Back to School! (Aw Yeah!)

Hey school started. Wanna know what I'm not going to miss seeing every day? 

I kind of felt bad we didn't get to some of the things on their summer bucket list so the last couple of days before school started, I tried to shove in some kind of cool but not really cool things to do. There's a new pet supply store near our house that my kids are curious about. I think they thought it was a zoo where you could take the animals home. I took them inside after our weekly Walmart run. They were so excited as we walked up to the store and then when we stepped inside, the smell hit them and they immediately asked if we could leave.

After being grossed out by the molting lizards, we headed to the fish tanks.

 They liked finding fish from movies. "Hey this one looks like Flounder!"

 James liked the "baby fish."

 There was a lot of excited jabber from all the kids but they didn't ask for a pet fish.

This was their reaction to the ferrets. Erica and Sarah are holding their noses. James is excitedly telling us they are puppies.

But a puppy never creeped out James like the ferrets did.

Then we went down the row of hamsters, gerbils and then I saw the mice. Sarah and I got a minor case of the heebie jeebies, backed away slowly and high-tailed it out of the store. We calmed ourselves down by looking at throw pillows at Ross.

Friday I channeled my pioneer spirit and sliced and froze 30 peaches from our tree, ground a bunch of wheat, used that wheat and some oats to make 36 large pancakes and then individually froze those pancakes and then bagged them! I also made a batch of pancake mix for when those pancakes run out. I added the bags of pancakes and peaches to the loaves of frozen French toast from the day before. You guys, seriously, I deserve some sort of domestic merit badge.

 I channel my enthusiasm for school into healthy and easy breakfast.

 Monday morning I asked the kids if they'd rather just stay home and be lazy on their last day of summer or if they wanted to do something we hadn't done yet. They discussed it together and decided on doughnuts at the park.

 We should all approach life the way James eats doughnuts. All in.

 My pictures at the park are mostly of James because my other kids run off.

 In true Henry style, he quickly made a lady friend.

 You'd think they were life long buds instead of just meeting 10 minutes ago. They did everything together.

Then things got a little clingy on her part. When she followed us to the far side of the playground and I heard her asking Henry, "Where did you go?" or "Where have you been my whole life?" I told her I heard her mom calling for her.

When you tell your kids "If you get wet, I don't have any extra clothes for you so you'll have to ride home soaking wet" they hear "Go get wet then I'll take you home."

 Then we dried off and met their teachers. Henry is in second grade with Mrs. Groneman. His teacher was so nice and friendly and cool and her classroom was so fun and well organized. I want to be in her class and I told her so. She doesn't assign any homework besides reading each day so we already appreciate her.

Sarah is in Mrs. Wilson's fourth grade class. She's in the older half of the building now. Her classroom is obviously less cutesy and there are maps all over. I realized she'll be studying Utah history this year. Man, she's old.

After an early dinner, we took the kids swimming at the Spanish Fork pool to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon as a family for the 3rd time (maybe? I haven't kept track.) It took us 20 months this time. The day before school starts is the day to go to the pool. There were 12 people there besides us. I didn't take any pictures but if I did, there would be dozens of photos of my kids coming down the waterslide. Since there was no line, they just went up and down, up and down. Unfortunately we had to get out because of lightning in the area and then a big storm blew in. The kids were super bummed so at home we had ice cream and watched home videos.

Tuesday's the day! It's like Christmas morning. Just to be clear, my enthusiasm is only partly from wanting less crazy-fighting-messy days around here. I honestly love school and am living vicariously through them. I love buying school supplies and helping them with outfits, helping in their classes, etc.

She picked out this shirt and paid for it herself.

 Henry put together this all black outfit all by himself. The second day of school he added his Patriots jersey and the third day I told him he couldn't wear any of it and had to wear any of the other 10 shirts or shorts he owned.

 Photo-bomb James!

Can you find photo-bomb Erica?

 All day long Erica went back and forth from being super bored and sad and missing Sarah to relishing in having the remote all to herself and bossing James around.

James didn't really care that they were gone and wouldn't be bossed by Erica.

Last year was nice while it lasted--no preschooler or kindergartener, shoo the kids out the door to the bus, welcome them home when the bus brought them back. We don't have a bus anymore. We are within the 1.5 mile range and now have continuous sidewalk. 

Henry collapsed on the ground after his ride home. He was so sweaty too. It's mostly downhill from school to our house but it's still 1.5 miles.

 The bus made Sarah sick so she doesn't care and she likes the freedom of riding home like a big kid. Do they make scooters with snow tires?

Most days they'll bike to and from school. Erica starts preschool in a couple of weeks so on those days I'll drive them all to school and they'll ride their scooters home. And probably do that every day when it gets too chilly in the mornings. I'm not looking forward to driving in the snow.

The Nocturnal Life of Henry and some BIG FUN!

Henry gets up most nights around 10 or 11 because he has to use the bathroom. Having to pee wakes him up only enough to get about of bed and wander to us; he's still out of it and confused. He is super needy and sappy and affectionate and wants to sit by me and cuddle. It's actually the most pleasant he ever is. I can tuck him back in but he'll wander out again and get increasingly upset until he pees then he'll happily go back to bed. 

Erica does it too. Last month while Justin was out late playing ward ball, Erica AND Henry both wandered into my room, pale and zoned out like zombies, belligerent and confused. It was creepy.

