One step closer to an ending season!

So the picture are not in chronological order. It's not easy to drag pictures around with MAC!

Ethan and Grant enjoying lunch time!

First thing he ate was his Sandwich! Good Boy!!!!

Waiting in line after I left! What kind of look is that?

Last Goodbyes!

The one with the Teacher!

Do I really have three kids in school?

So Monday took me another step closer to the end of a season in my life. I'm not talking about Fall here. I'm talking Spring actually! Spring is sometimes defined as the first stage of Motherhood; young Motherhood! It seems like yesterday when Aubrie and Boston were toddlers and school seemed so far off in the distance. Back then I thought that life would be so much easier, when they grew up and went to school. No diapers to change, no fights to break up all day long, no more toting kids all over the place to do errands, and no more multiple carseats crowding my car. How quickly those toddlers grew and here I am with 3 kids in school and only one 2 year old to keep me company through the day. I am making such a concentrated effort to enjoy Sophia more. Play with her more, and try to see things through her eyes. A few weeks before school started I realized that my alone time with Ethan was gone when school ended in May. Before, when Sophia took her naps, it was just me and Ethan with no other kids to get him wound up, or fight for my attention. I so loved my time with Ethan here at home. And how I wish I would have taken advantage of it more, instead of wasting my time with cleaning, computer work, crafts, etc. He just loved doing his own thing, and so it was easy to let him. Now he is off to school. I miss him so much. Even if it's just his presence! He has such a sweet, loving spirit. Though his attention span is lacking, his heart is made of gold. He is like a sponge, absorbing everything around him, but at the same time everything bounces back as quickly as it's learned, processesing and then tries those things out himself! Oh how I miss my Ethan, but seeing how excited he has been about school has helped me be a little more excited about him being at school.

I wasn't sure he was going to like school. Months leading up to the first day I would ask him if he was excited to be going to Kindergarten. He wouldn't act very excited about it, and would give me the nonchalant answer of, "sure, Mom." Perhaps I was asking him during the middle of a video game or something. LOL The night before the first day of school he seemed a little more excited, but not enough to make me feel like this was a day he was looking forward to. Then when we woke him up, he was up and ready (chores done, etc) so fast. I thought, "well maybe he is excited." When we got there, he again was acting really laid back, like it was just another day. When we got to the Kindergarten playground he instantly saw a friend and started playing. When it was time for them to go to class, he was so good to get in line and stay there. I gave him a kiss goodbye (putting my sunglasses on to cover the few tears I couldn't hold back) and left! I stood on the other side of the gate (parent's had to leave) and watched him just stand in line looking off and a little worried. Not tears. Just a concerned look. I walked away hoping he would have a good day!

I was very sick over the weekend, and was still not feeling well on Monday, but decided that I had to go and check on him at lunch time. I showed up and was lucky enough to see all three kids. They overlap each other; Boston having lunch 15 minutes before Ethan, and Aubrie and Ethan having the same lunch time. I watched for Ethan to come in, and he didn't look like he was out of place. He came right in, sat down and started eating. I grabbed the two other kids and we went over to say hi. He was happy to see us. I asked how his day was, and he said it was fun and that he had new friends. It made me feel so much better to see how well adjusted he was to his environment!

Later in the day, when we were going over some homework, that asked him where his "favorite place to go" is. He answered, "school! I love school". I thought that maybe it was just the first day that was so fun for him. Today he was ready faster than Aubrie and Boston, and was packing his own lunch before I got downstairs. He also knew he was going to ride the bus for the first time, so maybe that helped things along. He had another good day, and was singing a new song he learned at school, around the house all afternoon.

So of course this is mostly about Ethan going off to Kindergarten, but I can't forget the other kids. Boston was soooo excited for school to start that he could hardly sleep. He picked his outfit out, and when he put it on he said, "Now this is what a second grader looks like!"

