September Kids

Sarah in the shadow of the gas station sign doing her drivers ed homework.

Cutest little driver-in-training.

James came home from school with a lost tooth. Upon closer inspection I could see that his two top teeth are growing in behind the baby teeth. 4/4 for braces.

James started flag football and it might be the most entertaining part of my week. It makes it even more fun that Justin and I went to high school with his coaches Kody and Kevin.

My favorite quotes are "It's a huddle, not a hug" "don't pull any flag, only the person that has the ball" and "don't tackle your teammates." His team if full of his friends so he has a good time.

James takes it all very seriously and thinks his doughnut sucks are good luck.

 

Henry has been loving tackle football. I don't love spending half of my Saturdays driving across the county to his games but it's fun seeing him have fun. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the days of practices and games.

 

Mondays James has games, Tuesdays Henry has practice, Wednesdays James game, Henry practice, Thursdays Henry practice, Saturday Henry's games. It's a lot.

Meanwhile Erica has been on a kick of cutting her sandwich with cookie cutter when she makes her school lunch.

Dumb looking house update: It was painted black. Doors and all.

All done August

There's an especially ugly house going up near my parents that I walk past frequently. It's become a bit of a game to see if it is getting any better looking as construction continues. 

The back looks the front. Well really the front looks like the back.

Aug 30

The answer is no, it's not getting any better. I've been sharing the progress with my sisters and we all agree it is a dumb looking house. What keeps me up at night is how a whole team of homeowners and architect signed off on this design.

I can't be the only one who's noticed this. Is the whole town laughing at you, future resident? 

Football season is here. And by here I mean 5 days a week there's a football practice or game. Henry has had a couple of games and James first game is on Wednesday. 

The world of tackle football is new to me. The moms are really into it while I struggle to keep my annoyance of driving back and forth, back and forth to the practice field. But Henry seems to enjoy it and has barely complained about anything which is a refreshing change. (He knows I'd have no patience for any whining after all the time and money we've spent.)

Maybe all baby pictures on 1984 look like this but I prefer to think Justin and I were destined for one another. He's in yellow.

Erica brought home this huge silky quilt from my mom's house. The binding was unfinished on one side and had great faith in me that I could fix it. I can and I did but I wish I knew whose quilt this was. My mom thinks she brought it from my aunt Ilona's house but I've never known her to quilt or sew despite the sewing supplies we found when we cleaned out her house. Was it my grandma's handwork? Definitely her style but why didn't she finish it?

This is hand quilted---not a machine.

It felt nice to complete such a large and intricate project but the mystery of it's creator will always bug me.

Speaking of bugs, this one hitched a ride home on Justin's truck one night.

And check out these flowers I grew. Zinnias are fun to grow. I'm glad I listened to my sister's suggestion. 

Outside this window is a boy asking Sarah to homecoming. He came over dressed in a suit and tie and carrying flowers and just asked her in person on the porch. The dance is in a few weeks and Sarah is so excited. I think I'm okay with this new milestone but I don't think I've thought it through.

First Day of School 2024

Tuesday afternoon I took the littles to meet their teachers. Sarah had shown Henry around the junior high the day before and Sarah had her back to school night and orientation that day as well.

We don't know much about Miss Baker but she seems very kind and attentive. 

And then I forgot to take a picture of Erica in her classroom and she did NOT want me to walk her in on the first day so no classroom picture this year. Wah!

That evening we took the kids out to a fancy dinner per tradition. It's mostly as a reward for meeting our family reading challenge. 100 books they had never read before in 40 days and with a couple of days of binge reading they did it!

The littles were not excited about Indian food but I knew better. I knew the mango lassi would win them over.

Henry is hugging it goodbye

Justin and I liked having 6 entrees to pass around at once instead of just two when it's just us that go.

Then we speedily got Henry to football practice. At home for dessert we ate Dollywood cinnamon bread that Sarah made and tried really hard but failed to get the kids to bed on time.

And then the big day! 10th grade and first year of high school.

She's most excited for all the high school activities and to get her license in October. (But not excited about 6am driver's ed)

Henry is in 8th grade and beginning junior high

He's looking forward to the super quick bike ride (Update: he made it home 5 minutes after the bell rang.)

Erica is in 5th grade with Mr. Groneman who Henry had as well.

She's most excited to visit her 4th grade teacher.

James is starting 2nd grade with Miss Baker

He's most excited to see his friends.

The end of summer

I've been saying it all summer but this has been a weird summer. Camps, trips, appointments, here and there. I never felt like we had the long lazy days with anything to do. There was always somewhere someone had to be. I didn't like it. It went by fast which is nice because summer is too long but I kind of feel shorted. But that's just me. The kids had lots of playing with friends and lemonade stands and gas station runs, sleeping in, hanging out at grandma's, popsicles, and bored moments in between my running around here and there.

On our last free Saturday before football starts, Justin planned a day trip to the Uinta mountains. It's the best place to get away from the 100 degree heat at home. The kids had never been there and it had been years since I had been up there as well. These are the mountains the people notoriously get lost in (my aunt's neighbor's son has never been found. I thought about him all that day) and home to Utah's tallest mountain peaks. But what makes the area special and beautiful is the water.

James was mad he wasn't the leader as we hiked around so this is the best picture I could get of him.

Apparently half the state also thought it was a good place to get away from the heatwave as it was so crowded. It took a little driving around to find a spot to eat lunch. We ended up on Boneyard Road. I hope it gets his name from the rocky and bouncy dirt road and nothing more morbid.

From there we went to one of the many lakes in the area for some fishing and rafting. The kids played in the cold water (many arguments about just how cold or not cold it was ensued) and in the hammock.  

Then we ate dinner at a cute diner in Kamas and got rained on real good on the way home. It's been like 34 days since we had rain and it felt so nice.

Erica spotted this old phone at DI and there was no dissuading her. She loved the buttons and the cord. She thought it was neat I got to use phones like this "in the 1900s". She made me feel old and cool at the same time. She uses it to play school secretary and doctor's office.

She fulfilled a dream of hers by doing a 3-day cheer camp at the high school.

She got to perform at halftime oft the high school game. She thought she did terribly but I thought it was pretty cute.

This is James out back whittling a stick with a pocket knife he got from Justin's dad. He only cut his finger twice and needed one band-aid.

And that basically wraps up our summer even though we have at least a couple more weeks of 90 degree weather. School starts tomorrow!