Once while in bed, I heard Henry get up, walk down the stairs then come back up. I caught him in the upstairs hall, got him to use the bathroom and tucked him back in. About a half hour later Erica woke up crying that she couldn't find her blankie. I looked all around her bed (they share a room) and under her pillow but couldn't find it. Then I remembered Henry's jaunt downstairs so I went downstairs and found her blanket on the table. Henry has no memory of getting up, taking her blanket and putting it on the table.

Last night Henry woke up while we were watching TV. He came down all creepily, as usual. "Mama" he says kind of baby-like while he snuggles into my side. "I love you too, Henry. Are you ready to go back to bed?" He nods. "Go to the bathroom then get back into bed." We thought he did.  Later after we went up, we heard Henry up again so I went to his room and guided him into the bathroom. "Listen to how loud this is, Mom," he said as he flushed the toilet. Then before he washed his hands he said, "Is that going to do it too?" 

"What? The mirror?"

 "Yeah, is it going to spin too?" 

I shook my head.

 "It's not going to spin?" 

"No, sorry bud." By now Justin had joined us and we were both laughing at him. 

Then we went to his room so I could tuck him in and he's almost laughing and completely mystified. "Why am I so small?" He thought something strange was going on and he was suddenly shorter. 

"Are you usually bigger than this?" I asked. 

"Yeah!" he said laughing. He stood on his bed and jumped. "I can't touch the ceiling."

"Well lie down and get some sleep. You do your best growing at night so maybe you'll be back to normal in the morning."

I can't wait to take this kid to get his wisdom teeth out.

We got one more boating trip in before the end of summer. I was able to go this time. We went to Deer Creek since Utah Lake will make you sick.

My kids mostly just like the swimming. And the snacks.

Erica took a couple of laps around the boat and then ate snacks.

Sarah tried surfing for the first time! It's weird that I have a child this old.

It took a couple of tries to get up with two people on one board.

She liked it but Justin was doing all the work.

Molly and Braden tried doing doubles too. Molly said it wasn't as fun as it looked.

Cute little Erica wanted to try surfing with Justin too but she was too small so they settled on a tummy ride instead.

All while Henry pouted and pretended to be asleep. But once someone pulled out the croissants, he perked up.

We fell in love on a boat, you know. It was love at first boat.

James only likes the water if Papa takes him.

Braden got Henry to try the surfboard after all!

Then we took the kids home and that evening Justin and I went on a date to Asado and it was very good.

Then I don't remember what we did all that week. I'm sure I tried to ration out popsicles, the kids made big messes in the basement, I hated heating up the house to cook dinner. Friday we saw Incredibles 2. This was the only thing on my summer bucket list so I was excited to finally see it. The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar movie and I liked this one too.

Then Saturday we went to Lagoon! Justin and I hadn't been since we were dating (13 years ago!) and the kids had never been.

This ride make Justin sick.

Henry had a hard time warming up to the concept of going on rides and wanted to go home. But after our first ride on the Paratrooper, he was all smiles and much braver.

Nothing makes me sick.

 But this ride did hurt my neck.

Sarah looked so big on some of these rides. She's lucky that she can ride EVERYTHING in the park.

 All of my kids were so brave and trusting and rode everything we put them on. Because gosh darnit my kids will ride rollercoasters (and will not be picky eaters). #parentinggoals

There were so many new rides (to us)!

 The kiddie land is so different. Most of the rides are the same concept--vehicles going in a circle--but the kids were so excited for each one.

 While Justin took Sarah and Henry on the Bat, Erica went on a few kid rides all by herself. I was impressed.

 Then I took these 2 on the carousel while Justin and Sarah went on the white rollercoaster (that is no longer white).

 I taught them how to look above to see if their animal was one that moved up and down a lot. Don't be devastated 6-year-old me and pick a stationary horse.

Just think how many other arms and faces have been on this railing.

Erica played in the water on Baby Boats and even got some water into her mouth. She said this was her favorite ride and I hope that's not why.

 The kids didn't know much about Lagoon before we got there but they did know that I HATE HATE HATE the Wild Mouse. Worst ride. It's so scary and not fun scary. And what ride did they want to go on? You'll regret it. And they did.

Some observations after a 13-year absence:

*Is Colossus not the "it" ride it used to be? We rode it 4 times in 15 minutes.

*Does 1/4 of the general population have tattoos? Or just 1/4 of Lagoon patrons?

*The walkways were crowded but the lines for the rides weren't bad.

*Gotta go back without any kids. Justin and I couldn't ride any rides together unless we could ALL go. And we didn't get to Cannibal, Wicked, or Cliffhanger because we didn't want to ride all alone or Sarah to hate us (or puke).

*Riding the Musik Express with Erica made my life come full-circle. My mom rode that with me.

*Leaving James with Corey and Nadine was the best decision. We commented more than once during the day how James would have ruined this.

*Will they expand the park into Pioneer Village? No one was in any of those buildings. Only my mom goes.

*When Erica held her hands up on the Ladybug Bop and laughed the entire time, I told her I couldn't wait for her to get taller.

*The smoke sure looked and smelled gross but that haze sure took the edge off the sunshine.

*We went to Lagoon every summer as a kid. I asked my parents which one of them loved it so much to spend so much time and money there. They both shrugged. "It was just something to do."

One more week until school starts!!!!!!!! I bought some 50 cent boxes of crayons today and some wheat to make some healthy pancakes so we are totally ready.