Butterfly fairies, Mad Scientists and Harry Potter?

It must be Halloween of course!!

First day of preschool

Sienna started preschool in October. She got in with the speech program. I was scared to death the first day that she wouldn't let me go, but she walked right in and was so brave!  She goes Mon- Thursday from 7:30-10:30. She absolutely adores her teacher Ms Rylatt and the aide Ms Turcyz (said Tur-jen). She even told me that she wished Ms Rylatt was her mom! When I asked her what about me, she thought about it for a minute and said "oh, well I guess you can both be my mom!"   Her favorite part of the day is recess and snack time. She's taken a couple of field trips to the dentist and to a farm store. And of course, riding the bus was AWESOME!!  She has 17 kids in her class, 4 of them are girls! But she loves all her friends!

5th Grade Social Studies Project

I feel like we just came charging into 5th Grade. There was no gradual review process this year, ya know, where you catch up on every thing you forgot all summer?  Poor Chase has had hours of homework every night, he has to read for 30 minutes and practice his instrument for 30 minutes. Add dinnertime into that, and it's bedtime before we even know it.  So when he brought home a paper about this huge Geography project I nearly cried!! We worked on it together every night for a week, but when we finished, it looked really awesome!!  He really did most of it, and the ideas were mostly his as well. I was just there to help, cause this would have taken him a month on his own!

I tried to show a picture that showed the 3-D effects that we did. We used Salt Dough for the mountain ranges/canyons. Then we used flags and pins to label everything. I was really proud of him! Scott helped him take it to school and said it was by far the best one!

We had to label each state and capital. Two: peninsulas, straits, bays, canyons, lakes, tributaries, mountain ranges, capes, & gulfs. Thank goodness for Google!  How did I ever survive school with out it??

I sure hope we don't have huge projects on a regular basis. This one was exhausting:)

Rain-gutter Regatta

Our Scout troop did their very first Rain-gutter Regatta.  It was pretty fun!  Chase wanted to go with a pirate theme (cause how many ways can you decorate a boat?)  I had to go to two different stores to find pirate stickers that would work, then we glued on a lego man and a treasure box. Come to find out, all the added things made the boat unsteady, and before I could even take a picture, he had ripped all of it off. The best part of the night?? He took 2nd place (out of probably about 15 boys?)

I hope they call me on a mission...

Our stake issued a challenge this year to set the date that we will serve a full time mission for our church. We finally got around to doing that, and it was kind of fun to see the places that the kids hope to go!

Elder Chase will leave in June of 2021. His top pick- Alaska (brrrrr!!!!!!)

Elder Tanner will leave in March of 2024. His top pick- Russia (even more brrr!!!!!!!!!)

Sister Sienna will leave in February of 2029. She hopes to go to the Zoo (that one gave us all quite a laugh)

Hubby & I- can go on a mission in 2043, and it was unanimous, we both want to go to Italy.

Back to school!

It's back to school time again! And it came just in the nick of time. I was dangerously close to dis-owning the two little boys that live here!!  Here are some 1st day of school pictures:  The boys wanted to match, isn't that cute??!!?

We've survived 3 whole weeks, and it already feels like we've been at this forever!

Chase came home day one and says "I need a trombone"  Oh crap, I had completely spaced that one. So I say "When do you need it by?" "Tomorrow" is his reply, and then "Can we go get one now?"  He's clearly not understanding that I can't just go pick one up at Walmart like I can most everything else.   So I put out a plea on facebook:  "Anyone have one lying around??"  And the good new is: I found one! Bad news: it's in Idaho.  So I work that all out with my aunt Ruthann, then my Dad calls and says that my brother Brady's trumpet is just in storage at my uncle's house and could we use that?  Well, sure why the heck not!!? So they shipped that to me too.  Now I've got more instruments than players.  But here is the best part:  He comes home from school last week (before he officially had an instrument in his possession, both in the mail) and says, all sheepishly, "Mom, you're going to be so mad. They said that I can't be in band anymore and they sent me to choir" Apparently, they had too many kids sign up for band, and so they just picked kids to send to choir. Little did they know, all the finagling I had been doing to get this boy an instrument.  I had Scott call the office because he can keep his emotions in check a little better than me when I'm fuming mad.  We got it all straightened out and we're back in band now. Unfortunately, I'm sure that means some other poor kid is being kicked out, but I'm not going to let that bother my conscious too bad!! He's been using the trumpet for about a week, but the trombone just got here today, so he wants to switch to that. It has been a loud week,  let.me.tell.you!! In 5th grade you start rotating classes and so he feels all big and important doing that and really loves it.

Tanner is that kid that just goes to school, listens to his teacher, does what he's told, never acts out, finishes his work, is quiet as a mouse, helps others, is friends with everyone (and then comes home and lets loose all that energy he's been holding in, sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing). He really loves 2nd grade. He has the same teacher Chase had for 2nd, but I assured her that he is the calm one, a complete 180 to Chase (who was a total nut job at the age of 7!!)  His favorite subject is Art, he loves to be creative!

