Halloween

Saturday, August 28, 2010

First Day of School

Avalee and Lincoln had a great first day of school. Avalee has some friends in her class from last year so that made her happy. Lincoln does not know anyone out of 100 Kindergartners. So he is working on friends but he told me he is not worried. Lincoln also earned the blue card for the day. Every student starts out on green. One warning and you get moved to yellow. Two warnings and you get moved to red and your parents get called. After that you visit the principal. Blue is a new card this year. It is for the student that has been the best during the day. Lincoln earned it on the first day. I do not understand how he can hold still for a teacher for 8 1/2 hours but can't seem to sit long enough at our house to eat dinner.

Pictures in random order.

Lincoln would not stand by Avalee so he was dancing by the door inside the house. Avalee choose her cutest outfit for the first day of school.
Lincoln at his desk trying very hard to color in the lines. This was the activity when he first sat down. He excused me to go home after sitting at his desk for two minutes.
Lincoln eating breakfast. I have to tell you it scares me to death to think about Lincoln and Avalee in the lunch room. There is 600 kids between K-5. I didn't even grow up with 600 people in my town. So many kids but they all do a good job of waiting in the line, getting their food, and dumping their trays. It is amazing.
Lincoln still loves his thumb and his blanket. But he will not suck his thumb or use his blanket when other kids are around him. I caught this moment before school. It was as if he knew that in the next 20 minutes he would be forced to leave his comfort zone and grow up.
Finally got a picture of the kids together.

I got out of the school and in the car and then I cried. My baby has grown up. Now I come home to a quiet house and have to figure out how to do homework in silence for 8 1/2 hours. It was very hard because I am used to Lincoln sitting by me imaging and making sounds effects.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Poison Control

Have you ever called Poison Control? Last night was my first time.

Yesterday was a little crazy. I have to get the kids to all the right places, make sure they know where to go after school, and keep up with housework and school work. So I got up yesterday morning, stripped the beds, washed all the bedding, and had it dried and upstairs by 9 a.m. Then I never went back into the bedrooms until 8:oo p.m. last night and forgot I needed to put the sheets back on the bed.

Throughout the day, I went to class, helped with homework, fixed dinner, had 10 kids at my house from around 6:00 to 8:20 p.m., and Nathan was gone all day and had meetings at night for church (this is normal). During this time, I watched all the kids play in the backyard and worked on cleaning out under my sink in preparation for the new dishwasher to be installed. As I was doing this I found an almost empty bottle of Draino. At 8 p.m. I poured some of the Draino in our bathtub and some of it in the kid's sink. At 8:20 p.m. all the kids left so I got my kids in the shower. I then turned on the kid's sink with hot water and left the bathroom. Lincoln got out of the shower, got dressed, and was helping me get the sheets on his bed and pick up his room. I sent him to the bathroom to hang up his towel.

He came back and said, "Mom, I helped you by doing a fast teeth brushing job with the bubbles in the sink." It took me a minute and I realized those bubbles were Draino. So I ran out to the garbage, which was by the curb, and read the back of the Draino bottle. It said to give them milk and call poison control. Lincoln drank milk while I called. Poison control was not worried because they said people that drink Draino immediately fell their mouth burn and will start complaining. Lincoln never complained but I scared him. So we went upstairs and finished making his bed and let him go to sleep. I still had Avalee's room and my room left but Avalee helped and it went fast and both kids were asleep by 9 p.m. So much for an 8 p.m. bedtime in preparation for a 7:20 a.m. bus.

Lincoln is fine this morning.

I just got a call from Poison Control checking back on Lincoln. I am very impressed with Poison Control and would suggest calling them anytime BUT I hope you never have to call.

Two weeks in Provo

We spent two weeks in Provo this summer with family. I didn't get a lot of pictures but I did get some at Cowabunga, which I encourage everyone to go visit. These pictures are backwards. Lincoln is dancing to the music as we leave. I was the only one who got to watch.

About every 10 minutes are so a huge bucket of water dumps. I could never get a picture of Lincoln because he would come down and go right back up to find another water slide. Nathan and I also went under the bucket quiet a few times to stay cool.

Avalee and Lincoln going down the slide. This was one of the smallest slides but there was never a line so they went down it a lot.
Nathan and I spent an entire week by ourselves in celebration of our 10th anniversary. We to Park City, Salt Lake, and places around Provo. We were very lucky to stay in a family home by yourselves so ate out, stayed up late, and watched lots of movies. I think that week with help us get through 10 more years of marriage before we need a long vacation again.

This picture is from top of the conference center. It was fun to take a tour. I had been in it once for the General YW meeting about three years ago but you could not take a tour. It was Nathan's first time in the building.

Family pictures/reunion

We attended the Hall family reunion this year. It was a lot of fun. A photographer had been hired to take pictures throughout the night.

The kids are starting to play the water balloon toss game.
Then the water guns come out.
Avalee admiring the activities.
Then a huge, adult-staged water fight happens. Big sponges full of water, water balloons, water guns, etc. Nobody on that side of the yard stayed dry.
This picture is my favorite because is shows the kid's personality. It totally captures Lincoln being funny and Avalee looking at him like he is weird.
The next are pictures that were taken before the water came out.


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Random pictures the kids took

This is my cousin's daughter in a cute tutu her grandma bought for her. Avalee was the photographer.
Flower arrangements the kids picked out of the yard and created.

Avalee has amazing eyes and does this all the time. No idea who took this picture.

T-ball

Avalee and Lincoln played T-ball in May and June. It was intense but they had awesome coaches and their team was the best. We didn't keep score but we always had the most outs in each inning.

Avalee made it to third base and must have been excited.
Avalee can hit the same both right and left handed so she would bat based on what she choose. She usually hit the ball but it looks like she might have had to try again.
Lincoln running to third.
Lincoln hitting the ball.

My favorite moment of the season was when Lincoln was playing 3rd base. A grounder was hit to him and bases were loaded. He stopped the ball and touched his base and got the runner out. He was so excited he could barely talk or move for about five minutes. He had two more short grounders hit to him that inning. He stopped both of the balls but the foot race between him and the runner always turned out to be a tie.

Avalee was good on the pitchers mound and if anyone has watched T-ball you know that the pitcher sees alot of action.

Fun experience...we will see if they get to play next year or if school has overtaken my life.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Arizona

I lost the pictures of our trip to Arizona on my computer but finally found them today. It was fun to visit my sister and see where they live. I did enjoy coming back to the grass in Idaho.

The kids had a great time playing in the sand at Lake Powell. I think they had more fun in the sand than they did in the water. They made their own hot tubs.

The kids spent a lot of time hauling water and make sure their walls were intact.
The boy cousins.
The cousins.
The Grand Canyon.