Back to School

Ethan is in Ms. Iwinski's class.  Ethan had been very sad to be leaving Eagle, crying when it would come up.  At then end of the last school year, I took him to Paseo Pointe and tried to catch the 3rd grade teachers after school to introduce him.  We only found one, but she was very friendly and talked to him and tried to help him find other teachers.  All summer he hoped he would get her.  He asked me to request her, but because I didn't have a great reason, I told him I wouldn't do that, but he could.  He did end up writing a letter to the principal the week before school started.  I don't think that made a difference, but he got the teacher he wanted: Ms. Iwinski!  He was SO excited!  He has been having a great year.  He has Hunter, a friend from church, in his class, and hasn't been asking to go back to Eagle.  I am liking that his teacher keeps the grade book updated and includes notes about what they aren't getting so I've been able to work with Ethan at home on specific skills.  Also, Ethan qualified for gifted.

Benton has Ms. Trujillo and Mr. Gastelo.  Mr. Gastelo is very friendly and seems to be very on top of challenging Benton.  When we went to curriculum night Ms. Trujillo mentioned trying to send Benton to 2nd grade for math.  Mr. Gastelo told me all about how quickly Benton learns Spanish and that he is in the advanced group.  He told me how Benton could do the math assessment effortlessly.  Since then, Benton and our friend Darci have been put in their own reading group where they were reading Charlotte's Web to each other.  Then, they were moved to a 2nd grade reading group.

My favorite thing about this year is that the boys walk to and from school by themselves.  My mornings and afternoons are much less rushed and more productive.  I have been getting a different treat for them each week and if they are ready by 6:45 they get a treat in their lunch.  That is going really well and gives us a chance to all gather when we do their hair, say a prayer and read a scripture before nicely bidding them farewell.  They leave by 7:00 and eat breakfast at school.

Summer Fun

At the end of August I was on the way to the Mesa temple with my YW Presidency and I left my phone on my car by the windshield wipers.  I didn't realize it and never found my phone.  That means, all of my July and August pictures were lost, unless they were put on Facebook or if they were taken on someone else's device.  This post shows what was left.  Dan happened to be selling his phone, but they were at the Outer Banks so they had a friend mail me the phone.  Unfortunately, she put it in a cardboard envelope and not a box, so the phone cracked on the way.  I spent hours on chat figuring things out.  I ended up being able to get a good deal on a new phone and get all my cards frozen and replaced without a phone, but it was really stressful.

We checked out a new place on our POGO passes and it was a lot of fun.

 Then we went to a nearby park.  It was really hot, so we didn't stay long.  Ethan climbed up this far and then was scared to come down.

 We took a trip to the zoo with our POGO passes.

The baby Orangutan was really entertaining.  Asher called him a "silly monkey".  

 Another day we went to do kids free bowling and had free lunch at nearby library.

 Then we got free slurpees from 7eleven.

The week before our anniversary, my Mom came out and we got to do a weekend trip to the Princess resort.  I read two books while relaxing in the hotel and poolside.  I took a few fun classes at the bym and we finally got sized for hiking backpacks (which we were able to find online on clearance later).

 On our actual anniversary we were going to go to Fogo de Chao, but Mike had had a stressful day at work, so we went to Macaroni Grill and saw a movie.  I was planning on using this as an excuse to wear a fancy dress, so I still got a little dressed up.

 On members only night, we all went to the museum.

 Stake Conference wore them out.

 Asher fell asleep on the way to church one day, so Mike hung out in the car for awhile to let him sleep.

 I started teaching at LA Fitness this summer.  I'm teaching cycle at 5:45am on Tuesdays and bootcamp at 9:45 on Wednesdays.  Because I don't need to go to the gym during the day on Tuesdays, I got a Children's Museum pass for me and Asher and Aden.  We are all really enjoying it!

I hosted a salad jar party.  It was great and got me on the lunch prep bandwagon.

 These two have so much fun.

 Ethan has started giving me notes in the form of paper airplanes.

 He wrote this one in the middle of the night when he woke up worried about scorpions because we have started getting them in our house this summer.  He said it made him feel better to write it down and know I would read it.  He left it on the fridge because he knew when I got up to exercise I would get thirsty.  It wasn't a morning that I get up early, but it is cute to see what he notices.

One night in September I was throwing a fondue pre-baby party for Katie and he flew an airplane in asking if I could come read to him because we had been reading Witches together at night.  We moved Asher downstairs and Ethan upstairs, so now I do bedtime with Ethan and we've been reading together.

I was getting school shoes for Benton at Kohl's and saw that they had Mo Willems stuffed animals, yay!  I've been checking out his books in English and Spanish.  Benton likes to read Spanish ones to me to see if I can figure out which book it is.  He also likes to have us read it one page at a time, me in English, him in Spanish.

 As we got close to the eclipse, I started teaching the kids about it.  We went to a library program to learn about eclipses, too.  We were late because we were at a baptism down the street, so we ended up on a wait list to get in and get eclipse glasses.  Ethan and Benton ended up being the last two.

I found this book while we there and it was fascinating!  I flew through it, which is uncommon in a nonfiction!

The boys' school wasn't doing anything for the eclipse.  The kids had to stay inside until it was over, so I pulled them out.  Here is the eclipse viewed through the trees.

 Kendra joined us and brought super creative snacks.

We were not in the path of totality and it got cloudy at the most covered time, so it wasn't a great view.  It was cool when the cloud cover was thick enough that we didn't need glasses, but thin enough to still see the eclipse.

 Benton has gotten into the Captain Awesome book series and will read one cover to cover in one sitting, which takes him about 45 minutes.  This picture of him reading while in time out made me think of this quote.

 Asher started gymnastics again and really likes it.  He is very strong and is getting more brave on the beam.  He doesn't stay on task as much as he used to, but he is usually doing things like flipping around the bar.

I got up to teach my early class one morning and my engine lightt, battery light, and gas light were on and my engine sounded funny.  I went to class and then came back and Mike went with me to get the battery tested.  The alternator was dead.  We drove together to drop my van off and take him to work and I still made it to the museum with the boys.  They were very happy to still get there.

 I may be missing a lot of summer pictures, but Asher discovered my camera (which he calls my "picture phone") this summer and took hundreds of pictures.  The camera was always laying around so all the boys took pictures randomly.  Here are the ones that actually show something.

 The boys loved the McDonald's Teeny Beanie Boo's and tried to get them whenever they could.

 We get to clean this up a lot.

 We planned an overnight girls trip.  It was last minute and only 4 of us could make it, but it was SO fun.  It needed to be longer.  there was lots of snacking and talking.  We played games and I got to work out during breakfast.

 We played mini golf.

 And hung out by the pool.

 The summer included many many trips to the school for free breakfast and lunch.