Jenna's First Haircut

Right about the time Jenna turned one, we noticed that she the back of her hair had a little curl to it. The older she got and the more that her hair came in, the curlier it got. The strange thing is, just after she turned two, it started curling on top. I just couldn't bear to cut it--especially since I was afraid the curl would go away. So....she's never had a haircut---until Tuesday. Her sides grew in slower than the back and there were a lot of fine ends that would tangle like crazy, so I took her in to get it evened up and trimmed and guess what? The curl stayed!!! It looks more full and healthy and is so cute.Before the haircut.
After. It was still a little wet and so it's a teeny bit shorter than it looks here.

First Day of School Part II

Jarren started first grade today!! He was up really early and was really nervous once we got over there. I had to stay until they went in and on the way over, he kept saying, "What if I don't remember where the bathroom is?" and "What if I don't know where to go?" and stuff like that. But...he has about 10 kids from last year in his class this year and was excited to see them all. I think it will all be good and he'll have a great time.

First Day of School Part I

Today is the first day of school for Kendall and Kristen. Jarren goes in for an orientation this afternoon and will start tomorrow. The older two got up early and ready fast--they were sooo excited!! Since we missed back-to-school night last week because of our camping trip, I went in and met with the teachers this morning. I think it will be a good year, but I worry about Jarren. He was just in kindergarten a month ago and it's like an off-track and then he goes all day long. He's nervous too.

For some reason, I'm having a hard time with the thought of this year. My oldest, Kendall, is in sixth grade!!! Fortunately, he's still in elementary school for one more year, but I just can't believe it. I remember taking him to kindergarten every day (wasn't it just last week?) and seeing the BIG sixth graders. And now he's one of them. He's grown another 1/2 inch--and that's just in the last 6 weeks. He's now 4'11"!! At this rate, he'll pass me up sooner than I'd like.Kristen is getting to be so grown up too. She has been sooo helpful at home and is always wanting to help cook and cleaning bathrooms without being asked. She's a good babysitter too. Where has the time gone?!I'll post Jarren's first day picture tomorrow, since that's his first "real" day.

Skirts

My neighbor gave me a pattern for the cutest girls skirt. The girls each wanted one and each chose their own material. I guess the pattern is more like instructions because it gives you measurements to cut into strips and then tells you how to put it all together. I think the measuring and cutting was the hardest part. Jenna wore hers, but refused to wear it to church or for a picture, so that's why hers is on the ground.

Mirror Lake

Jon and I took the kids camping to Mirror Lake last week. I faithfully checked online to see when we could get a reservation starting January 1 and after about a month, I kind of gave up. So....we got our reservation on March 2 and there was NOTHING left for any weekend during the whole summer! We just did one night (a Thursday night) and had a lot of fun, but will definitely try for 2 nights next year, just to make it worth it. We had a lot of crazy things happen, but that's what memories are made of, right?
I started doing laundry and getting things packed up on Wednesday night and we finished the job on Thursday morning, since we couldn't check in until 2. We got up there and could NOT get the tent set up. It turns out that Jon had tied a part of the tent into the pole and once we got that figured out, it worked. Then he unzipped it so I could start putting sleeping bags, etc. inside and the zipper totally broke. He had to take the entire door off to get it working (twice), but we still need to get it fixed. The kids wanted to go put their feet in the lake and we were sooo close. Jenna fell in and got soaking wet! I only brought one change of clothes and a warm pair of clothes and she'd gone through all her clothes in about 3 hours. We got the dutch oven out to cook with and realized that we'd forgotten lighter fluid. Some very nice "neighbors" let us borrow some, but the charcoal was either cheap or old (or both) and it just wouldn't work. So we had to light a fire and use the coals from that. Two of our air mattresses went flat in the night and I don't think any of us slept hardly at all--babies crying, wind rustling trees against the tent, rain, dogs barking, very itchy mosquito bites, etc. We got up the next morning and had to take camp down. While Jon was in the tent, a squirrel came and ate a hole through the bottom of our garbage bag. Crazy! The kids wanted to fish and Jon spent most of the time untangling lines. But you know what? We all had a great time!! Oh--the camera ran out of batteries really fast, so I only got a few pictures.

