First Day of School

Ready to start their first day of school.....

At the end of August, Hannah started Kindergarten and Jacob started second grade.  They are attending Bethesda Lutheran School again this year and they are in the same classroom (K-2) with Mrs. Allen.  Which is probably why Hannah's first day of Kindergarten was pretty uneventful.  I didn't worry about her making it to school safely like I did for Jacob (he rode the bus his first day to Kindergarten and I was tempted to follow the bus to school to make sure he made it there safely).  It's nice to be able to walk the kids to school.  Hannah was familiar with the school having attended preschool there for the last 3 months of school.  And it was nice for her to be in the same classroom as Jacob.  Both Jacob and Hannah were happy to start school and they have enjoyed their friends and learning experience this year.  There are 4 students in the second grade and 5 Kindergarteners in Hannah's class.   

Here they are at their desks....

Luke has been attending the preschool at Bethesda two mornings a week.  He has enjoyed time with friends and a chance to go to school.  He also really loves music time with Mrs. Pucket (the school music teacher).  He may stay home with me for the spring semester as he seems to be picking up some bad behaviors from school.

Here he is on his first day of preschool....

Cowboy Day

The kids had different dress-up days for Homecoming week at school.  Their favorite dress up day was Cowboy Day. 

Here are our two adorable cowboys and our cute cowgirl ready for the rodeo -- I mean -- school.  (Hats courtesy of Salvation Army in Rapid!)

4th of July Celebration

Pat and I started the 4th with the Firecracker 5K.  We hadn't run a road race since Jacob was a baby.  We both had a good race -- Pat met his goal of finishing under 30 minutes and I finished second in my age bracket.

After the race we came back and made patriotic waffles - blueberries, strawberries and cream! Yummy!

We walked to the end of the street for the parade.  The kids got a big bag full of candy that lasted until Halloween!

The night before we walked down to the fire station.  Becky, my Locks of Love hair dresser, (who is also a volunteer firefighter) invited us to come see the firetrucks while they were washing them for the parade.  Hannah and Jacob sat in several of the trucks and went inside the fire station and tried on their helmets.  But Luke was terrified so he stayed out in the parking lot with Daddy and Sophie.  It's funny because he wanted to be a firefighter for Halloween and also loves to play with his toy fire trucks.  And next year he wants a firetruck birthday!  The loud sirens are what does it for him because during the parade he backs up a half a block when the fire trucks and marching bands go by.

Becky and Jenny (sisters and volunteer firefighters) gave them all a plastic fire hat, coloring book, crayons, beads, smokey bear bandanna.

After lunch we watched the annual ducky race down the Fall River.  They dropped over 700 ducks from a bridge up north.  It was fun to watch them bob down the river from the footbridge down the street from us.  It was one of the largest crowds I have ever seen at a public event since moving here.  The crowds walked alongside the river following the ducks to the finish line.  The kids had so much fun after the race going in the river to retrieve the ducks.  Sophie and Luke helped on shore with the ducks that were thrown up to shore - gathering them for next year's race.  The gave away several fancy prizes (jeep, flat screen tv, etc).  The ducks were $5/piece.  We didn't buy a duck this year but we may next year as it would be fun to cheer our duck on as it bobbed down the river to the finish line.  I wish I would have brought my camera!! 

We spent the evening with friends -- we had a picnic complete with s'mores and then watched the fireworks from their backyard.

Happy Birthday, America!