Aubrie picked her outfit out months ago. I think I'm having a flashback. How about you? Oh, you can't see all of it! Imagine a hot pink Cindy Lauper looking skirt, black tights, and black converse! Gotta love it! Boston was excited for his class because there were lots of kids he knew, including Brigham and Davis. Aubrie wasn't too happy at first because Gracey wasn't in her class. But all the Mormon kids were, except one. The boy she liked last year was in there, too. She threw a fit during open house, but by the first day of school she was glad she was in that class. Her teacher is new, but taught 4th grade for several years at another school. One of my friends taught with her at the other school and said she was good. Aubrie loves her teacher, especially that she lets her eat in class. She also made a new friend today, which I'm happy about. She was just hanging out with Gracey, primarily, and it was time she realized that she can have more than one friend and still be a good friend to everyone. Such a hard thing for some girls to learn.

Oh...Ethan has a good teacher, too. And there are two kids from church in his class. So all worked out, and all is well. The kids are happy, and so that makes Momma happy!

What have I been doing with only one at home? Well right now nursing a bad cold and finally finishing up the Work and the Glory series! YIPPIE!!!! I LOVED it. So much great Church history info, and I really learned a lot about the development of the west, the Donner party tragedy, and many other things they never taught me in school. I look forward to more quality time with my little girl, who I CANT get enough of right now. She went from being a insubordinate, fit throwing, mischievous little 2 year old, to a fun, exploring, talking, swimming joy, within the past month. I guess all the traveling took the spunk out of her. No...she has plenty of spunk. She just is channeling it better! I'm hoping the terrible two's are finally over! Oh, I just want to go and give her a squeeze right now, before I turn around and am sending her off to school!!!!

Where did the summer go?