Birthday Pictures (Kendall)

Here are the few early birthday pictures I have of Kendall. He'll be home today and I'm soooo excited!! I haven't seen him for 12 days now and really miss him a lot. I hope he had fun (it sure sounds like he did)!!

Happy Birthday Kendall!

Kendall had his 11th birthday yesterday. It was kind of bittersweet for me, since we didn't get to spend it with him. Just a quick note---the pictures from Kendall's "birthday" are on the camera and Jon let a neighbor take it to Webelos camp so I'll get those on here soon--so check back!

About 2 weeks ago, his scout group was going on a 10 mile bike ride and camp out and his bike was pretty much trashed. He really wanted a new bike for his birthday, so we surprised him with it! I bought it while he was a school and we put it in the shed with a big bow on it. Jon sent him out after dinner to get a tool in the shed and he totally missed it. So we sent him back out and he missed seeing it again. He finally saw it and was sooo excited!!!Last Monday (the 6th), we celebrated his birthday a week early with his favorite dinner (steak, chicken, shrimp, and veggie kabobs) and cake and ice cream. I attempted to make a pirate ship cake, but, try to the comments on the recipe, it was VERY hard to get it to stay together, so it looked like a shipwreck, but tasted good.

The reason why we celebrated early (and why it's bittersweet for me) is that last Tuesday, I left for Girls Camp (we got home on Friday and had a fantastic time, by the way) and then Jon took the kids to his parents on Wednesday for his parents' annual cousin camp. On Friday, he left Kendall with my family to go on a camping trip and the rest of them came home. Lucky Kendall got to spend his birthday in Jackson Hole, WY!! We sent up a few gifts for him and let them celebrate with him. I can't believe he's getting so old! Happy Birthday Kendall!!!

Silver Lake and the 4th of July

Jon had the 3rd off since the 4th of July fell on a weekend. We decided to take the kids up in the mountains to do a hike around Silver Lake. It was really pretty, perfect temperatures, and really crowded! It was so nice to get away for the day. We had a fun time and then on Saturday, the 4th, we did some work around the house, had a bbq, lit some fireworks in the driveway and watched the city fireworks from the school in the backyard at dark. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Happy Birthday Jon!

I'm 11 days late on posting this. :) Jon had his 35th birthday on July 2. He had a very crazy, stressful time at work and wasn't really in the mood to party, but party we did. We had pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream and opened a few presents. The kids were wild--they were sooooooo anxious to open the gifts that I don't think Jon opened one of them. He mainly got books and clothes and some money. I think all in all, it was a good ending to a crazy day.

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land...

In the 5th grade, each kid is given a state to do a report on. Kendall's grade this year also had to make a state "float" out of a shoe box. They decorated the boxes to show things that the state is known for--famous landmarks, cities, etc. and then displayed them by regions for the parents and school to walk through and look at (and ask questions). Kendall had New Hampshire and did a great job with both the report and the state.

Jarren's Kindergarten Program

Jarren's class put on an end-of-the-year program for all the parents this week. Each child had a small speaking part and then they sang a lot of songs that they had learned this year. Jarren was being really silly---he had his right arm hooked into his shirt and wasn't singing very much. I asked what was up with the arm afterward and he said that he was pretending it was broken and he had it in a "sling." Then he asked how he could get a real broken arm---just like he wants real braces for his teeth and real glasses. Not the best picture, but his "broken" arm really shows. Silly boy!! It was a cute program nonetheless.Jarren and his favorite school friend.

Deep Fat Fried

Now I know what it feels like to be a french fry---I feel like I've been deep fat fried and it's nobody's fault but my own. I had a super busy day yesterday and spent 3 hours out in the hot 90+ degree sun helping with Kendall's end-of-the-year field day party and got fried. Jenna keeps asking why my skin isn't white anymore. :) I was just so busy running from one thing to the next that I didn't even think about sunscreen until I was stuck running a game with a bunch of 5th graders. Ah...how I wish I just tanned, but with me, it's either fry or stay lily white.