I've been working on having Sienna tested for preschool. If they find that she needs preschool for speech reasons, then it's free. Which is a whole lot better than the $150/ week they charge for the regular kids.   So far we've had a pre-screening.  It was about a 20 minute interview, where they played with her and asked her questions. Sienna sat there with her hands over her eyes (I'm sure thinking, "If I can't see you, then you can't see me") and wouldn't talk to the teacher, until she asked Sienna if she had a dog. Sienna put her hands down, looked at the lady and said "I have 2 dogs" and she was good from then on out. They did find that they couldn't understand a word she was saying except when I translated, so they are going to have her come back in a couple of weeks to have a screening with a speech therapist. They will decide at that time if she qualifies for preschool or not. Sienna was so excited to be going to school, she got her little back pack out, and Tanner just kept talking about preschool and all the fun things she'd be doing, even though I kept telling him to keep his mouth shut in case she didn't get in. It was funny, because after that first pre-screening, she told Tanner that she didn't need to go to school anymore because she had already gone. Apparently, 20 minutes was good for her. 

My brain just keeps saying now that school has started, that summer is over. Now if we can just get this terrible heat to go away, so that it really feels like fall, then all will be right with the world!

Some highlights of the week

 Enjoy this (and a little bit of last) week's highlights:)

1.  We finished the summer basket ball season!   

1.  Chase's team went undefeated this year. They were a serious force to be reckoned with! The parents on the team though were pretty intense, there was a lot of yelling at the ref's. Half the time, I was wishing I could claim the other team as my own.

2. Our cheer team:)  This little girl got dragged along to every basketball game, but was happy to go cheer everyone one!

3. Tanner's team finished off the year with an ice cream party, and of course super cool trophy. I swear that's why Tanner plays any sports at all.  He did make one basket this season and I swear I've never seen him happier. It was the BEST DAY EVER!!

2. Fishing with Grandma & Grandpa

 

 We went Fishing at Ashurst Lake up in Flagstaff. It was a nice break from the heat,  even if no one caught anything.

1. Tanner fishing. Poor kid gets bored SO easily:(

2. Chase fishing. This kid could sit there all day, he has so much patience!

3. No fishing for me and mom. We sat back under an umbrella chit chatted.

4. It was such a beautiful sky that day.

5. My dad, taking a much needed break. Would you believe 3 weeks ago he had a heart attack?  Nothing slows him down.

6. Sienna & Daddy. She was so desperate to "Play Fishing" like the boys, but it was way to boring for her!

7. Back at our cabin at Mormon Lake, Grandpa took Tanner fishing in the lodge and he caught his very first fish. ALL BY HIM SELF!!

3. Checking out the new temple sight

4. Phoenix Children's Museum

 
We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum. This was a kids dream land. It was so much fun.
We could have stayed and played for days. If you haven't been, you should visit!

5. Goodwill & some retail therapy

It was 50% off everything at Goodwill, so we went to see what kindof treasures we could find!

 We picked up some Lacrosse sticks at Goodwill. Do we play Lacrosse? NOPE, apparently we are going to learn!  The sticks were a dollar each. Turns out, balls to play Lacrosse are over $12. Oh well:)

Roller Sates... $1.50
Seeing Sienna waddle around in them... cute
Watching her face as she falls into the splits... PRICELESS

We interupt your regulary scheduled vacation photos...

for a birthday boy!! I can't believe he's 10 already!! It's not fair really... He was greeted when he woke up with 10 donuts, complete with candles. And about 50 balloons just thrown all over the place. I was going to fill his bedroom, but then thought better of it, when I realized how many trips I'd have to make to get them all in there. At 11:00 at night, I'm lazy... forgive me:)

Imagine a really cute picture of him excitedly opening a present here, but when I put it up to post, I realized Tanner is standing in the background in his underwear!   

 And we have one happy (spoiled) kid. Grandma Dial got him a case and Grandma Mortensen gave his $25 with which he's bought a basketball so far.

I'm sure he'll resurface again in a week or so!

Man this kid is sure growing up and he's defiantly in this weird pre-teen stage, where he's part kindof little kid, part grown up.   He was so excited to download the free texting app, and text his cousins, (and me repeatedly from the other room) and then I heard him giggling uncontrollably at some other dumb game.

He's your typical boy and loves basketball, and MineCraft. He's just a few inches shorter than me, we can share flip-flops and socks, and I finally broke down and bought the boy some deodorant, cause things were getting a little stinky around here!  He's of course dying for independence, but when I told him he could ride his bike to his friends house, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. He's definitely Scott's kid, in that the paranoia of ALL the things that could go wrong, runs deep. The other day, I needed to run to the bank (about 5 minutes away) but didn't want to have to take all the kids, cause it was morning and this bank doesn't have a drive thru. I spent the next 15 minutes walking him through how to use the phone to call me if something went wrong, and assuring him, that it was very unlikely that in the next 10 minutes, he or Tanner would throw up, or break an arm. It would have been quicker just to make them all get dressed. He's your typical oldest child and is very responsible and is constantly disciplining his brother and sister. Most of the time it makes me cringe, cause I know that's how I must sound.

