Today was the first day of school for Dane and Ella...

This is my brain on the first day of school.

Ha!

 We got off on the right foot this morning. Dane rises early and he got all his chores done, backpack packed,   dressed, all of it. He's awesome!

Ella worked out all of her nervousness somehow and went to school with the attitude of a champion and she looked adorable, too.

After meeting with Bryce's teacher, we waited for the kids to return to us.

Dane's eye was on the prize. Not a hug from Mommy, but grabbing his much loved little brother.

I hope Ella always runs to me. She won't, I know, but she's got a good (excuse the pun) track record.

Reports of new teachers all seem favorable...
Tomorrow: Bryce's first day of school!

Bryce just came, laced his arm around mine and said "Mom, it's nearly midnight. It's 9 o'clock."

"Then who should be in bed? You or me?"

"Both of us."

I'm having a hard time knowing that my little buddy Bryce and I won't have our one-on-one time for half of each day anymore. This kiddo is beginning first grade!

He's completely excited. My excitement wore off this week apparently because I had a bit of a cry over it  the other night. You are allowed to laugh when I tell you that the emotional breakdown began with: "Who's gonna watch Phineas and Ferb with me?"

 I guess this is where some the benefits of being the youngest are: time with just you and your mom (a mom much more relaxed than when she first began the job). It's been a sweet time getting to know him. He's so bright, kind and enchanting. It's hard to see him go off into the world, spending more time at school than with me.

I'm going to miss you, little buddy.

Last week, I started school.

And when I say started...there was a man with a racing pistol standing next to me.  He fired it and I began loping along like the tortoise in those old Looney Tunes "Tortoise and Hare" cartoons.

I believe in taking nasty medicine before eating from the box of chocolates so I began with Math. I only tested out of the very lowest class so I'm in Math 0950. I'm also a chicken so I'm only taking one class my first semester.

I am having such a great time! Seriously! Comprehension is a 180 degree turn-around from when I learned all this back in junior high. It's exciting to me and I'm thrilled to see hope in my brain for Math since I have a few more classes to go after this.

But math? I still hate you.
You irritate the snot out of me and the auto-reflex in my right arm that hits the calculator button for everything bigger than 12 + 12 is still functioning, but a big no-no.

I hate that today I tried to do what I thought was a new simple step and found that my answers were more wrong than right. Then when I asked for the example it turned out that my addition or subtraction of one or two digit problems was wrong. I finally had to just put it away until my brain gained back the suddenly-gone ability.

So math? Hate. School? Love.

Bryce was so excited to start school for the first time!

 I can't believe how big he looks.

Ella gets to line up pretty close by him before walking into the school so she watches out for him.

Off goes my little Phineas, off for his big first day!

Backing up a bit, here is Ella and her best friend. Such a cute photo. They're in different classes this year, but still get to play together a lot.

On another school note, we had some water damage from all that wonderful rain and I thought it best to wait on school for one more semester. I'm disappointed, but sometimes money has a better place to go. So, I know I have plenty to keep me busy and I'll look forward to Spring 2012. :)

We begin with Dane. Very excited to be going into 4th grade. After two days of attending, he keeps talking about all the "opportunities" that come with 4th grade. It'll be interesting to see what he takes advantage of this year.

On the same day (July 26th), Bryce got to attend the Kindergarten open house. He loved doing work at all the stations there and meeting his teacher. He couldn't stop beaming and pretty much danced back to the car.I officially enrolled at SLCC, starting small with a required math class, online. One small step for me, heading to the education I've been putting off for so long. No one will be surprised that I'm going for an English degree and I'm really excited about this. The best part is seeing how proud Dane and Ella are of me. They keep mentioning it to other people. Perhaps it's just that it's a novelty to have Mommy go to school at the same time as them, but either way, they think it's cool.This whole school thing seems to be a theme around here as Cam continues to teach at the Univ of Phoenix. He seems to really enjoy it. Its something that probably neither of us could have foreseen as something in his future, but it's been a pleasant surprise.

