1st day of 1st grade

Hayden started 1st grade on Wednesday, August 25. He is in Mrs. Cunico's class at Hillcrest Elementary. We currently qualify for free lunches through the school, but Hayden usually insists I make his lunch. I think he likes that I usually include a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich and a small treat. However, I'm not a huge fan of my kids drinking juice (which stemmed from Aubrey's awful diapers post-juice) so he gets free milk every day. I love that he loves going to school. Most of his kindergarten friends aren't in his class, but he sees them at lunch and recess and he is making new friends every day.

Countdown to School: The last four days

It is wrong that, although school was only four days away, that we sort of stopped the whole countdown celebration? I hope not, because that's exactly what we did! On Saturday we cleaned the house, went to work (yes, WE went to work, I totally took the kids with me) and had dinner over at Ana Lee's house. We then left before the kids destroyed her nice, kid-free home and headed to the airport to pick up Jeremiah. Aubrey kept pointed at him and saying, "Babby", her name for Daddy. Not even in kindergarten yet and already confusing her B's and D's!

Jeremiah slept most of Sunday. Literally. I sent his mom up at 5pm to wake him up for dinner. Poor guy was exhausted! I suppose having Nana Lafranca over for dinner was an activity, the kids always love to see her.

I can't even remember what we did Monday. Clean? Slept? I'm sure we went to Target, don't we do that everyday?

Tuesday was Hayden's soccer game. Jeremiah was the coach since Hayden's original coach was out of town. Hayden's team has yet to actually score, but Hayden makes a great goalie. Jeremiah is working on Hayden's soccer skills since we've finally found a sport that Hayden is excited about.

Jeremiah's sister, Sophie, and her kids, Cecile and Josie, were in town to drop Cecile off at BYU. They went to the soccer game with us, and as we were leaving my guilty conscience finally appeared....Hayden starts school tomorrow! I'd promised him something special, but what could we do at 7:30pm the night before school? Well, I don't know about everyone else, but Cold Stone came to my mind. Love it. Nothing screams celebration like chocolate cake batter ice cream!

Hayden and a shy Roman both ordered cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles. Ew, right?

Talking politics. At Cold Stone? Way to kill the party atmosphere! :)

Josie and Cecile. We're trying to convince them to drop out of school and be our personal nannies. We promise to feed them well and give them a place to sleep. They are just that awesome with our kids.

On Monday night for Family Home Evening, we made paper cones. I'd read in a magazine that in Germany the kids make large paper cones and their parents fill them with school supplies and goodies the night before school starts. I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate the start of school so each kid decorated cardstock.

S0 Hayden wanted to draw mice and asked how many hands they had. I told him four hands and feet, but he took that ot mean "four hands and four feet". An eight-legged mouse. The top mouse is telling the other mice to go to bed and to turn off the TV (on the right). Apparently Mr. Boss Mouse needs a microphone to tell the rest of the mice what to do.

This picture is supposed to be Jeremiah sleeping on our bed (see the bed? Pink pillow and blanket? Our bedding is brown, I promise). I love that Jeremiah's belly is nice and round.

That morning, the boys found Mario t-shirts, a bouncy ball, a new matchbox car, and candy in their cones. Aubrey found some jelly beans and a Cinderella doll.

Countdown to School: Day 5

We spent part of our Friday at my friend Heather's house is Mapleton. She has a 5-year-old little girl and 3-year-old little boy, perfect for my kids. They have a great playroom where the kids were pretty much free to do what they wanted (aka throw balls!) and a backyard with a swingset, a sandbox, and a trampoline. The boys were in heaven. So was Aubrey, as long as I was outside with her. We made homemade pizzas for lunch and Heather and I caught up a bit.

We found Andelin and Roman outside with their "pets". They became instant friends, Roman sort of had his first little crush.

Aubrey braved the trampoline for a little bit, but felt a bit safer on the grass.

Later in the afternoon, Josette and I took the kids to the Farmer's Market at Thanksgiving Point. The market had some fruit and vegetable stands, but it still also offered some homemade items, including fresh lemonade, which the boys decided to get with the dollar I gave them. Probably a good bet, since the produce was a bit overpriced for a farmer's market. At the end of the market we found this water contraption. Each lever pulled caused water to come out of a pipe or spout. The kids had a blast, and even Aubrey joined in for a little bit.

I love this picture. Aubrey is looking up at Josette. She adores her Nana Lafranca.

