And they’re off……

The boys started school this week. Halleluiah! The last couple weeks of Summer vacation have been difficult. My energy for entertaining was on empty, but the kids wanted to be moving constantly.  These boys have been counting down to school for weeks!
There are 53 elementary schools in the school district. 53!! So when we found out we were moving here I went a little crazy researching the schools to find the best one for us. It was overwhelming. We chose our school… then our house. I’m really happy where the boys are attending this year. They’re in 2 different schools though… again!
Grant’s school is K-1st and Jefferson’s is 2nd-5th. So this makes for confusing days, but I’ll get used to it.

I was going to drive Jefferson to school on his first day, but he decided to ride the bus with his neighbor friend, Brenna. Here he is on the first day. I didn’t get a kiss, hug, or even a wave… just a quick glance. Isn’t he too young for ‘glancing’? I would expect that of a middle-schooler. I didn’t let it hurt my feelings for too long.

Just a quick comment about that vest. He found it at the store and told me all the great things about vests. He’s very well vest-educated and just HAD to have it. He wears it every single day! (yes, it’s still very hot and humid here) I think it will be the replacement for the red ski jacket he wore last year, rain or shine.

And there he goes, off to school. This picture captures the exact moment my heart felt a little sadness. Sending Jefferson off to a new school, a HUGE school, where he knows only 1 person, was harder than I thought. But he’s doing just fine.

My 3rd Grader….

Grant wanted me to drive him to school on the first day of school. He was worried he wouldn’t remember where his class or the bathroom was. Look how excited he was. He likes his teacher and has already made some friends. This boy has come a long way!

He takes the bus now. The darn thing comes at 6:45am. I think about all the kids in the US sleeping (while visions of sugar plums dance in their heads), and my poor Grant standing at the bus stop. Ok, maybe there’s 1 or 2 other 1st graders up. But still, it’s cruel. Shawn waits with him at the stop before heading to work. But I may have to start driving him. It’s just so stinkin’ early.

My 1st Grader….

Is it just me, or do they both look really old?
And Reagan. Well, she’s home with me this year. It’s been difficult finding a school for her. Our choices have been: a wonderful school that charges an arm and leg and an organ too, a not so wonderful state-funded free preschool, or stay at home with mommy. I think I’m the best choice, if I do say so myself.
Her first day is, well, one of these days…

So, here’s to the beginning of a fabulous 2012-13 school year! Hope you all make it to the bus on time, pack healthy lunches, have an easy homework time, and fill your walls with artwork!

What’s New Pussycat?, Woah Woah

I thought of posting about what’s new …. then got this song stuck in my head.
It reminded me of my Papa. He would sing the question “What’s new pussycat?” to me. Probably because it was much more fun than asking “what’s new?” monotone.
I tried it. It is more fun.
Then I bought the song on itunes.

So, what is new around here? To be honest, not much happens in these 4 walls. It is so unlike us, really. Last week Jefferson politely told me that he’s “getting really bored. All there is to do is play upstairs or jump on the trampoline, and it’s getting boring.” My kids have never said that before. I hope he recovers from this Summer. I’m dubbing it…. ‘the summer that never was.’ Because, lets be honest, my kids have spent its entirety in hotels or stuck at home (oh, aside from that wicked awesome cross-country trip).

It is just me, or are all of my blog posts sounding cynical lately?

Once again… what’s new?

1. I signed the boys up for Soccer. I was able to sweet talk them onto the same team. Of course, Grant will have to contend with kids 2 years older than him, but hey, I won’t have to go to 2 different practices/games a week.
2. I have come to terms with the lack non-existence of thrifting. Instead of finding projects to redo, I’ve just decided to ‘make my own.’ Shawn and I are almost done with an end table for our couches. (I’ll post pictures if it turns out good. If you don’t see any picture, you’ll know it looks awful).
3. The neighbor girl across the street is a godsend. Her backyard is kid-heaven. She’s in Jefferson’s church class, and will be in his same 3rd grade class.
4. Speaking of 3rd grade, Jefferson tells me daily that, “I’m not going to 3rd grade. You can’t make me!”
5. I was called as 1st councilor in the Primary.
6. Shawn’s in scouting.
7. Reagan still wont go to her church classes. It’s lovely.
8. Jefferson started a batch of rocks in his tumbler (last month). It takes about 5 weeks of changing water and grit to get the finished result. Here’s a before and after…  

9. We have found a couple parks that we love. They remind us of Oregon.
10. I cannot find a single grocery store that sells organic food (besides milk). It makes me miss Oregon.
11. We went to the city’s Children’s Museum. It was cute. The kids made their own ice cream by shaking a bag of ingredients in a bag of ice. That was asking too much of Reagan. Although she had plenty of energy to eat it (without sharing a bite).
  

