Luke's first Day

Today everyone went to school. Including Luke. He was so excited and just a little nervous when we got there. He did great though. He said "Hi" to the kids sitting next to him and played with his playdough.

When I picked him up he was all smiles. He told me all about how he got a cookie with a Hershey kiss in the middle of it and made a Kissing Hand puzzle

He told me a few times in the car riding home that he loves preschool and that he's glad he gets to go back tomorrow. He also told me that I get to stay home all by myself and to boring stuff and he gets to go to school and have fun.

I'm so glad he had fun, and I'm also glad that I get to stay home and do "boring stuff". I came home from dropping everyone off, sat down in my quiet living room and took a deep breath. My boring stuff included cleaning, sewing, and going to the gym. I am happy to report that everybody's happy over here!

 

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A Few New Things

Just checking in to share a few new things with you.  First of all School started on Wednesday.  We were a little rushed to get out the door... hence no shoes on Max and Jack.  We snapped a quick pic and took off.
Mer is in 7th grade now in Middle School.  She is in heaven that she doesn't have to wear uniforms anymore.     

 We had planned on making her a new backpack for school but hadn't had the time to actually do it.  We worked together on it all day Tuesday and thankfully it was done before dinner.  More details to come soon on BSM.  

As you know Doug has been working like a maniac lately. 

 His last deadlines were Wednesday so he decided to take Thursday and Friday off. 

With his new found free time he decided he wanted to go test drive some trucks. 

And he bought one. He has been thinking about doing this for a while and he found a good deal. An 2006 Toyota Tacoma, double cab so he can still drive all the kids around.

As you might imagine, the boys are in heaven.

Speaking of the boys... the littlest one starts preschool on Monday.  He went to meet his teacher yesterday and was very shy. I'm a little nervous about how the first day will go. Wish us luck.

The Rest of the story (or at least some of it)

We finally flew back to GA from CO last Wednesday.  We drove back to FL Thursday and have been non-stop busy since then.  I am finally able to post some pictures of our fun with the cousins.

The day by Day recap for memory's sake:
I realize however that I made it home with out a copy of a whole SD card's worth of pictures that I took.  Here are a bunch to look at from our Olympic Day marathon.
Sunday w e had a family talent show.  Then Grandma printed up a bunch of songs for us and we had a sing-a-long outside followed by a  marshmallow roast. (of course I have pictures of all of this but they somehow were left on my sister's laptop).

Monday the Brothers went golfing. The Girls spent morning making Olympic t-shirts and the afternoon splashing with the kids in Boulder Creek.

Tuesday the big kids redeemed their free passes to Water World from last year, while the little kids stayed home for some sprinkler fun.

Wednesday was the big Olympic day.  We spent the morning holding the Newson Olympics. First outside with typical olympic events and then at the church we held a "Minute to Win It" wacky olympics.  Here are way too many pictures....

We started with Rachel singing the national anthem and the cousins ran a torch around the infield.  Then came the Running races

softball throw

 javelin throw

 the long jump

When we got to the church we held an "opening ceremony" parading flags around the gym.


 Rachel and I ran the wacky olympic part of it, so I have no pictures of that part but it was a ton of fun.  Afterward, we had an international luncheon.  All the brothers prepared dishes from their missions and told about them while we ate ate.

 Then Grandma and Grandpa handed out the medals

 And of course we took more pictures.

One of the games from the wacky olympics involved stacking cups which were brought home and played with endlessly.

the night of the Olympics Grandma took all the girls to Boulder Dinner Theater's Cinderella.  We had a great time.  While the boys stayed home, grandpa told them stories of indians and bears and gave them all indian yo-yos and bear claw necklaces.

Thursday Jeremy's family left and the rest of us made a trip to Brainard Lake. It was beautiful.

 We hiked around the lake.

And grandma painted another picture. Here we see her from the other side.

 

 Want to see?

 We let the kids dip their feet in the icy water.

 





Tobin Left Friday and the rest of the visit was a bit of a blur.  Of course we played with Jesse's kids every day, went swimming, and even sewed a little. Thanks for everything Mom, Dad, and Rachel.  We had such a great time.