Kate goes to Preschool

Okay - I cried. A lot. I was still teary when I picked her up two hours later.
Kate started Preschool today. She was so excited! She has been asking everyday for weeks when she gets to go to school. She was so upset when her brothers went to school without her. What drama! (especially for Kate, who usually isn't a drama queen).
She was up early today, dressed and ready to go. I made a new skirt for her to wear. It is very twirly and she loves it. We had to wait until 9:30 for school to start. She was quite anxious since her brothers start at 8 am.

We walked to school. We are lucky enough that Kate's preschool is in our neighborhood and a lot of her friends get to go to school with her. She walked right in, put her backpack away and started playing. I gave her a kiss and she waved good-bye. So easy for Kate - so hard for Mom!
She had a great day! Kate loves preschool and I know she will have a terrific year. If only Mom can survive without her for four hours a week!

Potato People at a Family Reunion

Our family attended the Evans' Family Reunion today at Wheeler Farm. We had a great time playing at the park, feeding the ducks, going for walks, visiting with family, eating lunch and jumping on the bounce house.
One of the activities was making potato head people with various crafty items. Gavin was incredible and blew us all away with his creativity. He made a:

HARRY POTTER


ZEBRA


DESPICABLE ME MINION


Yep, those are potatoes. Pretty clever, I think.

Quilts

I had some fabric in my sewing room that ended up in the corner - fabric that I labeled for humanitarian use. I knew that our stake was doing a quilt drive and it gave me the perfect opportunity to put some quilts together and clean out my sewing room. I had to get a bit creative in how I put the quits together because I had a limited amount of each fabric. I also made sure I did some boy quilts, since not as many as those get done.
My biggest challenge was tying them. I usually machine quilt, so tying was a new experience. Luckily the quilts were small enough that I could do them on the floor and I didn't need frames. I tied all five quilts in two days. Yep, my fingers hurt. And, of course, I did it during the hottest week of the year. At least, I know these quilts are warm!
But, they are done - out of my house and on to kids who need them. Enoch and Kate kept asking who the quilts were for. I told them that some kids don't have any blankets and are cold. They were baffled. It never occurred to them that some kids don't have blankets. It was a reminder that I need to spend more time in our family doing service and being grateful.

Scattered Thoughts

1. Kate told me, "Know what I want mostest when I grow up?"
"What?" I asked.
"I want longer arms so I can do all the things in gym class!"
Poor thing! She has inherited my short arms, while her brothers have their dad's extra long monkey arms. I was hoping our kids would get genes from both of us and have average arms, but no such luck.

2. At the beginning of the summer, Gavin was about one inch shorter than me. Now - one inch taller than me! What! How can he be taller than me already?

3. Last night I heard Enoch tell Kate, "Let's go downstairs and be beavers and put our dam skills to work." Okay, I know I shouldn't, but I laughed so hard. When Greg gave me the 'I can't believe you are laughing at that' look (while he too was laughing), I said, "I've lived with kitties and tigers for years now. I'm relieved the kids have some dam skills."

And our little beavers were busy. They built a blanket dam, which was eventually overcome with a flash flood.

Waffle Day

This morning while Greg was checking the weather on the news, I overheard them say it was National Waffle Day. Fabulous - now I know what's for dinner.
I decided to make it a bit more fun and have chocolate waffles with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge sauce and blackberries from the garden. Everyone loved it and it was a fun change for dinner.



Yeah - I was a popular mom tonight!

First Day of School

Some of us were excited for this day, some of us not so much - but it is here.
Gavin and Enoch were up early for their first day of school. We gave Enoch a Yoda alarm clock the night before at set it at 7am, but he was up and going way before that. We started with our traditional first-day-of-school breakfast of French Toast and bacon. Gavin was fine and ate quite a bit, but Enoch was nervous and barely got down a half a slice.
The boys didn't plan this, but they both wore their BYU football shirts. Before I took pictures, Gavin said, "This is stupid, I don't want to be matching my little brother. I'm not doing pictures." I responded with a, "Oh yes you are. And I think it is cute so be quiet and go stand next to your brother." I finally got a smile out of Gavin, but only because he knew we would stand there until I got a good picture and he didn't want to miss the bus. I think it is adorable!



Gavin ran and caught the bus, while Enoch, Kate and I walked to school. I followed Enoch into his classroom (he remembered right where it was) and said good-bye. Enoch was too busy putting his backpack away and checking out his desk to notice that we were leaving. I admit, I was wiping away a few tears as Kate and I left the school. Such a big day for my little guy! Gavin was also on my mind and I kept a prayer in my heart all day for both of them.
The first day of school was a success. Both boys came home happy and excited for the upcoming year.

A Conversation in the Car

Background: Enoch and Kate have made up a game to play in the car. When they get buckled in before Mom does they each get a pretend chocolate trophy. Since it encourages them to get in their seats and buckle up, I'm all for it.

Today when Greg and I got in the car to go the church, Kate was crying. She was crying because Enoch took away her pretend chocolate trophy. (Yep, I was thinking the same thing you are - just wait, it gets better.) When we asked Enoch why he took away her trophy he said she was eating it before she was buckled in. Greg said to give it back to her. Enoch refused.
Greg said, "Give it back it her or I will take away ALL the chocolate trophies."
Enoch said, "I'll just make more."
Greg said, "Give it back or I will take away your pretend chocolate trophy making equipment and you can't make any more.
Enoch said, "Oh, yes I can."
Kate piped in, "I'll help Enoch make some pretend chocolate trophy making equipment and then we can make more and have all we want."

Then I threw my hands in the air and said, "Why are we having this conversation?!"