12. We considered getting yard service, then thought, ‘why pay when you have free labor at home?’ The kids are LOVING the days we do yard work. They’re too young to know any better. Jefferson likes to mow, Reagan blows, and Grant pulls weeds like a pro… while Shawn and I drink lemonade.
   

That’s what’s new around here.

And the moment you’ve all been waiting for (well, at least my mom)
And no, it’s not pictures of our house… I’ll post those 6 months from now, when it’s actually organized.

It’s pictures of this little rolly polly… at 2 months old.
 

Kennedy is my favorite thing on Planet Earth! She’s such a good baby (but really, what baby isn’t?)  She’s smiling now and starting to make quiet coo sounds. She’s sleeping through the night (I’m talkin’ 8pm – 5am), which my other 3 NEVER did… still don’t actually. Last time she went to the dr. she was 10lbs 8oz… but that was a month ago. I’ll take her in for her 2 month soon. I’m actually avoiding it because I know they’ll give her shots, and I just can’t handle her crying. I think I’ll have Shawn take her in… although he probably can’t handle it either.

Everyone around her adores her. But I would say Reagan does the most. She is by Kennedy’s side ALL DAY LONG, caring for her. She doesn’t understand personal space and gets really emotional whenever I ask her to back off from the baby or to “stop kissing her, your going to suffocate her.” She just loves her sister too much…. which is a good thing. So, I let her suffocate the baby every once in a while.

they’re best friends already…
and that’s the best new of all!

A Decade Ago

One of my last assignments in my English class of my senior year was to write a letter to myself. My teacher, Mrs. Woodbury, wanted us to write where we hoped to see ourselves 5 years from then. We addressed an envelope, then turned the letter in to her. I totally forgot about it until 5 years later when I received a letter from myself. I had to laugh while reading it because as a Senior in high school I had hoped to “be married to Shawn Skinner” and “be a stay-at-home mom.”

I guess things really do come true if you wish for them.
Shucks, I should have written that I hoped to “be independently wealthy” or “live in a beach house off the coast of Maui”.
Instead, this is what I always wanted….
 

I couldn’t be happier… and neither could they….

10 years ago today, we were sealed in the Oakland Temple. We were beginning our life together… it was new and somewhat scary. It seems appropriate for Shawn to graduate and start his career near our anniversary. We’re celebrating our 10 year milestone by leaving one chapter and beginning another…. one that is also new and somewhat scary. And as we leave this chapter, I think I’ll write myself another letter. Not just about me, but about ‘us’ this time. Where do I see us 5 years from now? Maybe I’ll throw the “independently wealthy” part in there now.

Happy Anniversary Shawn!
At 18 years old I couldn’t have wished for anything better.

P.S. A special Anniversary gift just arrived in the form of new neighbors who happen to belong to our church and have a teenage girl and boy who “both love to babysit.” Could we be anymore lucky?

A Birth (re)announcement of sorts

If you haven’t heard, we had a baby. Traditionally, people have gorgeous pictures taken of their wee little ones, print them, and mail official announcements to family and friends. But, if you’re anything like me, you just snap a few quick shots of your baby as an afterthought (in the backyard) and lazily post them on the internet, like this….

I meant to post these pictures 6 weeks ago, but it didn’t happen. Just about nothing happens after baby #4. I crocheted this ‘thing’ (I don’t know what else to call it) just days before Kennedy’s arrival with glorious plans of taking pictures with it. I should really stop having ‘glorious plans’ because they never quite turn out the way they do in my head. But I am happy with the few pictures I got of her.   
My mom encouraged me to just take her picture, “right now!” I should have done it sooner because even by 7 days old she was too wiggly and wouldn’t position the way I wanted her to. Or it could have been the fact that it was raining. We had just been displaced from our home (I like to say it that way, it sounds so dramatic), and were staying at my friend Tracy’s house. So, the pictures are in the grass of her yard.

Yum… couldn’t you just gobble her up?

My little bundle…

This was one of my ‘glorious plans’ that didn’t work so well.
  

What about this one… was the flower too corny?


Shawn sent this bouquet to her , so I thought it was sentimental.

But overall, this is my favorite…. I think she looks the cutest. I love baby crying faces… love love love ‘em! Don’t worry, I don’t make my babies cry just to see their faces. But I do rush to get my camera when they do.

Posting this has given me the inspiration to take some more cute pictures of Kennedy. It hasn’t even been 2 months yet, and she already looks different. And I promise not to take 6 weeks to post them.