First Day of School 2009

Today was the first day of school! The boys were very excited. They got to meet their teachers on Friday night. Jacob is in 3rd grade and has Mrs. Kozlowski. Zach is in 1st grade and has Miss Cox. They also each have a couple of friends from last year in their class, which helps.

They line up in the hall and read books until it's time to go in.

My friend Christa posted about their tiny little school in the town she lives in. The boys' school is the biggest elementary school I've seen. There's well over 1,000 students (grades K-5). Each grade has 8 or 9 classes for the most part. And that's after a new school was built and we lost some kids last year. There is another wing that you can't even see, as well as a bunch of portable trailers.

Today was also the first day of Mommy Preschool! Savannah has been looking forward to doing her "own school" all summer. We're doing 3 days a week for a couple of hours each time, just she and I. I like having the flexibility of doing it myself, and not having to schedule it with a bunch of other moms (like if I had done a co-op preschool). We start as soon as Connor goes down for his nap and then turn on a movie for him while we finish (he only sleeps about an hour these days).

Animal craker math...

We had a scary thing happen this afternoon. Savannah and Connor were playing with the marble toy in her bedroom. All of a sudden I hear these gagging & choking sounds intermingled with silence. I ran in there expecting to find Connor choking...it was Savannah! She had been sucking on a marble. She was still making noise occasionally, but her air was cut off a few times for a couple of seconds. I think it was slowly rolling down her air pipe. She was terrified, as was I. I raced her to the bathroom and had her lean over the side of the tub and tried to get her to throw up, since she was gagging off and on. I eventually did a couple of Heimlich Maneuver thrusts and a minute later she spit it out. I think me pushing near her stomach mostly just helped her gag it up a little better. She wasn't completely choking, but it was scary!!! She definitely learned her lesson about putting things in your mouth.

Grandpa Strong's Funeral

Dallin had the opportunity to fly out to Utah this weekend for his Grandpa's funeral. He left on Friday and came back Monday. He stayed with his Grandma in Alpine. I know he really enjoyed seeing lots of family that he hasn't seen in a long time.

Dallin's family that were there: (left to right) sister Amy, Dallin, Dad, Mom, brother Daniel & wife Alisha, brother Justin and wife Tanya, sister Stephanie, sister Melinda and husband Tim
Stephanie & Melinda also had their babies there. I know they missed you Carrie!Dallin's Grandma is so wonderful. She is constantly thinking about everyone else and making sure they're good. Dallin had to get up at 4:00am to get ready for his flight home and his Grandma was up making sure he had breakfast before he left. He said "Grandma, you should be in bed!" Grandma said something like "I would have just been laying there awake anyway, worrying that you got something to eat before you traveled all day." If you know Grandma you know that's how she always is. We love you Grandma!

(Thanks again for the pictures Suz!)

Rocket River

My kids have been waiting for this day for a while now. Today we did our last fun thing of the summer...a few hours at Rock'N River. It is a city pool, but much more like a small waterpark. Connor heard the kids talking about it and got really excited all week. He knows that rivers have water and anything with a "rocket" must be cool. So he calls it rocket river.

Connor has yet to learn what it means to wait in line. Luckily most of the kids figured that out and nicely let him push his way to the front.

He wasn't allowed to wear his floaties and he did great without them...he just wore the life jacket.

The boys always have fun hanging out together. I'm so thankful that they have each other. I told them as long as they stayed together they could go and do whatever they wanted.

Our friends came with us. Savannah was happy to have someone to play with in the water other than Connor for a change. I got some goggles for Savannah and she will actually put her face in the water now. I think she'll be swimming by next summer.

Savannah and M on the slide.

Zach was THRILLED that he's finally tall enough to go on the waterslides. Oh happy day!

Lunchtime

Jacob and Zach with friends E & S in the lazy river.

It was a great time until Connor started to get tired and grumpy. Then on the way home I stopped for gas and the car wouldn't start back up. A nice couple at the gas station jumped it and Erin followed me home to make sure we made it. Dallin will replace the battery for me tonight. I'm just thankful it happened today since Dallin leaves for Utah tomorrow to attend his Grandpa's funeral.

We'll Miss You!

We just found out that Dallin's Grandpa Strong passed away last night from a heart attack. I'm sad that only two of our kids got to meet him and wish that they could remember him. He was so kind and patient with all of the kids. We'll miss you Grandpa Strong!

