Island Park

Last weekend (Thurs. to Sunday) we made our annual trek

up to Henry's Lake and Island Park. 

 Here are some of the highlights.

 

 

 

Jim found this little place in Idaho Falls. 
Of course we had to stop and check it out.



Foosball tournaments or as Lilly called it this year " who's ball"

Afton picked a lot of flowers this weekend. 
 And then in true Afton style picked the petals off 
each and every one of them. 

Lucky of course had to save as many Idaho rocks as he could from the lakes and rivers. 
He would walk into the water, dive in for a rock,
bring it out in his mouth and put it safely back on shore.
Then repeat over and over again.

 

 

The Apprectice learning more each year.

See..... they really do like each other.

 

We had the special treat of being able to see Jim's parents. 
 They were also up for a sibling vacation in Island Park.

Our annual picture on the front porch of the cabin.

Jim and Afton.

On our way home we took the "scenic route"
which ended up being much longer than we thought. 
 We did stop in Afton, Wyoming though .
Our Afton thought it was so fun to see her
 name on a school, bank, bench, etc.

Pre-School

Today I sent Afton and Lilly off to pre-school.

 They go Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 11. 

 6 hours a week it will be just me and the dog.

 

 

 

I always thought I would be jumping for joy at the thought of a little more alone time during the week BUT the more I think about it the more sad I get.

 It is Afton and Lilly's last year before they enter the land of kindergarten. I can already feel the tears coming for next fall as I send my babies off to Kindergarten and my oldest off to Middle School.

 Luckily, I am VERY busy with PTA stuff this year and next year I will be EXTREMELY busy as PTA President.

But in just a couple years my life will change dramatically as ALL my kids will be in school full day.  What to do? What to do?  I have started asking myself that question because I know two years will go by in a heartbeat.   I haven't worked outside of the home for over 10 years!  It is incredibly weird to ask myself  "what do I want to do/ be when I grow up?"

 It is exciting and terrifying to think about.

But,  before I go off tangent too much  .....  here are Afton and Lilly's spotlights.  After all...... they are just starting pre-school :)

Afton

Pre-school with Mrs. King

Favorite Color: yellow

Favorite Food: banana

Favorite Animal: bunny and kitty

Favorite movie or TV Show: Phineas and Ferb

Favorite things to do: color, play with Lilly in sandbox

Excited to do or learn in school- color

 

Lilly

 

Pre-School with Mrs. King

Favorite Color: pink

Favorite Food: grapes, bananas, cherries

Favorite Animal: rabbit and kitty kat

Favorite movie or TV Show: Barbie Princess and the Pauper

Favorite things to do: play in sandbox with Afton, color with Afton, play dollhouse with her

Excited to do or learn in school: storybooks

_____________________________________________________________________________
In other news... right as we were leaving for pre-school they found a potato bug.  That was much more interesting than posing for pictures for mom :)

 

 

 

3rd and 5th

First Day of 5th and 3rd Grade!

 

 

Backpacks on!

Ethan

5^th Grade at Alta View Elementary

Favorite Color: lime green

Favorite Food: onions

Favorite Animal: penguin and dogs

Favorite movie or TV Show: Star Wars

Favorite things to do: read and play wii

Excited to do or learn in school – science and art

 

 Lizzie

3^rd grade at Altara Elementary

Favorite Color: purple

Favorite Food: mashed potatoes and strawberries

Favorite Animal: dog and cat

Favorite movie or TV Show: Barbie movies

Favorite things to do: draw, climb trees,

play with luck dog and chicken

 

Excited to do or learn in school: parties

 

Back to School Party

"Welcome to the 2nd Annual Back to School Party"

Little bit of cousin play time started things out

Brown bag style dinner with your name on the bag.
I like how I told the kids to smile and over half of them are putting food in their mouth :)

Daybreak cousin representatives

11 of the 12 grandkids (in birth order as a special bonus).
Adorable Violet was snuggled in her car seat.



 

Summer Activities Part 2

With summer winding down and

school starting soon, here is our next installment of

"What we did over the summer...."

