FIRST day of SCHOOL

Oh my heart. Mason's BIG moment. Kindergarten

What I remember about each kiddo:

Ashlyn's hot pink and blue feather.

(she is now into her looks a bit...spent an hour in front of the mirror :0

BUT She is determined to get another 4.o ALL year.

Jake's tootsie eyes. (with his pirate tooth :)

(He couldn't WAIT to see all his buddies from school)

Mason's sweet demeanor. calm. quiet. which he never is. he was nervous :)

AND...lastly. my Austin's happy smile. so organized. Always ready for school.

So grateful for him. Such an easy, happy, hard-working child. :)

Love these kids with all my mama heart.

Wishing them the best school year of 2011~

4 greats.

1. Four families. playing the weekend away...

Thomas Pond/ Nederlands

This weekend we all ventured up to Nederland's

(11 miles up Boulder canyon..beautiful mountain town)

to fish and walk around the small town.

Come to found out it was HIPPY FEST that day. (for reals.)

Umm dreads to your waists, tie dye everywhere

(and the reason we left)...everyone smoking doobies!)

Time to go kids! (17 bt. us all!)

We ended up at Chatauqua for a picnic and then

off to fish at Thomas Pond.

Funny note about Chatauqua is we

got kicked off our table because it was the
"Wizard of Oz" sing-a-long.
I kid you not, we had Dorothy, Tin-man,

the Lion and the witch (adults!)

ask us for our table.

2. Pen-pals from New Jersey.



Ashlyn got a pen pal in 5th grade and they have slowly been writing back and forth. Now they are writing constantly talking about their separate 6th grade lives, comparing school days and sending each other cute little gifts. I think it is sweet they have formed a "cross-country" bond. Who would of known a friendship could blossom from a penpal!


3. My first Sunbeam Lesson.

I have 8 little sunbeams again! I was excited. And Mace was soooo happy to have mama back! It was back into Primary with the happy, hyper, 3-4 year olds. My first lesson: "We are grateful for our food and clothing" My kids loved to guess where milk came from (consensus : a kitty and baby cows! ((what!??) and we get our clothes from China. (good answer. but nope, plants and animals (silk worms and leather.)

I had a good time diving back into 2 hours of keeping up with all the kids!




4. First day of school

Excited, anxious, nervous...the feelings of all the kids!

Starting new schools is not easy.

I tried really hard over the summer to establish

some good friendships for my kids. and yes, we have been blessed.

The night before school started, Father's Blessings

and Webcast videos off of lds.org.

Lessons of making important friendships,

and lessons of

doing your best and NEVER giving up.

I love those videos.

Then Ry and I told the kids how proud we were

of them for making this transition.

It wasn't easy, but their attitudes and hearts have been amazing.

I love my kids...

Off for more greats! xo!