wrapping up summer and back to school!

This summer seemed to fly by pretty fast. I had anticipated a very slow summer, especially compared to our incredibly busy and action-packed sabbatical summer we had last year. Swim team certainly kept us busy every evening and weekend though. I think the boys had a good experience even though both Hewitt and Tosh say they do not want to do it next year. We'll see. 

We were outside swimming one afternoon and the kids were pretending to play store and Liv said the following to Tosh, "My milkshake store is closed because it is excluded. Excluded means that you're left out...in Spanish." Ha! She cracks me up.

Burke and Liv have been playing nicely together which has been awesome. They dressed up one day as undercover FBI agents:

 Another time I caught them coloring together. So sweet:

Carla Cockerell Everett, my best friend from Jr. High and High School came for a short visit one day. She and her husband met at NAU, and wanted to show their kids around Arizona and visit the Grand Canyon. It was so fun to meet her kids in person after only seeing them on Christmas cards all these years. Here are some photos of Carla and me from Jr. High, High School, and now!

And one of our kids (the best shot I could get):

Liv took a ballet class this summer from the same teacher she had before. It was exciting to see that she had improved and was generally more focused this time around!

She still doesn't enjoy the stretching much (not very flexible), but she had fun and her rhythm was right on.

About a week before school started, Burke was sort of complaining and asking why we had to leave Utah so soon and could we please go somewhere fun before school started. We had a free hotel room to use by the end of July so Rob and I started looking into some options for something fun to do with the kids.

Things came together and we were able to put together a fun little weekend 'staycation' for the weekend before school started with a couple of surprises for the kids! It turned out to be a wonderful 24 hours together as a family.

I packed clothes for the kids without their help so they would have no idea what we were up to. I also bought some yummy treats and snacks that we would not normally have. Rob got home around 4pm on Friday and we drove to downtown Phoenix. We parked on the street (free weekend parking) and walked a few blocks to the Renaissance Hotel.

Checking out the view from our 17th floor room:

We walked from the hotel to get some dinner, and then a few more blocks to Chase Field for the Diamondbacks vs Cubs game. It was so great to walk everywhere and give the kids a feel for 'downtown' life.

Rob just happened to be able to get free tickets through Intel (great lower bowl seats!) so that was nice. Rob took the kids to the play area and batting cage during some of the game to break things up:

"Take me out to the ballgame!"

We stayed for the entire game and watched the fireworks show outside before walking back to the hotel. It was a fun adventure!

The next morning the boys played a little chess at the hotel:

And we did a little swimming:

We checked out of the hotel and drove to a "surprise" location--a bowling alley! The kids were relieved it was something good (one of them actually thought we were going to go home), and everyone was excited. The Groupon deal we found for bowling included two games, shoe rental, and free popcorn and root beer! When Liv was sitting here eating popcorn she said, "This is the best day ever, right Mom?"

It's been quite a long time since we've bowled together as a family. It was fun to see the kids improve from game one to game two even.

Burke got two strikes in a row for the first time!

I love Hewitt's form:

Tosh had gotten a spare on his prior turn and was really hoping to get a spare on his very last turn (cute face!):

Family bowling was a success!

We then took off for surprise location #2... I had told Hewitt that one of the surprises he had done before (bowling) and the other he had never done. He guessed "zipline" and I said, "Sorry, no zipline in Phoenix in July!"

We eventually found the place and the kids were pretty excited! Ice skating! Here they were out front:

I had packed a separate bag full of long pants and sweatshirts and we changed inside. Can I just say that the ice rink felt incredible! I may just need to go sit inside there during the day; the heat has really been bothering me.

It took everyone a bit to get used to the feel of the skates. The boys did really well. Liv was hilarious! She was sort of all over the place and trying to dance most of the time. Rob held her up 95% of the time because she was so wiggly and Rob is much better than I am on skates. I adore this photo of Rob and Liv:

We had such a great time and stayed much longer than I thought we would (until open skate time was over). I admired that the boys pushed past the "this is hard" phase and stuck with it until it got really fun (besides the fact that the skates made our ankles really sore).

I love these cuties!

Selfie on Ice!

This photo makes me laugh so hard. Liv is so funny! Lest you think she was terrified or something, don't worry, she was totally laughing here:

I love my family! What a fantastic weekend together.

We grabbed some dinner after skating and met our friend/realtor (Jami) over at the house we've put an offer on. The kids had never been there and it was nice to see it empty and remember what it looks like after not being inside for about a month or so. Things are still moving along (albeit slowly), and the bank requested an appraisal and a list of repairs that need to be made this week. The house is set to go into foreclosure next Friday so we are hopeful we will get approval before then!

School started on Monday, July 21st. It's a big year with Burke starting Jr. High and Liv going to all day kindergarten!!! I was a little stressed about getting to the three different drop-offs in plenty of time. Tosh and Liv take the bus from our neighborhood at 8:03, Hewitt catches the bus to his school from SanTan (the school closest to our home) at 8:39, and then I drive Burke to his Jr. High that starts at 9:03 (or something totally weird like that). They encourage all kindergarten kids to take the bus the first day, but most parents will get kids on the bus and then drive over to the school and watch the kids get off the bus and go into the classroom the first day. I didn't think I'd have time to do that and to get Hewitt to his bus stop early enough, which was stressing me out. I had a good cry about this on Sunday morning (and about missing my girl this year!), but I knew that Liv would be absolutely fine! I went to her classroom with her to meet her teacher the Thursday before school started, and she was totally ready and so excited to finally ride the bus!

I didn't get great photos before the first day of school this year. I offered to buy Burke a new shirt or something and he was like, "Why would I need new clothes?" He is SO ROB sometimes! 

Burke- 7th Grade:

Hewitt- 4th Grade:

Tosh- 2nd Grade:

Liv- Kindergarten (each kinder teacher has a different colored shirt so they can make sure they have all their kids on the first day and for field trips!):

Liv loading the big bus. Do you like her HUGE backpack with her lunch money pinned to the outside?

I was a little teary watching Liv and Tosh get on the bus. I dropped off Hewitt, and then Burke, and admit that I felt quite euphoric after that! A Boston song came on the radio and I turned it way up and thought, "This is the life! I am living the dream!" Ha! :)  I organized a lunch with some girl friends to celebrate school starting.

It's over two weeks later and the kids are all enjoying their teachers and doing great! Burke made the 7th grade soccer team and has started early morning practices (7-8)! So proud of him for trying out (I never had the guts to do something like that).

I received some great notes and reports from teachers just this week.  Burke's social studies teacher sent me an email out of the blue:
"I just wanted to acknowledge what a wonderful young man Burke is.  He participates in class and always has a great attitude.  He is enthusiastic about learning and it shows.  I look forward to a great year!"


And this note from Tosh's teacher yesterday made my day!
"I have really enjoyed getting to know Tosh, he has had to work very hard for that green stamp, but has earned every one of them every single day. I do adore him terribly. His smile and his amazing effort into everything he does makes me very proud of him. Tosh does have a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for learning and life, but I sure do enjoy having him in my room. He brightens the room, truly, I really mean it."

Looks like the school year is off to a great start!