back to school

it has been blazin hot here all week. the kind of heat that let's you know it's summertime. which makes it even more bizzaro that my girls started school this week!!

there are a lot of things i LOVE about year round school. starting right after the 4th of july however is not one of them.

bella was very excited to start 4th grade and was missing her friends that don't live in the neighborhood. so in all honesty she was ready to get to school. don't you love how ginormous her backpack is??? when stuffed with her school supplies i bet it weighed almost as much as she does.

brooke has been begging to go to kindergarten since the beginning of last school year. so she was more than ready for the school year to start. it's hard to believe that the time has come for her to embark on her academic career. they just grow up way too fast.

survival of the fittest - a post for brendan

the other day brendan was outside practicing his entomology skills and stumbled on a praying mantis devouring a grasshopper. finding a praying mantis was not a new thing for him, however finding one that was in the middle of dinner was so exciting he could hardly contain himself. he came in shouting, begging me to take some pictures. so - here we go.

since it was so hard to see the praying mantis in the grass brendan wanted to move him onto the bricks. he grabbed a paper plate and we slid it underneath him a little bit and moved him out. it must have made him feel exposed and he quickly began to drag his victim back into the grass.

i didn't feel the need to stick around and watch the rest of the story play out, but brendan was fascinated and continued to watch for a really long time.

this was the same day that brendan and a friend of his from school got to lead the audience in the star spangled banner at the school assembly. usually i attend the assemblies when the kids are getting an award or singing, but i was at the last one so larry went instead. i knew that brendan would be totally jazzed to have his dad there. whenever i attend those, i leave feeling so proud of not only my kids but our friends kids as well. at every assembly there is a least one kid from church, besides our's, that is being recognized for something. it's nice to know that the "mormon kids" are setting good examples for their peers and impressing the teachers with their behavior and abilities. i hope that trend continues throughout my kids school careers. something that makes me smile everytime i attend an assembly is the kids principal. growing up, my dad was my elementary and middle school principal and he was not a cool guy. he was very good at this job and he was highly respected, but lacked a certain coolness factor. the kids principal however ends every assembly by bringing out the electric guitar and jamming away. it's so fun! the kids start screaming and sing along. at first i was really taken back and thought it was so unprofessional (mostly because it was so opposite of what my dad would have done) but now i look at it differently. the kids still have a tremendous amount of respect for him and it doesn't hinder his ability to govern, so to speak, the school. plus, who doesn't enjoy a little jam session now and then??

Is It Really Time To Go Back To School??

Today was Brendan and Bella's first day back at school. Normally I am more than ready for this day to occur but for some reason this time I am not feeling it. It seems like they should have more summertime fun. But alas, it is not to be. And surprisingly they seemed ready to go back.

This is going to be a big year for Brendan. His last year of elementary school. In Colorado middle school starts at 6th grade. This is not something that I am happy about, but unless we move within the next year there is not a lot I can do about it. As a fifth grader I think he kind of feels the way seniors do. You know, big man on campus, older than everyone, that kind of stuff. It should be really exciting for him. And Bella is really looking forward to 3rd grade and the challenges it brings. She has been out of school since the end of May and has really missed her friends. Always the social butterfly that one! We have had a lot going on around here, but she still has missed her school friends. Since we are talking about Bella I have to share with you her new little boo boo. Before we left town for vacation we did some school supply shopping, but didn't get it all done because the supplies were not out yet. So yesterday late afternoon I loaded up the kids and we went to get the last little bit done. As we got out of the car the wind started to pickup and it was blowing pretty hard. I was putting Lily into the cart when the wind grabbed the list out of my hand and blew it away. It went right past Bella so I asked her to go get it. She was running full speed ahead when she fell face down. At first she was quiet so I thought that either she hadn't really hurt herself, or she was knocked unconscious, hard to tell at that point. And then the wailing began. I could tell from how she was crying that she was really hurt. I started to make my way over there with Lily and Brooke in tow and the crying kept getting louder and louder. There was a lady that was much closer to Bella than me and I thought for a second maybe she was going to be a good Samaritan and help out. Instead, she looked down at Bella and kept on walking and talking on her cell phone. I uttered a little something about karma under my breath and proceeded over to poor screaming Bella. I got her picked up and her side was a total mess. We quickly hurried home where thankfully Larry was waiting for us. Here is a picture of her injury.
It is kind of hard to see, but the big cut is actually pretty deep and really wide. We debated about whether or not she needed to go to the dr to get stitches. In the end Larry decided that he could butterfly it together. We will know later on today if that was the correct decision or not. Our friend from down the street is a dr and is going to take a look at it when she gets home from school. Thanks Dr. J! I am sure it is probably ok, but I have such a hard time telling whether or not stitches are required. I think if it wasn't so wide she would be better off but if I take my pinky finger from the joint to the tip it's about half that wide, maybe a little bit less. And of course it is really super sore because she hit it right on the bone and there was no fat to cushion the fall. Larry and I keep telling her that she has to stop getting hurt in ways that leave scars or she is going to ruin her modeling career! Just Kidding. I am glad that she didn't break anything but she is going to be hurting for awhile I think.