First Day of First Grade

This post should have been in my September posts, but I guess better late than never!

This is Allie on her First day of school.  She goes to Issaquah Valley Elementary and is in First Grade.  Her teacher is Ms. Allison Rupert.  (Her teacher last year at CTA was also named Allison.)  She rides the bus, almost everyday, to and from school, and LOVES it.  We meet her at the bus stop, which is  just up the road.  On non-rainy days, Drew likes to ride his scooter and I bring one for Allie in the stroller.  The boys get so excited to see Allie get off the bus. 

Owen cries almost every morning when Allie gets on the bus.  He yells her name and says, "Allie, Uh, Uh, Uh..."  He's telling her to not get on the bus.  When she does, he usually cries and says her name over and over.  He never likes it when one of us leave.   He usually lets out a big squeal when we see her after school and has to give her a big hug.

Allie is very smart and is a hard worker.  Her handwriting and writing skills have grown tremendously this year.  Her first grade class is really focusing on reading this year, and developing a love for books.  Allie loves to read, and often reads multiple chapter books at a time.  I find books everywhere - a stack by her bedside table, in the kitchen, my room, by the couch, etc. - all with various book marks in them. 
She still LOVES recess, and popcorn Fridays.  I'm going to be helping out with the Garden program for her class, starting in January.  I miss being able to go into her class monthly and see what she is doing and learning.  She is making friends, and enjoys school.

 

Allie Turns 7

Our little girl turned 7 this year.  Sometimes I can't believe she's already 7, and sometimes I feel like I've battled a teenager for the past 7 years :0  Allie has always been so smart and clever and so aware of everything around her, except for other people walking and shopping carts in the grocery store :) well beyond her years.   

She is SO creative and loves to draw, color, create, invent, and find new uses for anything.  Allie loves to play and have fun.  She can do anything, if she puts her mind to it (and if mom doesn't tell her to do it!)  She has a gift for making friends wherever she is, so we knew she'd do okay in the transition to our new home.  She misses her AZ friends and cousins dearly, but has made some fun new friends here in Washington. 

Dan was in India on her birthday, so we had a simple get together the Friday before her actual birthday.  We made homemade pizzas, played outside, watched a movie and had candy and popcorn.  Allie had so much fun.  Thanks to all our friends and family who called or sent cards or gifts for her birthday.  It helped make her birthday special in our new place and without our dad here :)  Dan sent her a bouquet of flowers - which she absolutely LOVED and felt so special.  It's amazing what flowers do for a girl! 

Allie couldn't decide what kind of cake she wanted - so we made two!  The round one was a funfetti box cake mix with cream cheese frosting.  I wrote her name on top, exactly the way she signs her name.  The second (square cake) was a yellow cake with a blackberry lemon cream frosting.  The frosting was to die for.  We made it from our fresh blackberries we had previously picked.  It was fresh and delicious.  That was MY favorite! 

Boat Tour with the Walkers

Here we are taking a boat tour on Puget Sound,  enjoying a beautiful, warm, sunny Seattle day.  Oh wait, it was freezing cold, with gloomy skies... and did I mention the water dropped the temp at least another 40 degrees???  It had actually been warm that week, so we dressed in short sleeve shirts thinking the trend would continue.  Luckily, we had some sweatshirts for the kids in the car and found a few blankets in the back of the car too. 

It was cool to see the shoreline of Seattle from this viewpoint and to learn some history of Seattle fom the cheesy tour-guide with the microphone.  Allie and Drew sat on the side of the boat to have a better view, while the rest of us stayed a bit warmer in the middle.  They finally joined us when they couldn't take the cold any longer.  Allie spent the next 15 minutes huddled under a blanket.
 

Owen didn't seem to care about the neighborhoods of Queen Anne, or the boats in the harbor or the history of each pier lining the harbor.  So, he played starfall on my phone instead :-)  We stayed on top until our goose bumps had goose bumps then we went down below to stay warm.  You could feel a bit more of the rocking of the boat inside.  

This is how I feel after wrestling kids the entire 3 hours of church...

Poor Owen, gets dragged around and has to adapt to our schedules instead of the other way around.  The older two had strict nap schedules when they were younger (because they both still napped at the same time) and they rarely missed a nap or at worst got their snooze delayed by half an hour.  But Owen has developed the gift of falling whenever he can... the couch, his car seat and even the stroller.  I can usually transition him into his bed if I get him home within 30 minutes of falling asleep or his car nap is all he'll take.

Our ward meets at 11am so nap time is always tough on Sundays.  A few weeks ago we wrestled all throughout church and he screamed as I dropped him off to his class.  He wouldn't stop crying and banging on the door to get out, so I took pity on him (and made it harder for me the next time I drop him off :-(  I'm such a softy). 