Today was Ella's first day of school (we met briefly with her teacher yesterday), her first day of first grade. I was so sad after B and I dropped her off. It was quick as we had to rush home to catch a delivery. It didn't bother her that it was quick. She got in line by her cousin (another school surprise) and went right in. My she's grown up! She is so much more confident in who she is. She loves all the girly-girls she hangs out with at school.After the delivery of our kitchen cabinets, Bryce and I rushed back to the school to meet Dane's teacher.

Later, while everyone was at school, after he lamented that he didn't get to go, Bryce used his "squirt-gun syringe" (obtained after this accident) to make designs in water on the deck. He LOVED it!We also worked on his handwriting. I've let him get into so bad habits with his letter forming (though it seems to be a theme with all my children). He had his moments of frustration and elation.

Here comes Ella! Fresh off of her first day. Mommy is much relieved to see her happy face and to hear she had a very wonderful day.We have an assessment Bryce's teacher in the morning. Nothing like jumping right back into things.

I got to go with Ella on her final Kindergarten field trip to Wheeler Farm. We sat by her best buddy on the way. Ellie the Elephant had to come too, of course.

The geese were friendly and the kids had a wonderful time running around. This was a brave thing for Ella.Her favorite part was this huge tree that turned itself into a playground. The children swarmed over it like bees in a hive.

It turned out to be a really great Mommy and Ella week. She got sick Tuesday afternoon and she just let me cuddle and coddle her. Before I knew it, that night and the following day, she was so chatty to me and wanted my attention and I felt so loved and needed by her. It was such a great thing. I don't exactly know how, but our relationship shifted into a good place. Yay!

Bryce graduated from Love to Learn preschool yesterday.
I took a lot of pictures, but didn't review them until just now.
I was SO pleased to see this one in the bunch. Look at that handsome boy! He's such a treasure. I love how excited he is about

kindergarten this summer. It's hard to believe he'll be going to school with the big kids.

Since our computer died weeks ago, we've found ways to survive...

Daddy's new I-Pad has helped.

It's obviously a fascinating piece of technology. I guess we've gotten used to it. I tried to "swipe" the screen at a Red Box, trying to rent a movie. This month, my sweet nephew was baptized by my dad and confirmed by my grandpa.

On that same day, my cousin got married and we hung out at the beautiful reception center with our family.

Here's Mandy, my sister and Bryce

Zealand loved going over this little bridge.

You've gotta take photo ops when you can!Cam took last week off of work so that we could work hard in our back yard. We got a lot done on Monday. He built a few square-foot-gardening boxes, took out portions of our lawn and leveled out other areas in the yard.I began to build my retaining wall by first hauling around 2,000 lbs of stone into the back yard.

The more it rained, the more our plans seemed to expand. We started getting bids and ideas for remodeling our kitchen.

This is Dane at a granite-slab showroom. Heavenly Father sure made some incredible rocks! We're pretty sure we've got the company chosen to do the cabinets, but there's much to be done before then. First and foremost is to do nothing until after I host my brother's fiancée's bridal shower.
But after that, Cam and I will play demolition crew and get the job going! We're really excited!

This is Bryce's last week of preschool. It's bitter-sweet. Thankfully, he's completely excited for Kindergarten and is looking forward to having Ella's teacher, too.

I'm going to miss the string of waves he gives me as he runs up to his teacher's home. Today we celebrated B's birthday. She will be my niece as soon as her mother marries my little brother.This is our attempt at a grandkid photo. It didn't go over well at all.

The rest of the month is busy as well. Bryce is enrolled in swimming lessons. So far, so good!

Ah! I'm so glad to be back! I've missed blogging and hope that our computer troubles are at an end.

Dane's class did a great (but huge) project. Called a 'Wax Museum', the students were to choose a historic figure, read about that person, write a report, make a tri-fold poster and dress as their person. At the presentation of the Wax Museum the students were to talk about 'themselves' to all the visitors which included parents and several classes from the school. Dane chose Abraham Lincoln.
Dane worked hard at this and we both ended the project with an increased respect for our 16th president. Here he is telling students about events from Lincoln's life. Mr. President with his wonderful teacher.

