First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Tessa's big day!! I think it's fair to say that she has been waiting for this day for years-ever since Adam started school, she has been ready and waiting. The day finally came and this cutie-pie started Kindergarten! She couldn't have been more excited. She carefully picked her outfit out last night, completely down to her nail polish. She was the first one up and ready to go this morning. Kindergarten couldn't come fast enough!

 She wore her backpack all morning-even while doing her chores. 

 She requested pancakes for her first day of school breakfast. She even helped with the flipping and we made a few fairy pancakes just for fun.

 She didn't want to take pictures this morning. She wanted to get in the car and go! But, Mommy insisted on some pictures for the big day.

 Her darling dress was made by her Aunt Dee and Tessa has been waiting for weeks to wear it to school. She said she wants to wear it everyday.

 Finally at school together.

 Mrs. Hales was happy to see her this morning. Tessa quickly found her backpack cubby and her desk. 

 When did they grow up? 

Adam was so excited for Tessa!

 I felt silly as I walked out of the school and was clearly the only mom crying. I thought it would be easier to leave her after doing it once already, but I guess not. I don't think I will ever get used to leaving my babies with someone else. Gwen and I came home and played blocks and read, "Are You My Mother?" about 4 times and I actually read a chapter in a Mommy book! Something that rarely happens anymore!

When we picked Tessa up, she said she had a great day and can't wait to go back tomorrow! She was very happy that she didn't have to pull any school tickets and that she stayed on a green card all day. She said they read books and sang some silly songs, drew pictures and had a fun recess. We are excited to see you blossom this year and hear about all of your Kindergarten adventures. We love you so much, Tessa Boo!!

Dinosaur!

Aunt Dee gave us a heads up that there would be a dinosaur skeleton being assembled in Pleasant Grove on Monday evening. A lady she works with is a Paleontologist and gave her the scoop on this dinosaur. It was found near the boarder of Wyoming and Montana and what they have to assemble is 85% real dinosaur bones. There is a warehouse in Pleasant Grove where they work on dinosaur bones and fossils. Who knew? I guess this group that found this dinosaur sold it for well over 1 million dollars. It's being shipped to Singapore on Friday. When we arrived, they already had most of it assembled, but it was amazing to watch them connect the rest of the pieces and watch a dinosaur be built before our eyes. Adam and Tessa thought it was amazing and Gwen growled at it. 

 Tessa tripped on the asphalt and scraped her hands and knees. Eventually she got over her pain and had some fun. She was so excited to see the dinosaur head!

 Assembling the neck.

 It took 6 men to lift up the femur bone!

 Some of the men had to get insanely high on scaffolding or be hoisted up on a fork lift to attach some of the bones. It made us so nervous watching them!

 It was dark and after 8:30pm by the time they had everything done. I ended up chasing Gwen around a ton so I didn't get pictures of the head and final product. I'll have to get some from Dee. We loved watching this process and are just amazed at how they find, ship, and rebuild a dinosaur. I think I see a trip to Vernal in our future....

Summer of Fun-Final Week

Our summer of fun has come to an end. We are sad to see it go, but excited for fall weather and the holidays! We tried to have some fun this week, along with getting some much needed work done. I have neglected several projects all summer and finally tackled most of them this week. I have to say, my craft closet looks beautifully organized!!

Monday we just hung around at home. Adam had fun shooting his Lego people off of towers he built from cups and blocks. (When Gwen wasn't knocking his towers over for him.)

 Tessa spent most of Monday doing art projects. We had stamps, markers, crayons and glitter all over the place. She made lots of cards for her bff, Camdyn. 

 Adam read a book about pioneers a while back and at the back of the book was a recipe for Johnny Cake. He decided he wanted to make it and see what it tasted like. I decided this was a perfect opportunity for him to learn how to cook all on his own. I helped him gather everything he needed, but he measured, stirred and poured everything all by himself. He was quiet proud of himself!

 I loved his Jazz hat over his chef hat. I told him he looked like a cafeteria worker. 

 Tuesday we had planned another adventure up to Thanksgiving Point, but I just couldn't get excited about going. Instead, we decided to have another day at home. We spent most of the day outside playing with all of our neighborhood buddies. Mommy also got the garage cleaned. It was nice to just have a day at home to play and get things done. 

Wednesday we had our Wizard of Oz party. Our book we read together this summer was, The Wizard of Oz. Wednesday we did some Wizard of Oz art projects and watched the movie.

 We got our summer bookshelf all filled up. When we counted everything all up, Adam had read over 50 chapter books and Tessa and I had read over 40 books together. I had hoped to read the entire Anne of Green Gables series this summer, but I only got to page 4 of the first book. So much for my summer reading, but I am super proud of my kiddos for reading so much!

 Wednesday afternoon we had a Back to School Open House. Adam and Tess love to read the books in the school office. 

 Tessa finally got to check out her classroom and see Mrs. Hales. 

Mrs. Hales told Tessa she was excited to see her name on her class list this year. She remembered how cute Tess was when Adam was in Kindergarten. 

 Adam got to check out his classroom and do a scavenger hunt his teacher had set up for them. He is so excited to have Mrs. Woodhouse this year!

 Wednesday night we headed up to Provo for the Cougar Kick-off! We are so excited for some football!!

Tessa found some cheerleaders as soon as we got there. She lucked out because the 2 cheerleaders she is standing next to are both named, Tessa!

 With the George Q. Cannon.

 Doing some football drills.

 Go Cougars!!

 We have been planning a backyard camp out all summer, but it kept getting pushed farther and farther towards the end of summer. We had put it on the calendar to do it on Friday, but as luck would have it, we got rained out. We made the best of it and moved it all inside. We cooked all of our campfire food on the stove and had a picnic. 

 Gwennie was being a puppy during dinner. 

 We moved our living room furniture and brought the tent inside for everyone to sleep in. 

 Daddy rented a fun movie to watch with the kids.

 We roasted marshmallows over the stove. It worked great and we had delicious s'mores. 

 All tucked in and ready for bed. 

Adam and Tessa loved sleeping in the tent with Daddy. It was a fun way to end our summer!