First week of school!

Yeah!! We survived the first week of school!! I do realize I am still a month behind with the last week of school and summer vacation, but this is a new chapter in my life and quite sad/exciting/scary.

Nicholas started the 3rd grade and Nathan started the 5th grade on July 26th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN! (again!)

Last year the first day of school happened to be on his birthday too. (more on that to come)

Noah had a teacher meet and greet that day with his 1st grade teacher.  Mrs. Tedeschi is WONDERFUL! We love her!!

So Wednesday, July 27th my life changed forever......

Noah started 1st grade and is now in school ALL day!  My "buddy", my "good little helper", my conspirator and cohort is growing up.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to leave him and have him gone all day.

My little man isn't so little anymore.

I must admit that part of me has been looking forward to having a solid day to get things done and not have to be constantly watching the clock to make sure we got to kindergarten on time everyday in the middle of the day. 

However, as I said my tearful goodbyes and sent Noah off to his first full day at school, I realized I would miss him and having my mornings with him were some great times that I will miss.  I ran a few errands and went home to get started on my mile long "to do when all the kids are in school all day" list.  Needless to say, I got nothing done.  I sat in my too quiet house missing my little man and watching the clock counting down the time until they all got home.

It was a very long day.  So when 4:00 FINALLY came around and Noah was the first one through the door to tell me how his day went, I almost cried again.  After they all told me about their days and showed me all their papers, I pulled Noah aside and asked him if he missed me.  He said he did, but he didn't cry.  some kids did, but he didn't.  Then he asks me, "Mom? Did YOU cry?"  "Yes, I did *sniff*".   "You'll be fine mom."
That's my little man.
The rest of the week I made sure to keep very busy, but I still find myself waiting and watching the clock by 3:30 in the afternoon.
Change is always hard, and moving on to the "next stage" of life seems to be getting harder when it involves my kids growing up way too fast.
Speaking of growing way too fast, Nathan turned 11 on the 26th. 11???? How did that happen so fast??  Him starting 5th grade has been almost as hard as Noah starting 1st grade.  Only one more year and then Jr. High, Young Men's, scout camp outs...!  It's almost too much for a mother to deal with. 
His favorite thing to do on a daily basis, is to measure himself on the wall to see if he has gotten any taller.  In the last 3 months he has grown over an inch.  For a growing boy, that isn't that significant.  BUT, that makes him 5 foot 1 1/2 inches!! He's 11!  He wears a size 8 in mens shoes.  And more importantly to him, he is now officially 1 1/2 inches shorter than I am.  His "goal" is to be at least as tall as me if not taller than me by the end of the year.  At this rate he will surpass that easily.  *sigh*  He is literally in a hurry to "grow" up.

Greg was in Chicago last week for Nathan's birthday, so he took us all to Planet Play on Saturday to celebrate.  It was a lot of fun!

 Nicholas and Noah went straight for the mini-bowling. Off track bowling lessons came in handy.

 Waiting in line for the bumper cars... (we were the first ones there that morning and they were setting everything up)

 They were pretty crazy.  I couldn't quit laughing!



Then it was go carts!!  Noah and I were in a doublecart (hence no picture of us) and the rest were in their own carts.

 Nicholas was a mad man!  Him and Greg got a little too competitive and drove each other into the wall and had to be rescued.  Because of that little set back, Noah and I were able to win the first race.  The second, however, Nicholas and Greg rammed all of us and Nicholas ended up the winner!

Nicholas and Noah practiced their "skills" on the shooting range.

And I have to brag.... i got a hole in one on the mini golf course.  Yes, it was a total fluke, but I will take it.

We spent just over 3 hours playing and having pizza and enjoying each other.  Nick and Noah have decided they want to celebrate their birthdays there too.

So Greg spent most of the week in Chicago on a business trip.  After the kids got home from their first day of school, we took Nathan out to dinner at his new favorite place, Johnny Carino's.

 We sent these pictures to Greg and figured we were having a funner business dinner than he was.


Then we had a birthday party for him at home. 

He got money and had to go right out and buy a new Wii video game.
I still can't believe he is 11.  He's not my "little" boy anymore.

