Meeting Teachers

Last week we had parent/teacher meetings at the school. I was feeling pretty good that day so I told Chris I could do it on my own. No big deal, two meetings, two teachers, three kids, home in an hour tops. I guess I should have taken into account one of those kids is Andrew.

As we were waiting for the first teacher to finish with the mom ahead of us the kids decided they needed a drink. No big deal. I sent them together to get a drink. They all come back and suddenly all three have to use the bathroom. I tell them to hurry since it is going to be our turn any minute. Kal runs to the girls bathroom - Ben and Andrew to the boys. Kal comes back and we are just sitting there wondering what is taking the boys so long. Ben comes out of the bathroom and tells me Andrew is naked and doesn't want to get dressed. Not a real big surprise since is loves to be naked. As I start to walk towards the boys bathroom a little stark naked Andrew shoots out of the boys bathroom and takes off running down the school hallway. I can't run after him so I send Kal and Ben to go and catch him. Of course this is right when all the parents are walking out of the classrooms and new parents are walking in. So everyone sees my little naked Andrew being chased by Ben and Kallie. Oh the looks I got! Some were of pity, others of horror, some smiles, some frowns, some "oh, I'm so glad that isn't me", and a few others. Do my kids lightly stop Andrew and hold him for me? Oh no! The WWF tackle him to the ground...both of them. They all start laughing like this is the best game ever! By the time I pick Andrew up he is yelling he wants to do it again. As I walk up the hallway back to the bathroom to get his clothes I have to tell Kal's teacher (who has been standing outside her door watching this whole thing) that it will be just a minute as I get my three year old dressed. Great way to meet the new teachers, don't ya think?! :)

Father’s and Son’s Campout

		Pictures from the Campout VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

For the first time in the 9 years that we have lived in this ward we finally had a Father’s and Son’s campout out. It was held at the Francis Cabin, otherwise known as the Francis Central Utah Mountain Resort. I tried to take pictures of others at the campout, so don’t be surprised if you pick out one of someone you don’t recognize or may be related to though you’re not related to me.

I started out preparation by going to “help” pick out food for breakfast at the campout. My help basically consisted of making sure everything I wanted for breakfast was purchased and that there would be enough of it that I wouldn’t be hungry the next morning. Since we had a confirmed 26 people coming for the campout we naturally bought enough pancakes, syrup, bacon, sausage, hash browns, butter, eggs, and punch to feed 150 people one serving. Mission accomplished.

Andrew, Ben, and me set out the next afternoon to pick up Uncle Angel and head down to the campout. We had decided that dinner would be a pretty easy hotdogs and chorizo: no preparation, easy to cook, no clean up.  The 3 keys to campout cooking. We decided it would be time to obtain our own roasting sticks and stop bumming them off of other people, but as we walked into Lowes we saw a hotdog roasting cage that could cook up to 8 hotdogs at once on clearance for $2. Bonus. It had to be a sign. We grabbed it and ran. Well, we paid for it, but you know what I mean.

We were the first non-Francis clan to arrive and got our pick of the tent sites. This was of course after we were the first people to fly by the turn-off at 60 mph before pulling an illegal u-turn and approaching it at a much more reasonable speed. Things were going pretty smoothly until we sat down to cook and eat dinner. We whipped out our new multi-hotdog roaster only to find that it DOES NOT come with the rod necessary to hold it out over the fire. There is not even any mention of this until you rip out everything, stare at it for a couple minutes trying to see how such a simple object could transform into what you know it must look like, and finally consult the instructions to find out that the rod is not included. Argh! So of course we just bummed roasting sticks off of someone else like we always do.

Despite the constant potential for life threatening situations present under my care with open water, rattlesnakes, and such Andrew did really well by only wading into the creek up to his knees. In fact, his little buddy made me look pretty good by stepping on fire barefoot and casting himself into the pond (separate incidents, pun intended for those who know). Angel even out did Andrew by diving head first into the creek while attempting a tackle in the pitch black during a very intense game of capture the flag in the dark.

After capture the flag everybody still standing gathered around the campfire to watch Kyle and Sam beg for my last two chorizo and then roll them around in the ashes. Guy Francis claimed this was the best way to cook things. I don’t think Guy eats very well. Anyways, I can’t remember how it came up, but I related to the young men that every glass of water they drink contains a molecule of water that passed through the bowels of Abraham Lincoln, not to mention every other person that lived in his time and before. Actually, now that I think about it, somebody was probably saying something profound and I interjected with “hey, did you know…” Either way, they figured out that this was equivalent to someone peeing on them every time they showered. To which I added, that it was really like millions of people peeing on them every time they got wet. As you can tell, I’m a hit at parties and I’m completely available if you’re having a party.

Andrew, Ben, and Angel were all particularly fond of the paddle and row boats available on the pond. This was unfortunate for Papa who demonstrated his love for his grandkids is greater than his despise for paddle boats. Ben also enjoyed the rope swing and Andrew had his own designated car on the tractor train.

