bought her a pair of swim goggles and from that point on she was like an underwater fish!  It also helped that the instructor for the second course was a boy.  Ashlyn was much more concerned with impressing him!

 



My mermaid girl.

Gavin started out in the minnow course and then moved up to the fish level for the second course.  I had tried to talk Whitney into taking lessons complete with a pep talk about the joys of getting a life guard job as a teen someday.  Whitney was uninspired but Gavin was extra motivated to do well as a result.

A Decade of Gavin

This year we celebrated one decade of Gavin. It doesn't seem that long ago that he was my sweet little baby boy.  I was really nervous to have a son.  Mostly because I have just never felt like I related well to boys.  I would see Mom's with all boys and feel kind of sorry for them and somewhat aghast.  Lucky for me, Heavenly Father sent the perfect son for me.  Gavin was completely and wholeheartedly a Mama's boy for his first 2 years of life.  He did not care for anyone but me.  He was even a snuggler! This was a welcome development. ( I had felt a little cheated with Whitney because she was like a social 2 year old by 8 months of age.)  I quickly started to appreciate the joys of boys!

Gavin is my child that I see the most of myself in.  Sometimes that is hard, sometimes it is weird and sometimes it helps me appreciate myself a little more. Having Gavin is a bit like having a rock star around.  Little girls have always liked Gavin but it is starting to reach new levels.  We can be out and little girls will start squealing & screaming his name and run over with delight.  I am often approached and asked in an awe tinged voice if I am Gavin's Mom. 

Gavin is sweet, kind, thoughtful and loving. He has always had a strong sense of right and wrong.  He is a little vain about his hair.  He hates loud noise.  His personal hygiene is very important to him.  Especially his oral hygiene.  He must have his loofah and body wash at all times.  Humor is very important to him.  Ever since preschool he has tried very hard to make others laugh.  His likes to read but the books must be humorous.  The Wimpy Kid series and Roald Dahl's books are some of his favorites.  He loves babies and his personal weakness is Landon.  He is physically incapable of telling him no.  He just recently learned to tell Ashlyn no so Landon still has a few good years left.  Favorite treats are Oreos, whoppers, soda pop and ice cream.  When he gets around large groups of boys he gets a little wild. It still surprises me to see that he gets bossy around other boys as well.  Gavin is the king of trivial information and facts.  

Eating his chosen breakfast of donuts.

Helpers on hand in case he just can't manage to rip through that wrapping paper.

Landon really wanted Gavin's soda and tried his best to snag one.  Of course, the World's Best Brother shared with him.

Chris decided 10 was a great age for Gavin to get started on his gun arsenal.  He was pretty pleased with his .22 rifle!  Now he just needs a lifetime membership for the NRA. Landon was also on hand to take this one off his hands if needed.

He said he wanted an Oreo cake so Chris whipped up this cake for him. It was really good!

Mid-wish.

His look of intense concentration.  Gavin had been shooting with Chris a few times but seems to be something of a natural shot.  Hitting full soda cans, glass bottles and other targets with ease.  I can't say the same for myself.  I had only shot a handgun once forever ago but had always been pretty good at those arcade shooting games.  Not the same thing at all!  I was getting so frustrated because I could not hold it steady and hit anything to save my life.

It is always when my kids are lying down next to Chris when it really hits me how big they are getting!  He has always been tall but seems to be on a major growth spurt recently.  He is now 4'10" just 2 inches shy of 5 feet.  He weighs 95 pounds and wears a size 7 1/2 shoe in mens!

We finished off his day with dinner out at a local burger place called Lindy's.  Gavin's all time favorite food is hamburgers!  Just cheese, meat, bun and lots of ketchup.  We drove go carts and played laser tag.  It was a good day!

July 4, 2011

Our 4th of July started out hot & early with our church's stake breakfast at a local park.   The kids loved the dunk tanks.  Then we moved on to a party at the Martino's house.  Rechil had prepared some delicious Filipino food for us.  It was a nice change from the usual hot dogs & burgers. 

We finished off the day at a golf course to see the fireworks display. While we waited for the fireworks show to begin, I had fun taking pictures. Ashlyn debated the perfect pose before settling on this one.

Chris bought himself this mug or as he likes to call it his "fat lady mug".  He likes to fill it up at the Circle K with diet Dr. Pepper with LOTS of vanilla syrup.  Landon likes to sneak drinks whenever he can...something I am not wild about at all.

Ashlyn had quite the time with her little flag.  Gavin had fun rolling down the hills while we were waiting.

Sparkler time!!! I actually bought sparklers around Memorial Day cause I couldn't find any for last year's 4th of July.

 

Landon loved the fireworks!

 

Landon trying to get Whitney to wrestle with him.

Ashlyn strikes with her flag once more!