THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE

THE UPS!!!

**Stephanie was super excited about starting her first day of kindergarten at Hickman School. On Mondays, she participates in an 1 1/2 hour special class for kindergarten homeschool students called "The Children's Garden".

**Stephanie's friend, Lauren, also attends her kindergarten class. Steph was happy to already have a friend to talk to and share with during class.

**Stephanie had fun working with shapes, tracing her body, and playing "freeze dance" with Miss Shelly, her teacher and our family friend.


THE DOWNS!!!


**Her name on her nametag was spelled incorrectly. Stephanie just laughed.

**After class, we were talking with a friend who noticed that Stephanie had a little bit of yucky in the corner of her eye. She told us that she thought that Stephanie might have pink eye, even though her eye was not pink. We went to the school nurse, and she felt like it probably was pink eye.

**Stephanie hasn't been sick since we moved here, so she hasn't been to the doctor in over two years. Several tears were shed on the way to the doctor-hers, then mine.

**She now has to have eye drops 3 times a day for the next 5 days. Because it is very contagious, we have to sanitize everything that she touches for the next 24 hours.



Life is full of ups and downs!!!

Hopefully tomorrow will have more ups than downs.

Horse Back Riding

The horse back riding was everyone's favorite part of day camp!

SCOUT DAY CAMP!

On Saturday, Daniel went to an all-day scout camp with his pack. While he was there, he learned about knife safety and learned how to whittle. He earned his whittling card and a pocket knife. He is so proud of his pocket knife. He can't wait to go camping so that he can use it.





As one of Daniel's school projects, he wrote a scout skit for his pack to perform. It was about a group of scouts on an overnight camping trip in the Grizzly Bear National Park. In the middle of the night, they scouts heard noises and were afraid that it was a bear outside the tent. It turns out to be the Pack Leader snoring in his tent.

Daniel did a great job writing his play, and the little kids laughed during most of the performance. Daniel was proud that his hard work finally paid off.


At the award ceremony, Daniel received 4 more belt loops and 3 pins. Way to go, Buddy!

FIRSTS FOR EVERYONE

Yesterday was full of so many great firsts that I wanted to share them with you.

DOUG'S FIRST-He taught his first early morning seminary class (a religion class) to 18 high school students. He had to be at the church at 6:00am. He was very nervous about teaching this class because he hasn't had much, if any, experience with teenagers. This was his first of many early morning classes because the class meets every day before school.

GOOD LUCK, DOUG!!!

LAURA'S FIRSTS-I had so many firsts.
1. It was my first day of waking up at 5:00am to make Doug's lunch and see him out the door. Yikes! This could get tiring after a bit.

2. It was my first time making Chicken Teriyaki from scratch. Each week this summer, I have been trying to cook a few new recipes. Most of the recipes we like and a few we don't. The Chicken Teriyaki was a keeper.

3. It was my first time making a slide show for my blog. I was pleased that I was able to do that on my own. I had a fun time trying different types of slide show layouts.

4. Most importantly, it was my first day of teaching school for the three kids. All three kids are doing school this year, so I have had to be very creative with organizing my teaching time.

I was so pleased with how our first day of school turned out. Thanks Amanda, Daniel, and Stephanie for making it such a great day!

AMANDA'S FIRST- Amanda started her first year of junior high (with me, of course). It is hard to believe that my baby is already in the 7th grade. She worked very hard on her studies yesterday, and she was actually cheering about starting school again.

DANIEL'S FIRST- Daniel started his first day of 5th grade today, and he did a great job! He received all A's on his assignments. He is very motivated to get straight A's this year. (A nice cash bonus always does the trick for him.) Whatever works!!!

STEPHANIE'S FIRST- Stephanie had the most exciting 'first' of everyone. She started her first official day of Kindergarten. She has been looking forward to this all summer, and she was so bubbly as we went through the day. Her day consisted of some calendar items, phonics, reading, p.e., and painting. I thought that she would be satisfied with a few minutes of school here and there, but she wanted me to do school with her all day. She told me that she will always love school. I loved working with her, and I look forward to spending this time with her this year. (Oh, the change of outfit-that was just a casuality of painting. I guess my laundry pile is sure to grow with this budding Picasso.)

WACKY WATER DAY!!!

On Saturday, Laura and her wonderful Primary counselors were in charge of a summer activity for the children at church and their families. They hosted a Wacky Water Day which included a water slide, a barbeque lunch, and lots of water balloons and water games. About 100 people attend. It was so much fun that we have had many requests for a repeat activity next summer.

Enjoy the slideshow! Click on the pictures to enlarge them or stop them.


THE FUN!!!

THE GAMES!!!

THE SLIDE