I forgot to put this one in the first installment but here are
Afton and Lilly during their "Summer Fun School" 4th of July scooter parade.

Kids eat free on Tuesdays at Ikea :)
  I couldn't resist and took them last week.  Free lunch and a movie.  Awesome!

Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point. 
 For some reason they all insisted on wearing hats. 
 Their mom always forgets hats so it definitely wasn't my idea :)

Plenty of sandbox play has gone on this summer. 
Mostly in the evenings when it is cooler.  Disneyland, Arches,
 mountains and various other places have been built this summer in the sandbox.

Shaving cream party with friends

Who knew you could get so excited for a non-moving ferris wheel :)
At the Pioneer Day float preview.

Static hair from slides.

Lilly has a tendency to fall asleep a lot this summer. 
 Summer days can be exhausting for a toddler.


It has been a great summer. 
 We have done lots of swimming, some fun crafts, field trips and just hanging out.
  It has gone by really fast.  

With that said though,  my house and a little bit of my sanity is ready for school to start :)

    Ethan and Lizzie start on Aug. 27th.
  Afton and Lilly start on Sept. 4th.

Big Mountain

This past weekend (well Thursday to Saturday)  we went camping with my parents at Big Mountain campground.  Brett and Amy came and joined us for a little while also.  Ironically I have no pictures of Brett and Amy and hardly any of my parents.  Oops! Sorry about that.

It was a fun yet quick weekend.

Lots of swimming took place ......

Jim and Lizzie.  Right before he threw her in :)

Bye Lizzie :)

Cute Lilly

Afton preferred not to swim most of the time but instead caught some rays

Plenty of time spent at the playground.........

This is how you do swings with twins

Not sure why but I love this picture.

Lilly kept saying "Higher Daddy, higher!" 
and then would scream in scared delight.

Exploring......

"The Jungle" the kids found.  It was really just a little pathway
off our campground but they still enjoyed it.

Yes, even the dog came.  He was hot but happy!

Ethan and the few minutes he was interested in fishing.

And finally...

Grandpa Bob serving all you can eat ice cream cones.

Thrice

The new floor in the girls room is 99% done. We still need to put some molding around the edges but for now this is what we have. It is such a delightful difference from that awful carpet. Here are some pictures of the new floor and 3 girls sharing a room. This post is mostly for me to remember what their room looked like and what items they really liked to play with at this age.

View from their doorway. 

The desk is Lizzie's property.  Beware if you try to touch anything on her desk :)
  Her desk (or the kitchen counter) is where she can usually be
 found working on some craft project .

The dollhouse in the corner is one of the most used items in the room.  I love listening to Afton and Lilly play together with the dollhouse using their imagination.  Many times  Disney princesses and Littlest Pet Shop animals make their way over too.  
Bonus, points if you noticed it is a bi-racial family :)

Bookcase I moved over from Ethan's room.

  Lizzies books and Caldecott books are on the bookshelf.  Other ones are in the book basket on the floor.

  In case I forget each basket holds the few things our girls ALWAYS play with......

-Barbies

-Mr and Mrs. Potato Head (with accesories)

-My Little Ponies

-Princess figurines and Polly Pockets

Afton and Lilly showing off the bunkbeds. 
Lizzie has the top bunk and sometimes Afton and Lilly sleep together on the bottom one.  There is a trundle mattress we can pull out where Lilly can sleep when they are not in the mood to share. 
 They each have a Pillow Pet that they use every night. 
 Lizzie- Unicorn, Afton- Bubble Bee, Lilly- Ladybug

One of my attempts of trying to make sure they each have their own area of a shared room.  This is on the side of the desk.  Each girl has a shelf and box that they can put only their special "treasures" in. 

Afton, Lilly and their cousin Grey showing off how awesome their new floor looks. 
 By the way, all their dress up clothes are in the trunk.


Sadly,  their room is only this clean when I am trying to take pictures.  Most of the time it looks like a bomb went off :)

-Mine and Jim's room is next with Ethan's close behind on the to do list.