Mr. Dibble's Garden

This year, in the spirit of Fall, our school did another round of Mr. Dibble's Garden (He's the principal). My kids did it last year, and Jenna was excited to be able to join Melissa and Spencer this year in entering. Here were some of the entries from the school...

These were what my kids made...

Jenna's was two apple people in a boat...

Spencer's was just a monster face...

And Melissa's I think she called it a "simple creature". I took these pictures after they brought them home from school. They were supposed to bring them in on Monday and my kids got up bright and early before school to make them and we didn't have time to take pictures before.

Cherry Tomatoes...

A while back (quite a while actually) Jayden went out back and picked some cherry tomatoes and washed them. Then he sat down at the table to "eat" them...

And don't worry, after that I made him throw them out instead of put them in the fridge with the rest of them like he wanted to do!

It's a Jungle Out There!

We have somewhat of an animal problem in our backyard. The kids all think it's great because we don't have any pets. They have gone and named all of the animals. We however (Steve and I) aren't because well, you'll see. The first varmit, is a squirrel. The kids have named it Mr./Mrs. Nutterworth (aren't sure whether it's a boy or a girl). It is living in our rocks in the backyard. If you look at about the middle of the picture, amongst all the watermelon plants, you can see it sticking it's head out of the hole. The pain about the squirrel is it has burrowed a little nest behind the rocks. It has gone in and pushed all of the dirt out from behind all of the rocks and made him/herself right at home. Our concern is what happens now. Will it stay through the winter? Is it building up a food supply behind those rocks to last? Who knows. I did catch Jenna and Jayden outside with a bag of trail mix trying to leave the squirrel some nuts. Had to put an end to that one!

Here the squirrel is running back to it's home:

Our second set of "guests" in the backyard, are a family, of quail. There are twelve of them in all. And every morning they come through our backyard, and play a bit, before hopping over the back fence and leaving. It is a morning ritual though. The funny thing is we have seen the squirrel watching them in the backyard. Here they are making their exit:

Also over the summer, we had two Doves make a nest in one of our trees and then a family of Robins make a nest in another tree. Like I said the kids were really excited about the whole thing, but if it is a continual problem. I don't think Steve and I will be.

The first bus ride

Finally the day we have all been waiting for arrived! And yes, we all were excited for it because now she can stop talking about it! Jenna got to ride the bus! And here is the full account:

She stood in line and waited... She waited patiently inching up to the bus, no pushing or shoving...

Then she hopped on...(I almost missed it)

And then she found her seat. I was hoping she would at least look out the window and wave, but I just had to settle for getting her head.

Whew! Melissa helped her at school get off the bus and then find the correct line to stand in until the bell rang for school to start. Which was nice for me because I didn't have to then drive to the school. After school was out, the morning bus was kind of late dropping off the Kindergartners, so when she got home, the afternoon bus was there picking up the afternoon kids. When that bus drove off, there were four cars of Moms and Dads following the bus, to help their kids when they got to school make sure they got to the right place. Which is funny because the teachers are already out there ready to greet the kids when they get to school.

Don't grow up all at once!

Yesterday morning when Jenna woke up, she came in to my room and said that her tooth was bothering her. I asked her why, does it feel like something is stuck in it? She said "No, it's wiggly!" And sure enough when I stuck my finger in her mouth to check, it was a little wiggly. So then she says, "Should I pull it out?" I told her that it was only a little wiggly and it would probably take another week or so to come out. So then last night when I was checking my email when the kids were going to bed, I was surprised to see this:
Jenna: "Mom! It came out!" And upon further inspection:

Yep their was a hole. She had just yanked it out herself. She said it was bothering her and she couldn't sleep, cause she just kept wanting to wiggle it, so she just yanked it out. Just like that! If only all kids could be as easy as she is... or maybe I should say that I hope she stays so easy. {I'll keep my fingers crossed.}

So there you have it! She goes off to Kindergarten and loses a tooth all in the same day! What next?

Back to School

It's back to school time in our house, and I have to admit I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I am excited for the kids to not be so bored. I am excited for the fact that there will be less fighting in our house (during the day at least). And I am excited for a reason to be more strick on bedtime, practicing their piano and stuff like that. I am NOT excited however that I am sending one more kid off (Jenna) to school, to learn all the stuff that well, you would rather they not learn. Like those obnoxious games like jinxing each other, the what game (I'll have to explain another time), and what it means to be chicken trapped (yeah, that one I'll have to explain at another time too). They learn to be obnoxious themselves and mean, but I guess that is the trade-off to learning all the good stuff too. Like how to share, what it means to be a friend, how to respect someone of authority, following the rules, and all the educational stuff too. I am also sad 'cause it will just be Jayden at home. It's nothing new, he was home by himself when Jenna was in preschool last year, but the sad part is he's got 3 more years til kindergarten and I think he will be sad.Here's the three off to school! Do they look excited?And now, the first day shots I get of each one. I did the normal close-up and then full outfit shot, but this year I added in the shoe shot. It was such an ordeal finding them all shoes, that I figured, they needed their own picture.

First Melissa! She is starting the 6th grade this year. Scarey if you ask me. Jr. High is only a year away and THAT makes me sad. And feel a little old. Then Spencer! He will be in second grade this year. I am just hoping that we have a better year this year for him. First grade was a tough one in regards to his teacher, we {OK, mostly me} took issue with a lot of the ways that she taught, how she disciplined and her lack of organization.

And now, Jenna! The Kindergartner. She is SO excited! And yes, she will be doing morning kindergarten and so far, she was able to get up on time, but she didn't eat breakfast. Which was OK today because they only went for an hour and then she came home and ate.

And Jayden! He's not doing any sort of school, but he wanted to be included in the picture taking. No shoe shot for him though cause he was in feet.

And there you have it!