Back to School at a NEW School!

Today started the first day of school for Micah and Caleb. I swear I think every first day of school picture has them squinting and grimacing like the picture above! If you scroll way way down to last years post it is pretty funny, but this one is better.

Anyway, we were all very nervous for today being that we made this huge life changing decision just 3 days ago to change the boys' school and put them into a different one. The boys didn't even know who their teachers were going to be until we arrived only 5 minutes before the bell rang this morning! (Yeah, we were gonna try to be earlier, but oh well, at least we made it!)

This year will be interesting. Micah has been in a full time gifted program for the last 3 years, and although he is still super smart we felt like we needed a change and something closer to home, so we yanked him out and sent him over here to our "home" school. Caleb went right from preschool skipping Kindergarten to go to 1st/2nd grade at the gifted school also. He was doing great as well, but here we are throwing them head first into a brand new environment.

It's funny how we call this the "normal" school. Won't it be nice for my boys to go to school and come home and do their homework for a little while and be able to play? The gifted school was good and they had some great times and experiences, but it's time for my kids to just be kids. It's time for us to fit in with the neighborhood and actually know the kids that live around here. It's time to be able to have the kids walk home from school! No more driving back and forth waiting for train tracks and no more carpool!

We hope things will work out and that school can still be challenging for my boys but let them have a better time socially as well.

Here is Caleb in his new classroom. He is excited to be in the classroom "outside" the school.

And here is Micah marching into his school looking very serious (I hope not worried or scared!) after lining up outside with his new teacher (oh and look at that super tall kid in front of him!):

Hopefully all will work out and we will have a great year. And hey, today after school I don't have to wake kids up from naps and load them in a van and or wait in a car lineup for a half hour! Won't this be GREAT!?

Identity Crisis

It seems as if Macey is having an identity crisis. She doesn't know quite who she is. Whenever we ask her who she is, or what her name is, it's always "I'M JEWELIA!!!"

See for yourself, we think it is quite funny:

The voice and the movie might not match up perfectly, it seems we are having an issue.

Cousins' Cupcake Party

This week we were lucky to have a lot of the cousins come over for a cupcake party and to play.

Grandpop brought over cousins Kade, Addison, Ashlyn, and JP to play for the morning and stay for lunch.

Here are some pictures from our cupcake decorating:

Sorry to say we didn't have pictures of Kade's, Micah's, or Macey's cupcakes because they devoured them so fast!

We made a pretty big mess, but we had a lot of fun.

The Kids' Pioneer Tour

Recently the kids went up to the Church History Museum for a Primary activity. I got to help drive (which wasn't the best idea since I got trapped in underground parking not realizing I was going in circles!).

The kids had a lot of fun on a tour and they even got to dress up and do a play about the pioneers coming to Utah.

Here are some pictures from their event:

Micah lighting the fire:

Jewelia helping to push the wagon with her friend Malea:

Caleb trailing in the back:

And here's our group picture after the tour with everyone in front of the temple:

We had a good time and it was really fun. For those of you who haven't been, take your kids to the museum up there! It is free and maybe you aren't doing a tour, but they have a great kids area where they can do all kinds of role play, dress up, crafts, and more!