We just got back from a quick trip over to California to get out of the heat. It was 115 degrees on Monday and I could tell that Rachel was done with the heat. I suggested that she take the kids and go to visit her brother Danny for a week to get out of the heat. She said that sounded great and started packing. Rachel and the kids left Tuesday morning. Rachel is so good and getting everything packed up and ready to go. I helped load up the car and they were off. I met them at Discount Tire as a surprise to make sure that everything was good with the car. They were happy to see me. I was able to give them all one more kiss before they headed out. I got busy with work and was able to meet with many people. Work is going well, but I am not very patient and want to see results right now. They will come and I will keep my nose down until then.
Rachel called me throughout her journey to give me an update to let me know how the trip was going. It sounded like the kids were all doing well and that the trip was going well. Around 4:30 I got a call from Rachel who sounded panicked. She said that the GPS was jacked up and had here somewhere in Los Angeles and that the car was shuttering and not working well. I said a quick prayer and then tried to help her the best that I could from 300 miles away. I was able to get home and pull up google maps and get her up to Danny's house. The car seemed to work better and she called me once she had arrived at Danny's house. I was relieved that she made it safe and sound. That evening I met Craig for Sushi and then went and watched him play softball. I really miss playing. I don't miss playing when it is 110 degrees! They won both their games. I headed home to get caught up on work stuff and home stuff. This time I decided not to do any major work projects around the house. I learned my lesson from the last time. I did go through and organize the DVDs so that there wasn't such a mess. I knew that would make Rachel happy.
The next day was another full day of work and I got a lot done. I have not liked doing my fire business, but lately I have begun to realize that it is a good job and great money. I am good at it and can get a lot done it a little amount of time. After a long day of fire I decided to head over to California and surprise Rachel and the kids. I also needed to get over there and help Rachel get the car fixed. The dealership was not working with her and the warranty company was also being a pain. I got to Danny's house late, but the kids were surprised to see me and all ran up and hugged on me. It was good to be with them again.
The next morning we woke up and weren't sure what to do. Rachel had seen some coupons for Magic Mountain. They were buy one get one. We weren't sure what to do with Sophia, but Rachel's mom agreed to watch her so that we could go with the kids. We headed out and got there in about an hour. On the way into the park Boston started complaining about his stomach and said that he did not think that he could ride the rides. I don't think the kids had any idea of how big these roller coasters were going to be. I didn't know how big they were going to be either! I had not been to Magic Mountain for over 20 years and many things had changed. We got into the park and walked over to Goliath. Boston was scared crazy, but with some coaxing he got on the ride. Ethan could not ride some of the rides so he would stand in line with us and then wait with either Rachel or myslef for the others to ride. Boston rode with me on Goliath and did really well. He didn't close his eyes once and when the ride was done said that he wanted to go again. I am impressed with the kids. They really don't fear a great deal. There is no way that I could have ridden those rides when I was their age. I probably would not have gone in the park! I was really surprised to see how fast we walked onto the rides. There really wasn't that many people and we walked onto most of the rides until 4:00 p.m. when it started to get a little more crowded. By 8:30 p.m. we were all wasted tired and headed home. The kids passed out in the back seat. Boston managed to stay up the whole way. When we got back to Danny's the kids woke back up and were instantly recharged. We stayed up for a little while longer and then all crashed hard. We had a fun time staying at Danny's. We all crammed into Megan's room. Rachel and Aubrie on the bed, Sophia in the portable crib and me and the boys on the floor. The boys and I slept well and it was nice to have the windows open and feel the cool breeze. It did get a little warm at night with all those bodies in one room but we managed to make it. The next morning we woke up and had cereal and hung out around the house. Aubrie, Sophia and I went on a long walk around Danny's neighborhood. It was fun to get out and walk with the girls. We had a good talk and hunted for snails. We got home from the walk and headed to the dealership to pick up Rachel's car that was not fixed. We decided to get the car fixed back in Phoenix. They would not have Rachel's car fixed until Wednesday or Thursday if we let them fix it in Oxnard. We needed to get back and get ready for dance, piano, karate and school. After we got Rachel's car we headed to the outlets their in Camarillo. We went to the Gap outlet and got a lot of great deals. We were about to check out when this woman asked us if we wanted a coupon that she had printed off the internet. We told her sure. The coupon was for 30% off your entire purchase! We saved over $100 dollars with the coupon. We thanked her again and then headed over to the Converse Store to get some shoes for Ethan. We also got Sophia a pair since it was buy one get one 50% off. It is amazing to me how fashions work in our society. It is only a matter of time before Boston adn Ethan are wearing parachute paints and pegging their jeans and wearing loafers! After the outlets we headed back to Danny's to get our swim on. We had a great time out by the pool and just relaxed. Danny bought some steaks and corn and other trimmings for a BBQ. We had a great dinner and enjoyed each other's company. We ended up watching the Rocketeer and the kids had a great time. I had forgotten how fun that movie was and the kids really loved it. We got to bed and then got ready for the long drive home the next morning.
The next morning we got up and got going. We were packed and out the door around 10:00 a.m. Rachel drove my car home with her mom so that they could listen to Glen Beck's Common Sense on tape. I drove Rachel's car home in case there were any problems. We stopped in palm springs and let the kids play at the McDonalds there off Ramon Rd. It is always nice to stop and let the kids stretch their legs. They do much better on the trip if we break it up a little. Sophia did alright and had a hard time getting to sleep. She finally fell asleep with 30 minutes left in the trip. The cars worked great and we got home without incident. We got home and got everything put away and started laundry. The kids wanted to swim and once everything was picked up we headed out to the pool. It was nice to relax with the kids. We watched the Mummy and got to bed late. I had to get up early the next morning for our weekly meeting. We are all doing well and are getting ready for school to start back up. We don't want school to start back up because it is going to be less time as a family and more activities. I am excited to see the kids grow and get involved in many activities. Aubrie started dance again yesterday and the boys are now signed up for Karate. They are going to have a great time, but had better not fight or use karate for the wrong things. I will make sure they don't. The painters are finishing up the house and it really looks good. I don't have the patience or skill to paint like they do. It really makes a big difference to have it done professionally.