1st Day of School

School starting is such an interesting thing. We have all been waiting for it with various degrees of enthusiasm. My enthusiasm is pretty much at zero. This year I will have two kids in school and be picking up a kindergartner half way through the day. I also will be taking kids to soccer and to dance class. The way I see it I will be in my car most of the day. I am glad my seat is comfortable.

None the less the day has come and the kids can't wait. Here is Ashling. She never looks at the camera!
This is the face of true excitement. She really can't wait for school to start.
Annika is excited but she just doesn't know why!
Ali is a little more reserved and grown up now that she is in the 3rd grade. She got a color changing shirt from Grandma and was excited to wear it. It was much too hot for jeans so she just wore shorts.

I was very excited that Ali got Mrs. Strebel. She is in our branch and I have been hoping that Ali would get her for a teacher ever since she was born. All the LDS kids are in Mrs. Strebel's class this year. It will be nice to have so many good kids in class. Besides the LDS kids there are a lot of other kids who are good friends of Ali's and kids that I like. I am excited for Ali to have such a good class.

Kindergarten did not really start today. The kids all came and got their name tags and took a tour of the classrooms. They do not know who their teachers are for a week. I guess the teachers need to observe the kids first and then they will decide. It was a mess and I highly recommend a different way of doing things.

Our date with Ashling

On Friday we went on a date with Ashling. Cameron had a furlough day and so he got to come along too. We decided to hike down to deep creek by a trail that was about 2 - 2 1/2 miles each way. It was an interesting trail. A lot of deep creek drainage was burned by the fire is 2007 and they are doing a lot of burned tree logging down there. The road that we hiked on for the first mile was very dusty, ashy and otherwise full of very loose dirt that ended up in our hair, shoes and shorts.

The way varied from deep full growth forest, to completely burned out areas with only green underbrush. We obviously appreciated the tree covered areas. It was interesting how in some places the forest had made a come back from the fire and in others there was just nothing left to come back. Fire is sure an amazing way to completely change the landscape.

On our hike we held Ashling's hand, interviewed her about her favorites (she loves pink, Ariel, hiking with Mommy and Daddy, M&M's, hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly, polly pockets and swimming.) and just paid a lot of individual attention to her.

I was stunk or bit by a bee or something for excitement and it hurt!

At last we made it to the river.







I think that it was a lot of fun to take one of our kids out without the others and I recommend it to everyone as a good idea.

Ashling's first day of preschool

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Ashling is going to a new preschool that is in Running Springs. It is an in-home preschool that a friend of mine is running this year. These are the pictures of the first day.

"firsts"

I spent the day with my children. They helped me clean this morning, we went on a walk to the park and then we played school all afternoon taking a break for recess and snack. It was a nice day and everyone experienced some firsts that I enjoyed watching.

Ali is learning multiplication. I thought that they teach it in second grade and so we better get ahead and start learning. It is amazing that she is learning the concept so quickly and it sure is fun teaching her. It makes me wonder if I would like home schooling?

Ashling is learning to read. Today she had some simple works and was able to figure out how to spell each of them and she wrote each of the words down. I can't believe she has another year until kindergarten! She is going to be reading by then!

Annika and I were eating breakfast together this morning and I was playing a game with her. Each time I fed her a bite I said, "mmmmm" and she thought it was so funny. We enjoyed our breakfast and the time spent together. Tonight at dinner Cameron was feeding Annika her food while we were all eating. After a bite Annika said, "mmmm." I noticed that it was what I had said this morning. Then each time she was ready for a bite she said, "mmmm" instead of screaming which has been her normal approach. She thought that this was a great way to communicate and was very pleased with herself. I am very happy that she will not be screaming at the dinner table whenever she wants a bite! (Hopefully she will turn the "mmmm" into "mama" before long too. I would love to beat Daddy for the first word!

I am glad I am at home with my girls to experience all their firsts. I couldn't think of a better job and I am happy to play with them each and every day.

practicing...

The air inside is hot and the air outside is cool. Cameron commented that he was sleeping outside tonight and the girls thought it was a great idea. Really though we are sleeping on our bed because with a fan the air is cool inside too.

My girls are camping on the deck tonight. Aren't they cute? We are contemplating taking everyone on a three day, two night, 3 mile backpacking trip and so we are practicing sleeping in a tent alone and tomorrow we are going to start hiking. Hopefully it goes well. We bought a new back pack carrier for Annika that has a much better design. Instead of the baby reclining the baby is pressed against your back and you don't feel like you are going to fall over backwards. I am so excited to wear the backpack and go hiking with the girls. Our adventures start tomorrow.