Monday, August 24, 2009

The First Day of School 2009

The kids were all up by 6:30 this morning. Showered. Dressed. And downstairs before 7AM. WOW. This will most likely never happen again. They were more eager for their first day of school than they let on. Lizzie was more excited than everyone - this was her first day of kindergarten!! She's been counting down the days since last week - much to her brother's disdain.

Daddy cooked up a mean breakfast of omelets and toast with homemade jam. Mmmm.



Our traditional first day of school pictures out front of our house:
Trevor 5th Grade, Logan 3rd Grade & Lizzie Kindergarten!




A little silliness....


And we were on our way!



At the school we met up with the other Wards. Their kids and our kids are all the same ages and *bonus* will all share a class with a cousin!



Jeremy and his brother Matt were also excited to be sharing their kids' first day experience. Jeremy (who works at a middle school) said, "Middle school is nothing like elementary school first day. This feels like a party!" They do look like 2 party animals, that's for sure.



Here's Lizzie just before she said, "Just go mom." I was out of there in 2 shakes - don't want to ruin her image on the first day after all.



Jackson was also all packed up and ready to go to school. He was sorely disappointed when we hopped back in the car to go home.





There were no tears this morning - from mommy or the kids. The boys are finally confident and well-grounded with a solid group of friends. Lizzie requested to be called "Elizabeth" at school - she feels so grown up! We're all looking forward to another packed year of school and extra activities.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Guess who stopped by last night??

The Tooth Fairy!!

Lizzie lost her first tooth last night. It's been wiggly and loosening over the last month or so. You can even see in the picture where her new tooth is growing in! She showed us how she could bend it "all the way down" just before we had family prayer and bedtime. Daddy got one look at that and said, "We're doin' this right now." He got a wad of paper towels and yanked it right out. She didn't even cry!

Lizzie lost her first tooth at a younger age than any of our other kids so far. Maybe that's just a girl thing? Trevor was in kindergarten (Lizzie starts school in 9 days!) and Logan didn't loose his first tooth until almost 1st grade!

She was totally pleased to find 2 new dollar bills under her pillow today (inflation is a killer!) and carried them around until they got lost. Lizzie has been talking with the slightest lisp today and it is adorable! Way to grow Lizzie!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Summer Polo

Trevor and Logan got to do summer water polo camp this year - first time ever. Oh, daddy was so proud! (That was his sport of choice in high school - many many years ago...) The camp was 5 weeks long, but they missed 2 full weeks due to our vacation schedule. They got up every morning to be there by 8AM. It was early, but they didn't seem to mind too much.

Here are some action shots from the games they played. Trevor is #30 and Logan #8. They both scored goals at the games they played - way to go boys!


Emma was also on their team. She is also a great little athlete. She's #14. And yes, it was all co-ed teams.


Daddy had a great time teaching the kids some serious techniques in our pool at home. He got to relive some of his old glory days as he explained the rules and strategies of the game to our sweet boys.




Trevor and Logan are already planning to play polo again next summer. Daddy is thrilled about this opportunity and can't wait to teach them more of his tricks.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Cub Scout Day Camp 2009

Trevor and Logan got to go to this year's Cub Scout Day Camp out at the Sportsman's Club. It was a great week of all their favorite boy activities. They left every day at 3:00 and didn't get home until after 9PM. Let's just say that they were TIRED after a week of playing so hard.

They both earned at least 7 awards and had so much fun doing it. There was boating, fishing, archery, map reading, flag raising, and countless other scout requirements for them to participate in. One of the Cub Scout Day Camp traditions states that the boys will wear the same shirt to camp every day. They should also NOT WASH the shirt until after camp is over. (It's some manly man type of challenge - you know, to see who can be the most stanktified - actual term - by the end of the week = the true scouter.) They were some stinky stinky boys - that's for sure!

The family was invited out on the last day to watch some final activities and eat dinner with their boys. It was so fun to see hundreds and hundreds of boys all the same age just enjoying themselves to pieces.

Here is Trevor, pulling Jake in the wagon, getting ready for their first Monkey Island relay race. These boys watched all the groups go before them and had their strategy down before the race began. And guess what?! They won EVERY RACE! They were the two smart cookies out there.


Logan also had a great time with this challenge. His idea of fun was not to win the race, but to see just how wet they could get. Garon was his partner and they definitely got soaked. Check out the water drips coming off Logan's face!

This rocket activity was one of the most anticipated of the week. They built and decorated their rockets earlier in the week with the plan to blast them off on this final night. Here's Logan's group all together waiting for their turn at the launcher.

Trevor was all serious business when it came for his turn to launch. Check out his concentration.

Here are all the rockets waiting to launch at the same time. And can you guess the 2 ingredients used to propel them into the sky?

Water and air pressure. That's it.

This video is very washed out, but you can see the power of the launch. It got a great response from the crowd every time.


It was a great week. Special thanks to all the leaders that gave so much time to make it such a great experience for our boys! They loved every minute!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

JUNK for sale!

This summer has been full of all things interesting to the kids. This one is in the top 5 requests each week, "Mom, can we do a yard sale today?" Most days I say no because they ask at 3 o'clock in the afternoon when it is cotton-pickin' hot out there and I do not want to go out there and sweat my buns off setting it all up when most likely no one will stop by. So along with my, "No, not today" answer usually comes an alternate plan: "What about if we do a yard sale on SATURDAY MORNING when all the yard sale shoppers are out and I'll even make some cinnamon rolls for you to sell?"

Here they are happy as clams. Excited about my alternate plan. Up early with bed head to meet the throngs of eager customers (maybe 3 total).



This yard sale was the first of a series of about 3. The first was the biggest success because they had the most product to push. The toy bins in their rooms were cleaned out and we threw in several household items that were also on their way out. Uncle Matt even decided to throw out some items that had been lurking in his garage for awhile. Trevor and Logan took home around $12 on their biggest selling day. Woo! Our house is slightly less cluttery and better because of their new hobby. Happy selling boys!