The next morning after a very satisfying breakfast (not quite sure why it turned out so well) we broke camp, played on the lake, and inspected the water wheel house. Andrew got to ride on an ATV, and I took Angel over to shoot some skeet with Uncle Alex’s shotgun. To top it off we even got to eat lunch with Grandpa and Angel at Burger King on the way home. I say we do it again in a week or two.

Three kids with some very exciting news!!!!

I have to admit I was shocked when they told us it was a boy!  I KNEW it was a girl.  In fact, I was SOOO sure it was a girl I wasn’t going to find out by ultrasound – but just wait till the baby was born.  We knew her name, I had picked out her coming home outfit, it was all set – just needed a girl :)  So needless to say I was stunned!  After a little while of letting it sink in that we would have 3 boys and one girl I’m so excited!  I think it will be fun and crazy to have 3 boys, but I’m ready!  Chris said we should have known it was a boy from the first ultrasound since this baby was jumping all around.  He then pointed out that our only other baby that was so active was Andrew…so we think another little busy Andrew is on his way!  

A funny little story about how we told Christopher’s family.  We decided we would do the cake thing.  (The outside of the cake is white and when you cut into it the cake is either blue for a boy, or pink for a girl.)  Chris’s family is not very fond of cake, so Chris came up with a great plan to make individual cheesecakes and put something blue in the bottom of them so when you bite into it you see it’s a boy.  We decided to use blueberries since they are blue.  Nope!  When we tried our test cheesecake it was purple inside!  So we needed a quick plan B.  Chris came up with the brilliant plan of writing on the kids bellies and having them catch the kids.  They had to catch the kids in order and Andrew did a really good job at hiding!  It was fun to hear everyone yell “BOY!!!!!!!”. 

School days, school days, good old golden rule days…

That’s the song Ahba (my grandfather) would sing to us every year on the first day of school.  We would wait for that phone call and hear him on the other line singing the whole song to us.  So of course this is the song we sing in our house on school days and the kids love it.  We woke them up this morning with singing and very excited for the school day to start.  Andrew was very confused.  We had the following conversation:

Andrew:  Dad, is it my birthday today?!!?

Chris:  Nope not today

Andrew:  Are we putting the Christmas tree up today?

Chris:  No, not today.  Today is the first day of school!

Andrew:  My first day of pre-school?!?

Chris/me:  No, you don’t start school for another two weeks

Andrew in complete tears.  It was a hard morning for him.

Kallie and Ben on the other hand had a GREAT morning!  They were up and ready for school in the clothes they had picked out the night before.  I love that my kids get so excited to go to school!

My adorable 1st grader not liking the sun

How cute are these pictures of Ben!  He looks so much older to me this year.  It’s amazing how fast they change in just one short year!

 

Best of buddies.

All ready to ride to school on their bikes with their new bike locks in tow!

Andrew decided walking wasn’t for him so Chris carried him on his shoulders.  He still wasn’t very happy it wasn’t his birthday, christmas tree day, or preschool day.  Poor kid.

 

New bike locks are hard to get on!  Chris had to help Kal get hers on and locked up.  I thought it was so adorable to watch them….so of course I took a picture. (I may or may not have taken 60 pictures this morning)

 

Ben’s an old pro at this bike lock thing

Kallie in front of her classroom door.  She has the classroom with the race cars this year…she asked me why her teacher chose a “boy” thing like cars and not a “girl” thing like princess crowns.  Good question if you ask me…I told her to ask her teacher :)

I spent so long taking Kallie’s pictures by the time I got to Ben’s class the door was closed so I didn’t open it and go in.  But here is his classroom door with Ben inside. :)  That counts right?

So the final word on the first day of school – Kallie had a horrible day.  She got sores on her feet from her new shoes, attacked by the swing that left a nasty sore on her arm, didn’t make ANY new friends (that means she says that everyone in her class isn’t her friend yet), and she misses her kindergarten teacher.  Her only good part of the day was that she got to sit next to Ben at lunch and he helped her open her pudding cup.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better for Kal.

Ben on the other hand had an amazing day!  He came home completely pumped and couldn’t stop talking about how cool his class is and how much he loves his teacher.  He loves recess and is now wanting to get up everyday to do pushups and run on the “running machine” ie – treadmill.  When I asked him what he new obsession with exercise was he told me he plays a game at recess where he has to run really fast and be in really good shape.  Sounds good to me!  In fact tonight when we took the kids out to celebrate the first day of school (I normally make them a dinner…but since I can’t cook right now I let Chili’s do it for us) he ordered a hamburger off the adult menu…and ate the WHOLE thing!  Those things are huge!  He said he needed the protein from the meat and the tomato’s from the ketchup :)  See, he’s trying so hard to get healthy :)  On the drive home he asked Chris and I the best way to get rid of a very full tummy.  Since it was almost 8pm we told him a good nights sleep.  He came right home and we had no problem getting him or Kallie to bed.  I love nights like this!  Welcome school days!