1st day of School!

Abby is in SCHOOL! Abby went to Kindergarten on Tuesday. She was SO excited. That morning she woke up early and had her outfit all picked out the night before ready for her to put on as soon as she got up and took her bath. I did her hair and she went down to eat breakfast when she came back up to me and said, "Mom, I don't know if I want this to be my first day outfit?" I said, "Ok, go change." Long ago I found that life is easier if you just let her wear what she wants to wear! She came back in with a new outfit, it was pants with a shirt that had a little girl on the shirt. I said, "Oh that's a cute outfit do you like that one?" She said, "Yes, This way if no one plays with me at school I will have a friend to play with!" and she pointed to the girl on her shirt! WOW! That is all I have to say about that. I think that she was most excited about riding the bus! This is Abby with her friend Kate Andersen. As they were waiting for the bus. They didn't really want to have anymore pictures taken of them. All the moms were out there at the bus stop taking picture after picture of their kids!
I followed the bus to the school to make sure Abby got to her class. Yes I'm that mom but I did have a point the school put on a cookies and tissues for the parents of the new kindergarteners. You drop your kid off and they get a cookie while you get some tissues! It was really cute. Abby just walked right into class and didn't look back! I have to admit I did shed a tear for my baby going off to school!

Lagoon!

Back in July Josh and I told the girls that we could do ONE big thing this summer! That is pretty much all I had the energy to do. They both picked to go to Lagoon. So last weekend we went to Lagoon. Yes I know we waited to the very last second to keep our promise but what are you going to do. Thank heaven Jake and Lisa agreed to go with us. It was so hot that day and my energy was gone before we got on the first ride, but the girls were so excited. We met up with Jake, Lisa, Chase and Syd later in the day and the kids went wild, going on ride after ride! We are so grateful that they came to spend time with us. Now I only got one picture, I let Lisa take all the rest but she hasn't gotten them to me yet so this picture is the only one I have of that day, hint hint, Lisa! It's of Abby and I while we were on the train ride while Josh and Elizabeth went on a bigger ride! The girls had so much fun and Josh and I...well it was good memories!

2nd Grade

School is back in! Yeah! Well only for one of them Elizabeth's first day of 2nd grade came. She was so excited to go. She was a little nervous about meeting new friends, seeing as there are non of the girls from our neighborhood in her class this year. After meeting her teacher the night before she decided that she was going to be ok about being in her class. Here is Elizabeth at the bus stop. Yes I walked her to the bus stop, she asked me to. I love that she is not too old for her mom to walk her to the bus!
Abby was sort of sad when she found out that she would not be taking the bus until next week. She got over it when she found out that we would be going to the school that morning for her kindergarten assessments. Abby was so excited she bounced all the way there in the car telling me that she was going to find out how brilliant she is!

Back To School Night

Last night was back to school night at Lindon Elementary. The girls were so excited. No that even is an understatement, Abby was bouncing practically out of her seat with excitement. We got there and went to see Abby's teacher first. We walked all around her new classroom and found where she will put her backpack and things and where everything was. She said hi to her new teacher and was so happy. Next we were off to Elizabeth's class where she found her seat and introduced herself to her teacher. While we were in Elizabeth's class Josh came down to the school and we did the whole tour again! Needless to say the girls are happy to be starting school!

Family Pictures

While we were in Oregon we took Tippetts family pictures. Josh and I..ok just I thought it would be a good time for us to take some family pictures also. So thanks to my two wonderful sister-in-laws, Lisa and Laura, we got some family pictures. Here are some of them..

Manners Matter!

Sometime in May Josh, the girls and I went out to dinner. As we were eating I looked over at Elizabeth who was sitting with her legs up on the table and chewing with her mouth open. I was shocked that my oldest child had such appalling manners! Later I was talking with my mom and she said something that really made me think. She told me that just because I know etiquette doesn't mean that my child does...she asked me have you taught her? I honestly thought that I had taught her better but it was evident that I hadn't. So I thought I would do what my mom would do...I decided to have a manners class during the summer. Now I know myself and I know that I needed a reason to actually have follow through and have the class more then once. So I asked a few of my friends if they would mind if I taught their children in a manners class. They said yes and thus begun my teaching career. I had five students, I wanted to keep it small enough that I could still have control over all these kids. We had 2 boys and 3 girls. I liked the idea of having mixed genders so that they learned how to act with each other. The ages were from 7 to 8 years old. My plan was that if Elizabeth could sit in a class with other kids her age that maybe she would listen! The class was an hour a week for six weeks. These are the invites to my class. The grey ones were for the boys and the pink for the girls.We went over everything like using our magic words: Please, Thank you, Excuse Me, and I'm Sorry. Also Thank you notes, What is the difference between Manners and Etiquette, Interacting with Adults, kids, and with our parents, bathroom etiquette, personal grooming and ended with Table Manners. At the end of the six weeks I planned to have a formal dinner for the kids in my class and their parents to show the parents what their kids have learned. We had the dinner last Saturday and it went really well. I magically fit everyone at a table and cooked a meal for them. It was so fun to listen to the kids teach their parents what fork to use and how to act. We sat at two tables to fit everyone. These are my tables and the place settings. My sister Celeste helped me with the place settings, she is so creative. We had appetizers first while we waited for everyone to come. The Godfrey's were on Godfrey time! (Translation: They were late!)Then we sat down for our meal. The kids helped to pick out what they wanted to eat. They picked a cauliflower soup, and we had tri-tip, glazed carrots with garlic mashed potatoes. We ended the meal with a brownie sundae.
Even though I don't really know how much information my own child got out of it (last night at dinner I would have guessed non!) but I am really glad I did this. I have already heard back from a few of the parents that their child has shown good manners that somewhat surprised them! Thus ends my teaching career!