For dinner we had his favorite, PIZZA & Wings. Man can this kid ever eat. AND EAT AND EAT. I thought I'd have a few more years before I had that kind of eater on my hands.

Man, I love this kid, so much. Attitude, spunk and all.

San Diego, part 2... The sights

We started the day by going to visit the temple. It was SO SO BEAUTIFUL! It truly looked like a castle, and I find myself wondering why on earth I didn't get married here??!!? Anyways... It felt super strange to be dressed like bums (we were going to the beach next) and acting a little less than reverent. Of course everyone had to have their pictures taken...

 

 

Also, as a side note... these flowers were growing every where in San Diego. Anyone know what the heck they are, and possibly how on earth I could get them to grow in Phoenix??!!

Well after the temple, we headed down to Old Town San Diego to visit the Mormon Battalion Museum. That was seriously one of the highlights of the trip.

First you walk in and begin a tour, the missionary is talking about some pictures hanging on the wall, when all the sudden they come alive and start talking back, like Harry Potter style. Needless to say my kids were totally sucked in!  You get inducted into the Mormon Battalion, dressed in battle gear, pan for gold, brick laying. All the things that the Saints had to deal with. You could truly feel the spirit there, and my kids had a blast.  Also they took our picture, printed it out and emailed us a copy, all for free of course because the church is cool like that. A picture of yourself (screaming your brains out on a roller coaster) at Sea World was $14.95, so this was a pleasant surprise!

 

San Diego, part 1... Sea World

Where to begin... we had the BEST week in San Diego. Our kids are finally reaching that perfect age, where they were all able to walk (most of the time, we did resort to using the stroller near the end of the week), they are able to communicate when they had a need, so there wasn't a whole lot of crying or fighting...and they beg with out ceasing for us to buy them stuff (ok maybe that last part is not so great!)

Sea World has a deal going right now where you pay for a day and get the rest of the YEAR for free. So we were able to go back everyday for the whole week. (And who knows, maybe we'll make a weekend trip before the year is out!)

Chase & Tanner loved the Roller Coasters, Sienna loved the Sesame Street land, and we all loved the shows. It is truly amazing the things that the dolphins and whales can do.  The weather was AMAZING we left temps near 110 degrees and came to 60-80 degrees. It was cool in the morning and comfortable with a light long sleeve shirt on.

Here's a bunch of pictures, it will be overload for sure!

Dude is it just me, or do we look old??!!

She would NOT touch the sting ray's but was fascinated by them in the water

THE MANTA! I can't tell you how many times we rode this ride. Fortunately the lines were very short. I'm pretty sure I'm still suffering from whip lash. It was SO MUCH FUN!!

This is the Elmo's flying fish ride. I can't tell you how many times we rode this either. She's been walking around making the fish sound elmo makes ever since. (Kindof a "bloop bloop" sound)

This was sea world's equivalent of the tea cup ride. I'm just glad I didn't throw up! She's so excited she can barely contain herself:)

If we would have let her, she'd have played here all day!

Sea Lions

Shamu

The dolphin show was seriously amazing!  It was about a princess who dreamed of a magical world. She met a prince, and dolphins, pilot whales, birds, and then there were all kinds of acrobats, and divers. Sienna sat with her jaw open the WHOLE time!

Shamu was another amazing show. Sienna was bored at first and then one of the whales did a flip right in front of us. I only wish I'd gotten the look of pure shock on her face on camera! We consented and sat in the soak zone. Everyone around us left the stadium just dripping, but somehow we managed to stay completely dry. I wasn't about to tempt fate a second time, so on our second show (when I took the pictures) we sat up high.

It was a really magical place and somehow we managed to come home with a car full of stuffed sea animals. It's an experience I hope the kids will be talking about for a very long time!!

Harry Potter & Butter Beer

 

We are big Harry Potter fans around here. We read all the books last year (well, I read them to the kids) and they got the DVD set for Christmas.  Scott decided that he would finally watch all the movies, so we've been having a HP marathon.  We're currently on #5 "The Order of the Phoenix."  Even Sienna walks around using sticks as magic wands and trying to curse people. (She's been unsuccessful thus far, thank goodness!) 

Another of our "Summer Fun List" items was to watch Harry Potter & have Butter Beer.  Wikipedia says:

Butterbeer is a popular wizarding beverage described as tasting "a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch."^[1] 

Interestingly enough, I don't think they've mentioned Butter Beer yet in the movies, (Scott hasn't read the books) and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

When I found a recipe for Butter Beer I realized that it's typically served warm. Well, the temp outside was a lovely 99 degrees, so we altered the recipe a bit to be more milkshake like. 

They were yummy. We mixed vanilla ice cream and cream soda, blended to be a creamy shake, added some butterscotch syrup to the mix, and topped with whip cream and more butterscotch syrup drizzled on top.   Everyone loved them!  Give it a try:)