School Pictures

Well, instead of paying an obscene amount of money for school pictures that I don't even get to choose (and they're always so so), I decided instead to go to J.C. Penney & pay $8 (total) for pictures of all 3 kids. They did send me a copy of all of them on email so you can see how darling my sweet children are (no, there are no pictures of Connor--I'm waiting until he turns 1 in October & I'll get them done with our family photos).

Dentist

I forgot that all the kids went to the dentist last week in preparation for school. What fun! Devin (miraculously) had no cavities--the hygienist said it was because he has barely any teeth right now as he waits for all his permanent teeth to grow in. Poor Shaylee, who brushes religiously, had two small cavities which we were able to get filled the next day before she headed off to Youth Conference for three days. Aspen was quite a trooper and wasn't scared at all. You go girl!

$2 Tuesday

Thanksgiving Point is having $2 Tuesdays for the month of August--what a deal! After school today the kids and I headed over to Farm Country for the afternoon. Next week I may take Aspen again in the morning (it wasn't so great for the older kids), and then we'll all go to the Dinosaur Museum in the afternoon.

Aspen loved riding the pony (she did it twice):

Aspen & Devin "in jail":

Petting a horse:

Staring down a donkey:

Bean Life Science Museum

For one of our last educational field trips this summer I took the kids to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. What a blast! First, it's free, which is always a plus. Second, we showed up just in time for a live reptile show--they got to see & touch a live tortoise, Monitor lizard (like Joanna from the Rescuers Down Under) and a ball python. Aspen was enthralled! There were too many kids to get a great picture of them touching these animals, but they loved it. We're hoping to make another trip down as a family--maybe for family night. They even have cool scavenger hunts the kids can do while going through the museum.

Better Late Than Never

HE PASSED! Dennis passed his final licensing exam for life, accident & health insurance. Wahoo! Now he's done studying for a little while until he decides to take his securities exam. Ugh.

Also, many of you know that my wallet disappeared early in the spring. We hunted everywhere for it, watched my credit scores closely, and finally replaced everything. I kept thinking Aspen had hid it somewhere or something. It turned up today wedged between the front seats in the car. What a relief! I have everything replaced, of course, but it's still nice to know for sure it didn't fall into the hands of any unsavory characters.

Back to School

Well, the kids went back to school today. I have to admit that I wasn't quite ready for the end of the summer, but it's here, and I think the kids were excited. I was reminded by a friend to always remember to raise my hand when I would like to speak in class and never ask, "Teacher, can I go to the restroom?" but rather, "Teacher, may I go to the restroom?" Good advice, I guess.

Shaylee said today was boring--she had to go to all 8 of her classes and hear all the rules and conduct several fire drills. Woo hoo! Her favorite class was Seminary, which her dad and I are very pleased about. She'll survive Algebra and French, and we're hoping for some tasty treats from her Foods class.

Devin was really nervous about his new teacher, Miss Albaugh, because he heard she was strict. He and I discussed this all weekend--me trying to convince him that strict wasn't such a bad thing. He came home from school today absolutely loving her. She really is a great teacher and we're excited about this year.

Aspen got to go to an open house at her preschool and meet her new teacher, Mrs. Petersen. As you will notice from the photo below, her teacher is quite pregnant (due in 3 weeks). The sub will come to class from the beginning so the kids will know her, then Mrs. Petersen will take off 6 weeks and be back just after UEA. Whoa! Aspen just loves her and the puzzles she had out. She's especially excited to go back Wednesday to play with the toys. I was just lucky to get her there this morning. She had a meltdown getting in the car and then out of the car. She wanted to wear her new tennis shoes, but then they itched and she was absolutely beside herself. It didn't help that we all caught colds this weekend (I know it's still warm, but we all caught colds). Aspen has been running a fever, had a stuffy nose, and itchy eyes. We gave her allergy medicine and that seemed to help.

Check out these cute kids on their way to school (it's nice that the junior high now starts 30 min. later than it did last year--Shaylee and Devin leave at the same time now):


I dropped Devin off for his first day, but he had to walk home because he gets out right during nap time:

Aspen & Mrs. Petersen:

Aspen trying out the puzzles at school:

No sweat!

Connor got to come to the open house as well: