First day of School

Another school year is upon us. With every year that passes, I realize even more why older, more experienced, people say to enjoy it because it goes all too fast. That sure is the truth. 

The boys had a meet and greet with their teachers last Thursday. I got a really great feeling about both of their teachers. I think Mason and Cooper will both do well in their class and I also think the teachers love what they do and want to do everything they can to help them succeed this year.

Mason is in 3rd grade and has Mrs. Jones.

Cooper is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Drouin (Drew-in).

 Shiloh is praying they come home safe.

At the bus stop with our neighbor, Joshua. Cooper is super excited to ride the bus with him everyday.

 Off they go! 

We followed the bus so we could help Cooper figure out where to in line up in the morning.

ONE!

Kinley turned one on August 23rd. We celebrated her birthday by sending her and Shiloh off with Grandma and Grandpa Borders for the whole day (9:30am-9:30pm) so we could take Mason and Cooper to Silverwood. (See earlier post on that) 

We ended up celebrating her birthday about a week late, on September 1st. 

This girl sure is keeping us busy! Like most crawlers, she is into everything! She has become really good at standing on her own and cruising around furniture. I'm sure it won't be long before she begins walking.

21.2 lbs (63%)

30.5 inches (77%)

Birth

She loves food! If we give her a fork with a bit of food on it, she is skilled enough to get it in her mouth.

She favorite thing to do.

 Caught you baby!

Her party:

 Standing on her own!

Opening presents

 Her cake

Everyone else's cake

 Singing happy birthday

 Eating cake. She wouldn't touch it on the plate, so I cut some off and fed her some. She only ate a little bit herself.

August happenings

August was a very full month for us! It seems like it just flew by. We had the annual station 95 open house, Cooper birthday, Kinley's birthday, a trip to Silverwood with the boys, and lots of unexpected projects around our house, and we helped the Snell's with their on-going backyard project.

 Medstar has come to the open house for the past two years. The helicopter is always a hit with the kids. 

We were still at the open house when Medstar took off. I've never been really close to a helicopter as it has taken off. I knew they kick up dust as the propellers spin, but I didn't think the wind and dust would be as bad as it is. I guess it is just one of those things you have to experience to understand.

 

So here is one of those unexpected projects I was talking about. We had a different shelf there, but it was a pile of you know what and it was about to come down. I pointed out to Jeff that the shelf was coming off the wall and so he stopped everything he was doing and built this new shelf.I think Jeff was afraid that it would come down and fall on his pretty new car,  It is very similar to the shelf on the other side of the garage, and it is what I wanted him to build when he put up the white shelf in the first place. I hope this was a good lesson to him to just listen to his wife the first time. Maybe next time he will save us some money, as well as himself some time. *wink wink*

 Shiloh, kickin' it gangsta style.

 Cooper got a shotgun nerf gun for his birthday. It has been the new favorite toy of everyone.

 Mason and Cooper sure are getting creative with their Legos. They built this church all by themselves. Complete with a Bishopric, a pulpit, a speaker, a Sacrament table, pews, congregation members. Creative, huh?

 She's one cute girl.

And here is the latest accomplishment at the on-going Snell backyard project. The swing set. Bill and Jeff dreamed this up all by their grown up little selves. They mostly used wood from an old deck they tore down last fall, so the project was relatively cheep. this project took over two months of working on it off and on.

Waving in the Bath

Kinley has recently decided that she is too big for the toddle bath. She is a crazy 

There are a few short videos of Kinley waving: one of her new tricks.

Silverwood

Mason and Cooper both read for over 10 hours during the last school year and earned themselves one free admission ticket to Silverwood. As August approached, and we still had not used their tickets, we figured we better do so soon. Ethan earned a ticket as well. We decided to all go together, figuring the boys would have more fun together than having to hang out with only their boring old parents all day.

The day that worked best for Jeff to take off was on Kinley's first birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Borders came and got her and Shiloh at 9:30am. The girls got to hang out with them all day and enjoyed their time with them. We were gone all day, well past the time Kinley was in bed, so we didn't get to spend much time with her on her birthday. Hopefully if later in life she hears that her own parents and brothers didn't even spend her first birthday with her she will find it in her to forgive us.

We stopped at Cafe Rio before heading over. I personally like Costa Vita better, but Michelle loves Cafe Rio, so we all sucked it up for her sake.

Waiting for a snack.

My good lookin' brother, Jared

Aren't we cute? No? Come on...

Ethan, Michelle, and Jared (middle) and Mason and me waiting to go on Timber Terror.

Ready to go! 

On the Timber Terror.

We did it! Mason was not a fan and did not want to go on any more roller coasters. Cooper was roarin' for more.

Going on the kiddie style panic plunge

As you can see from this video, Mason is not a fan of heights, but by the end he was smiling.

When we got in the car to leave, Mason said he had a great day, but was sad that he didn't get to spend it with Kinley on her birthday.

SIX!

I can't believe he used to be this small.

 One Year

 Two Years

 Three Years

 Four Years

Five Years

Six Years

Singing to the birthday boy.

Cooper got roller skates for his birthday. I wonder how long it will take him to get the hang of them?

Summer cub scout happenings

In May I was called to be the Den leader for the Wolves. That works out perfectly for me as Mason became a Wolf in July. We were able to go on some fun field trips over the summer. Mason got to go to day camp for three days and I was able to join him one of those days. 

In June we went to the Waste to Energy plant. We got to wear some really stylish hats and glasses. It was pretty neat to see how all our garbage is processed and burned. There are also large tubes filled with water that run under the large (4 story) furnace where the garbage is burned. The steam from the boiling water in the tubes is turned into energy. The whole facility is run of the energy created by the steam and the extra energy is sold to our local utility company at a cheaper rate, which (they say) those savings are then passed on to us, the customers.

Day camp:

 launching water rockets=FUN!

Using a bow and arrow=MANLY!