First Day of School

 (Rebecca was the only one who didn't get her school supplies dropped off early.  Look how heavy that backpack is!)

 Here are the cute kids on the first day of school, 2012.  They are all looking pretty grown up!

 Rebecca is starting 5th grade.  She is sure looking grown up.  Where has the time gone?

 Miriam is starting 3rd grade.  She is such a sweetie and so pretty!  She will do great in school.

 Where has my baby boy gone?  Joseph is starting kindergarten.  He is ready for lots of fun!

Little Ruth and I are going to have lots of quality time together before she starts school...

Lemonade Stand

 We had a neighborhood garage sale a couple weekends ago.  The kids saw the advertisements for it and wanted to have a garage sale, too.  Now my opinion of garage sales is that it is great for other people to have, but I don't want to sit outside all day long in the heat waiting for someone to come and look at my stuff.  Especially when my husband is out of town so I would have to do all the work.  So the kids settled for setting up a lemonade stand for all the garage sale goers.  They had a fun time and made a little money.  Good job!

Denver Zoo

 I took the kids on a trip to the Denver Zoo.  They all enjoy looking at the animals and spenting time together.

 Rebecca also likes to take pictures of the animals.  I feel that the pictures should have at least one member of the family in them, but Rebecca took a picture of nearly every animal we saw, but I only got these three of us.  Hmm...

Swimming Lessons

 This summer the kids did two sessions of swimming lessons. We went to a different pool than we have in the past, and I was thrilled with their progress.  (Poor Ruth just hung out on the side with me during the other kids' lessons.)

 Miriam really overcame a lot of her fears of the water.  She would willingly play in the water by going under and getting the rings off the bottom.  She learned some basic strokes and was starting to try to breathe.

 Joseph loves the water.  He gained a lot of confidence as well as started to learn some floats and kicks.  He loved it so much that I took the kids to the pool one afternoon and the lifeguard nearly had to jump in and save him because he thought he could swim.  He'd been doing it in lessons, right?

Rebecca is a good little swimmer.  She knows all the basic strokes and is working on being able to swim the length of the pool.  I'm glad that it is something she enjoys!

Hair Cuts

 I have a little tradition going-- the kids go in to get a professional hair cut once a year, before school starts.  It works out pretty well because when you don't go to the fancy kids salon for a whole year, they send you a coupon to get you to come back, which brings the price down to the same as going to Cost Cutters.

 And since the girls are of the mindset that they want to grow out their hair, I just take them in to get it trimmed up even and cleaned up.  I am getting pretty good (okay, not terrible any more) at cutting Joseph's hair.  I practice on him every couple months.

 But for Ruth, this was her first hair cut.  I have been holding off getting it cut, just trying to keep it pulled up and out of her face.  But inevitably she would have hair in her face, and it just looked messy all the time, so I had them trim her some bangs and straighten it all up.  She did pretty good for her first time. 

 What a cutie!

Feeling Guilty

 I realized that I had taken very few pictures of my children this summer, so I pulled out the camera to take some candid shots of the kids being themselves. 

 I found that Ruth has become quite the little ham.  She kept saying, "Cheese" and waiting for me to take a picture of her.

 Joseph and Miriam humored me by looking up from the Play-Doh to take a picture.

 Rebecca, on the other hand, must be too old for her silly mother, because she didn't want to look at me or get her picture taken.  "Come on, Mom!"

What They Do...

 When they're ready for church early!

 I'm surprised I didn't catch anyone reading, that is an activity of choice for Rebecca and Miriam.

 I love these sweet kiddos!

Ward Campout

 Our ward had a campout this summer.  The kids were excited to go up to the mountains and have some fun. We decided to have Jack go camping with the kids while Ruth and I stayed home.  We figured that it would be much more pleasant for us and everyone else if Ruth slept in her own bed. 

 The kids had a great time playing with friends, camping, and doing crafts.  Ruth and I slept all night and cleaned the house the next morning before the campers made it home.

Sweet Sisters

 I love pictures like these.  The children truly love each other, even though at times they get on each other's nerves.  They argue and tease, but they really love each other.

Rebecca is 8 1/2 years older than Ruth.  That age difference has made it so Rebecca is truly helpful in caring for her little sister.  Rebecca has changed diapers, fed and clothed her sister.  She is a huge help to me.  I try not to ask too much of her, but her help is truly invaluable.  I am so grateful for all she does!

A Day at the Beach

 Before heading home from our trip to Disneyland, we decided to spend a day at the beach.  The kids  had never been to the beach before, so we rented a van and loaded everyone up. 

 This was still the first week in June, so it was still cold!  There was a little space just above the sand that the wind didn't get to, so I spent a good amount of time just lying on the beach towel trying to stay warm  And the poor little ones, they were freezing coming out of the water.  But, luckily, as the day progressed, we got warmer.

 Rebecca really enjoyed playing in the ocean.  Miriam and Joseph had a great time digging in the sand and building a sand castle complete with a moat.  Jack and I took turns with who was in the water and who was on the sand.

We all really enjoyed the day, but unfortunately, we didn't use quite enough sunscreen.  Everyone except Joseph and Ruth got pretty sunburned.  Not a fun way to travel home!

Disneyland 2012

It's been a long time, but recently my sister asked me for the information on my blog, and it got me thinking maybe someone cares about what we are up to, so I will try to update things again.  To start I will show some of the highlights of our summer.

 We had a great time at Disneyland.  The kids were excited, and had a better idea of what to expect since they had done it before.  They all had their favorites.  It was a little more difficult keeping everyone happy on the same rides since the age gap has increased since last time we went, but it was still a fun family time.

 When we got to the hotel after a not-so-pleasant shuttle ride from the airport (think screaming baby on an hour-long trip with hungry, tired kids), we found that there was a leak in the bathroom of our room.  This was a blessing in disguise, since our room was then upgraded to a much more comfortable suite. 

 We managed to get to the favorites-- Joseph really enjoyed Peter Pan's flight and It's a Small World.  He didn't like some of the character rides that were scary, so he, Ruth and I split off so the others could do those rides while we did other things.

 We found a new favorite.  Star Tours was a lot of fun.  It was a simulation of a Star Wars shuttle flight, with several different adventures, so you could go on it multiple times and experience different things.  Miriam and I both thought that was our favorite ride.

 Jack's favorite was still Soarin' Over California.  Joseph really liked that as well.

 Rebecca was old enough to do some more thrill rides this time.  She liked the roller coasters and wanted to go on the Tower of Terror, but neither of her parents were willing to take her.  (On a side note, just this week she went to another amusement park with a friend and rode a similar ride.  She didn't think it was that great.)

 Ruth just enjoyed being with the family.  She did fairly well for the trip, which we were grateful for!