I was just curious where I was a year ago. What I was doing and reporting on with this blog...

I was cleaning up my craft room.

Guess what my plans are this week? Yup. Craft room.

It's a joke that this keeps recurring.

I blame Christmas and all my well-intentioned, home-made gifts. Oh well...

I attended little Chloe's baby blessing today. She looked so perfect! Her momma was beautiful and calm as a cucumber...until the opening song...after which she had to say the opening prayer. :D It was a beautiful blessing and a wonderful spirit there. I sure helps that I've met so many members of Angie's extended family. Easy to feel comfortable there.

I'm once again looking forward to the annual Get Down with Scrapbooking charity crop, but this year Anisa is sleeping at my house (no, of course we won't be sleeping) and we're going to get caught up (we is me, Anisa, my mom, Angie and 200 of Angie's relatives) on all the scrapbooking we haven't done this past year...which is a lot!

It's been an insane week. I've been making signs for returning missionaries (not mine) and helping with the jungle background for Ella's Kindergarten operetta. I didn't even know what day it was half the time, I was just going from project to appointment to project. CRAZINESS!

And not a picture to show for all of it.

I loved 1984/1985.


I was a big kid. I was in third grade (still my favorite elementary year). I have so many memories from this age.


We moved the summer before school started and I began a new BIG school. I was miserable. I had started my education at a small school that had (gasp!) only one class per grade. I had been with the same kids (with few exceptions) for three years and now I was a tiny little fish in a huge pond, scared and lost.


Bless my mother for her mercy. She allowed me to transfer back to my beloved Rees School for one last year. I cried when I heard the news. Had I ever been happier?


Awesome things from that year: a class camp-out (can you imagine?) and a 3rd-5th grade sleep-over at the school. All rewards for reading excellence.

It was in 3rd grade that I was reborn into the world of music. We had a reading station in which we'd sit in pairs under a sheet-covered table and through head-phones, listen to homophones or some such thing. One day my friend Ben brought in a Cyndi Lauper tape and we listened to the intracies of language in "She-Bop." Ben, despite this odd new-wave beginning, has been influencing my musical choices for over two decades, may he rest in peace. "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago was our song, in my mind anyway.

My teacher was way awesome. She was full-blooded Navajo and she taught us songs and sign-language from her culture. She was an excellent and dedicated teacher (and she still remembers me).

My sister was born in 1984. I still love baby Mandy like nothing else. I treasured her as if she were a perfect doll that lived and breathed and belonged to me. I changed her diapers and delighted in her growth and accomplishments. I wonder if my mom ever felt a bit robbed by my taking Mandy completely over. I did my best to teach her to sit up, to talk, sing and write her letters. Although there's definitely a generation gap wedged in between us, I love grown Mandy and mama Mandy like crazy. I do not know what I'd do without my sister.

This is all on my mind, because I just realized that Dane is in third grade now, that favorite time in my life. I worry because I'd been into boys for years at this point (though he seems blissfully uninterested in girls, the whole of his class being just friends). I hope that he's having a great time. I hope that he feels as alive as I remember feeling. I loved recess and I loved reading, so we're the same there. But he gets math and is quite good at it. There's a big difference. He has been with 60% of the kids in his class for 2 1/2 years now. He seems confident and like he's learning what Dane is all about. For as much as he dislikes working hard, I'm impressed with how he can when it is needed and has even learned to be pleasant about it. I embrace his big-kid-ness.


Isn't that a great brother/sister picture?

The official first day of school portrait. Bryce started preschool today at Love to Learn preschool. He was very excited to go. No hesitation whatsoever. He chose a Larry-Boy theme for his school bag. I just got it done last night and he loves it.

Too excited!

Decending the stairs to his classroom. He didn't need me to walk him in. I did anyway.

Hanging up his bag. He couldn't wait for me to leave.

When he got home he said that he loved his preschool and that it was "super duper duper fun!"

His parents are pleased that he's so happy with it, but we're wondering where the time went? He's so grown up!