A week and a half ago there was a huge birthday celebration for Grandpa Strong (and Grandma Strong I think). It was the first time in 16 years, I believe, that they had all of their children together. I really wish we could have been there for that too. I'm sure everyone that attended is so happy for that chance they had to say good-bye one last time.

Thanks so much for the pictures Suz! They're even more meaningful now.

Day at Dell

This morning Jacob and Savannah went to work with Dallin for "Take Your Child To Work Day." Zach was invited too but woke up this morning and said he'd rather not go. After he saw everything they brought home he decided he'll be going next year. They got mesh bags to carry everything in, along with little dancing robots, pens, rulers, and markers. The coolest thing was their very own laptops! Just kidding...it's a journal. But the outside looks just like the top and bottom of a laptop. And this is what it looks like when you open it up. After you turn the next page it's a regular journal. Jacob said "I've always wanted my own laptop. This is pretty good!" And Savannah keeps pretending to "work" on her computer. Thanks for a fun morning Daddy!

Buboybed

On Saturday we got Connor a "big boy bed!" He finally got a twin mattress...he's been sleeping on the crib mattress until now. He was so excited and kept going in there all day to lay on it.
(Notice the Disneyland magnet on the door hinge? Savannah figured out they're magnetic and I keep finding my magnets all over.)

Today at about 11:00am I couldn't find Connor. I saw him down the hall on his bed and thought he was just relaxing. I grabbed the camera and as I got closer I noticed he was asleep. He's NEVER done that! Occasionally on the couch, but never on his bed. He loves his "buboybed."

Fire Station

This morning we went to the fire station to do some cub scout requirements. I set it up so that we could do all of the wolf flag requirements at the same time and we invited any boys from Jacob's pack that wanted to come.

We learned about fire safety and prevention and took a tour of the station.

I'm sure glad I don't have to put this gear on during the middle of the summer.

The boys loved seeing all of the cool things on the truck...especially the infrared thing that shows where a person is in a fire.

They got to climb in the truck...

...and try on some gear. Poor Zach was having a hard time keeping his head up with the heavy helmet on.

Jacob has now earned his Wolf badge! Great job Jacob!!!

Losin' his shorts...

I went outside to find this yesterday...

Bone chairs

On Tuesday we went swimming with a bunch of friends for "visiting teaching." It was tons of fun and I wish I'd had my camera. The boys and girls were playing some kind of war. The older girls helped Savannah in and out of the pool so she could play too...it made her feel so special. At the end all the kids started lining up and then jumping into the pool at the same time. It so reminded me of Sandlot. Fun times.

On Wednesday we went to the Texas Memorial Museum for playgroup. This was the only picture I got...outside while we were waiting for friends. The kids loved these "bone chairs." They had one floor of the museum closed so we only ended up being there a short time. We decided to head over to the State Capitol Visitor's Center since it was just down the street. Unfortunately there was a huge group of kids there and so we couldn't even go in some parts. Oh well. Thanks to the friends who joined us!

I let Connor walk in the museum...no stroller. Needless to say both he and I were exhausted because he loved the freedom and ran all around. He kept heading for the stairwell because it echoed really good. He only takes 45 minute naps now, so this was him by 6:30 last night.

This week...

Jacob has been working more on his cub scouts this week. His favorite thing was building a birdhouse. Maybe our bird friends will make their nest there next year!

Connor has discovered Yahtzee. He puts them in the cup...then pours them out. It keeps him busy for a long time.

Savannah learned how to write her name with all 8 letters a couple of weeks ago. She loves games and was excited when I pulled out Scrabble. She wanted to write a "letter" to Grandmas and Grandpas. Or Gramos and Grampos...

I had to remind her to put spaces between the words and help her sound out the words, but otherwise she did all the letters on her own. Great job Savannah!

Bobcat Boy

Jacob earned his Bobcat at his Cub Scout Pack Meeting on Friday. He earned it a while ago, but we only have pack meetings every 3 or 4 months. He also earned a bunch of belt loops and pins. We're so proud of you Jacob! These are some of the boys in Jacob's pack (3 besides him) along with some from the other ward we combine with.

Jacob has been working really hard the last month to finish up his Wolf requirements before school starts. He's also earned a couple of arrow points. We have a trip scheduled to the fire station on the 15th and after that he'll be all done. Way to go Jacob!