So, he came to class with me and my four year olds.  He had to tough it out through all of church since I had to teach and Dan was on a business trip.   When church was over, I put him in his car seat, and as I was about to pull out of the parking lot, I looked back and saw this.  He was dead asleep in lessthan 2 minutes = hunched forward.  The shoulder straps were keeping him somewhat upright and from falling completely over.   His head would wobble side to side like a bobblehead as he lightly snored. 
Drew and Allie giggled at him the entire drive home :-)

Walkers Visit

We had our first visitors - and hopefully not our last ;-)  My sister, Katie, her husband, Aaron, and their cute little guy, Dylan came to visit us at the beginning of September.  The weather was a bit warm still (especially since we don't have A/C).  But, they were troopers.  It cooled down at night, which made it bearable, but some of the afternoons were brutal.  They didn't know they'd be coming all this way just to sweat!   Hopefully it was still worth the drive... :-)

We had many FUN filled days.  We got to drive up to Everett and cheer Aaron on as he participated in a triathlon. Unfortunately for him, it ended up being one of the hottest days of the summer that day. But he did a great job and finished 2nd for his division. Woo-hoo!

Later that same afternoon, we decided to cool off at the beach. - Katie and I (and Aaron) swam out into the dark lake to the last set of ropes.  It was pretty far out and Katie and I made Aaron swim out there with us since it was dark, dark, cold water.  Once we made it out there, we realized it wasn't AS scary as it first seemed.  And it was fun to swim back to shore and swim out to do it again.. 

We also took a trip into Seattle to see the aquarium.  It was fun to touch and see many creatures that live in the Puget Sound area.  Another adventure we got to have was going for a ride on a boat tour on the Puget Sound.  It was cold and overcast the day we went and once out on the water - it was VERY cold.  Dylan had been dying to ride a boat, but decided it was too cold to ride a boat (of course we were already on it, and couldn't do much about it :0),

The next day we visited the Woodland Zoo in Seattle - which was Really cool.  We will be going there again!  I think its one of my favorite zoo's I've been to.  First of all, you feel like you are in the jungle and rain forest in parts of it.  They had some really cool animal exhibits.  The animals were so close and right there for us to see.  It held our attention and made us want to see more -  Complete opposite from the Phoenix zoo.  Tangent- I actually do not like to go to the Phoenix Zoo.  I feel like all I do is walk up hill in any direction and see an animal from a far distance.  Then walk FOREVER to the next far away animal.   We only had about an hour and a half before it closed, but we were able to see everything we wanted to see, and the kids got to run around and get out some energy. 

While the Walkers were here we ate and ate and ATE.  Everything from fresh Salmon and shrimp from Pikes Place Market, to Beecher's famous Mac-n-cheese, to Thai food, freshly picked blackberries, various delicious cuisine at the Issaquah Farmers Market, to Dan's famous popcorn almost every night, and an entire bag of carmel popcorn, to sweets and treats, and ice cream, to an entire bag of Belly Flops from the Jelly Belly factory (thanks again AJ!)  Dan and Aaron spent an evening trying to get rid of the horrific flavor in their mouths from tasting all the gross flavors that Jelly Belly makes (like skunk and smelly cheese).  I think we all gained a few pounds that week.
Parks and scooters were also a fun part of our week.  We even saw a nudist at the Lake park :-) (Okay, so it was a child from our group, but he didn't seem to mind that he was naked playing on the park).

Drew went with the Walkers to the Space Needle.  He had a blast and continues to slightly rub it in to Allie that he has been there and she hasn't.  He thought it was so cool to be so high up and to take the elevator all the way up to the top.

We had stake conference while they were here, so we were able to roam the Temple grounds afterwards and take some fun pictures of the kids.  Owen was NOT cooperating and i couldn't get any good shots of him.   The kids had so much fun with Dylan and were so sad to see him go. 

Drew and Dylan played and played and played. 

Katie and I got to spend many evenings playing speed and various card games.  Dan's not a huge card games fan - so I don't get to play them as much as I'd like to.  That's why I'm teaching my kids while their young how to play (and like ) UNO  :-)  Dan and Aaron humored us and played a SUPER long card game (it goes 12 rounds) - we stopped on the 11th round to go to bed, and never got around to finishing it.  But just to let the Walkers know, "It's not over till the Kings go Wild!!!"  I'm bringing to AZ to finish our game ;)

After Dan left on his trip, we toured a Chocolate factory here in Issaquah and brought home some delicious chocolates (and some MESSY chocolate covered bananas), I'm sure I'm missing some others things we did, but it was a SO MUCH FUN to have them here!!!   

Everett - Race

Outdoor fun

Space Needle

Sunday - Temple pics

Beach

Aquarium

Woodland Zoo

Chocolate Factory in Issaquah