See how wet they got?! When we got to the car, they undressed down to their underwear to get out of their wet clothes. We drove home, grabbed some dry clothes, and headed to the BYU Creamery. Josette told us about their kids' meal: a cheeseburger, fries, a drink, and a scoop of ice cream for $3.50! Aubrey and I shared a cheeseburger meal and tried raspberry cream cheese ice cream. It was so freaking delicious!

Countdown to School: Day 6

Today I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, maybe because it had been two weeks since Jeremiah left and I was so tired? It's rough keeping three kids entertained at all times, and I woke up today with an awful migraine and the desire to stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, the kids weren't all that excited about a hang-in-mom's-bed day, so we watched Alice in Wonderland on DVD...yes, the new weird one with Johnny Depp, and really it wasn't all that bad. I just sat there coveting Alice's curly blonde hair.

Roman had his first soccer game today. He was SO excited. He got new shin guards and got his jersey on before lunch even started. And much to his delight (and Hayden's dismay) Roman's jersey is the same number as Hayden's. Hayden is currently in this phase where he doesn't want the same thing as Roman. If Roman orders a chocolate ice cream cone, Hayden will order vanilla, even if he really wants chocolate.

So, as I was saying, Roman was so excited. Key word: was. As soon as we walked onto the field, my sweet boy became the introvert he always is in new situations. He huddled with his team, only because Lovey joined him, but he would not play the game. As soon as the kids stood up to start playing the game he ran over to me and sat down. I couldn't get him to budge at all. Neither could his coach, who by the way is awesome. He is great with the little kids.

Roman with his coach, Fidel. Fidel tried so hard to get Roman to warm up to him, he really has a lot of patience with all of the kids, and some of those kids are such monkeys!

This is where Roman was during the entire game.

Maybe next week, eh?

Countdown to School: Day 7

We went to Pirate Island today, which is pretty much a better version of Chuck E. Cheese. The pizza is really good (especially the Hawaiian with the cinnamon pineapple!), the salad bar was actually tolerable...not that it beats Brick Oven, and the games are a bit more mature. I got addicted to "Deal or No Deal" and the boys...well, honestly, they loved whatever would give them the most tickets (isn't that the best part?).

Although I read the part in the menu that stated not to share the salad bar, I couldn't help but give Aubrey some tomatoes. She loves the things. And Icees were 75 cents that day, so of course each kid got their own too...except me.

See? Salad bar! Although honestly I snuck some of the boys' lunch too. They shared a kid's sliders meal with fries. Too good to pass up.

These guns weighed about as much as Roman. I jumped in for his last few shots and did surprisingly well.

Hayden found a game that Aubrey can play. Just push the button. And she actually won tickets!

My little gambler/game player learned how to insert coins, too. I'm not sure where half her coins went, although I saw her playing the skeeball game and about broke it with her awful aim. And she kept trying to steal the balls!

Roman played this game several times, it simulated flying an airplane.

Aubrey refused to stand by the pirate. Add scary pirate statues to her list of things that freak her out.

We got almost 500 tickets, which was awesome. Except when the boys went to spend their tickets (after picking out a few toys for Aubrey), they kept picking the 10 and 20 ticket toys and treats, so by the time all was said and done, they each had like 8 little trinkets and candies. It was a fun time, I really have to say I love Pirate Island. Does it make me appear slightly immature to think it would make a great date?

Countdown to School: Day 8

I met Christina and her kids at the Spanish Fork Reservoir for some sun and swimming. The boys always talk about the "beach" and beg to go back there, so I knew this would a great day for them. We picked up a pizza on our way to the beach, as well as some Doritoes chips, which explains the orange faces in some of the pictures, especially Aubrey!

I think it's funny that they are clinging to life on the floaties and they're not even that far into the water. Aubrey is wearing her swimsuit cover because I couldn't find her actual swimsuit. And yes, I stripped her down into just her swim diaper. And yes, the boys changed into their swimsuits at the beach. In front of everyone.

Aubrey even got brave and went into the water, about up to her knees. The water was freezing! I'm just happy she is getting over her fear of water...at least until it gets on her head.

Tuesday was also Hayden's first soccer game. He played goalie the first half of the game and only let one of seven goals into the net. He loved it.

Check out that action shot! Now that Jeremiah is home more, I'm hoping he can take the boys to the park and work on some soccer moves, Hayden really enjoyed his game and wants to learn more.

Tuesday was also our 8th wedding anniversary. Since Jeremiah was out of town, we went to Sonic and got shakes to celebrate. We hung out at my mother-in-laws while the boys ran in the sprinkler and shoveled around in her garden.