Sill Family "Stay-cation"

With the boys having 3 weeks off track, Greg took a week off and we had a nice little semi- staycation. 
We spent the weekend in Idaho visiting Grandma Johnson and staying and swimming at the Red Lion Hotel.

They love staying in hotels and swimming all night.  They are quite the little fishes!

We had to stop in at Gossner's and get cheese and milk!  We had to hurry home for Nathan's lacrosse game on Monday night.

Tuesday, we spent a day at Hill Air Force Base.  They love going there seeing all the planes.

We took them to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden for the afternoon.

My bother-in-law's father put together the new children's display at the Church History Museum downtown.  So we went and checked it out.  Nick and Noah fished off of Nephi's boat.

Nathan took a stab at writing the gold plates.

And Greg made a stone creature.......

We then went to the new church library and were able to look up Great Grandpa Brights diary that they have.  It was really cool!

Thursday we went to the Bingham Copper Mines.  I live right next to them and have never been.  It really was pretty cool.

Noah got in trouble for climbing on the displays....oh well, it was a cute picture!

Saturday we went to see the cast screening of Lighthouse's new "Liken" movie at the Egyptian Theater in Ogden.

And if you are in Ogden on a Saturday night, you MUST go out for Farr's Ice cream!

It was a week of family fun for all of us!  I love spending good quality time with Greg and the boys!  It was a great vacation and I got to sleep in my bed every night!

May continued!

Really?? It can't possibly be JULY already?? Especially not July 15th!  And here I thought things were going to slow down a little bit for me.  No rest for the weary.
So back to May.....



Radizio's for Dad's Birthday and Mother's Day!



Noah helped me make my 90 day exercise loops.  Every day I exercise he takes a loop off.  Here we go!!  AGAIN!

He decided to make a plane with the extra paper, just like the one Greg was on.  What a creative little guy!

Then came teacher appreciation week.  Let me tell you, I APPRECIATE teachers!!!  Especially since I have been helping out in the classes this year.  Forget about 10 million dollar contracts for sports players, these teachers are the real super stars!!

I don't know what I am going to do without Noah when he starts 1st grade and goes to school all day.  He is my helper, my entertainment, and my cohort!  He got our of school a whole week before the other boys for kindergarten testing.  (Before their final off track break)  We had some good times that week.  He was my lunch date - I got dinner and a show!

Greg is the official "project manager" at our house.  However, he was in North Carolina when Nathan had his final book report due.  It was the students choice of how they wanted to present it, it just needed to have as much information as possible.  I am not sure if it is a boy thing, a Nathan thing, or a 4th grade thing, but getting Nathan to write a report is torture...... for ME! So we came up with the idea to do BINGO.  Every square had a picture representing something in the book.  24 squares of information was perfect!  (Unfortunately, I didn't get an "after" picture)  But he got a great score on it!  Yeah Nathan!

Nicholas participated in the E-BOB reading contest at school.  Each grade was given a list of books to read and then had a competition on who could remember what about the books.  Nicholas made it to the school finals!!!  He actually competed against the 3rd grade classes because he is in the ALPs program.  Great job buddy!

Memorial day was wet and rainy, but we made it out to Uncle Scott's grave.  Hard to believe it has been a year.  We miss you!

Nicholas was soooooo excited this month!!  He got his upper braces on!  You can see how crooked the wires are.  Thankfully they have moved dramatically and we are getting his bottom brackets on next week.  They couldn't put them on until the top moved or else they would have bumped and snapped the bottom ones off.  Keep smiling!

We have wounded!  Noah has really had fun playing lacrosse this year.  Unfortunately, his knees have taken a beating.  This was their last practice of the season and he got nailed in the kneecap with a run away lacrosse ball.  To his credit, he walked it off and finished practice, then came home and let me baby him.

The weather FINALLY cooperated enough for the kids to go swimming at the neighborhood pool.

After months of early morning choir practice, Nathan got to perform for the parents and the school during an assembly. The choir did a fantastic job!  I am glad Nathan (and all my boys) like music so much.  Well worth the early mornings!