new School Year

September 4, 2012 - Ben's first day of 2nd Grade. 
We snapped some pictures before he went to the bus stop. His teacher this year is Mrs. Jen Woehlke, and Ben was super excited to go to school. It's November now and he still enjoys it, so that's good. :)

After we waved goodbye to Ben's bus, Eliza and Sam played in the yard.
(Eliza made a cute paper bird with a paper, pen, leaves, tape and scissors.)

Later in September, Ben's teacher posted this picture with this caption on their classroom website:
"Ben is the first student in the WHOLE school who has earned enough Accelerated Reading points to be added to the Race. There are other students in our class that aren't far behind. Way to go Ben!!"

The last Accelerated Reading report that Ben brought home (dated 11/2) said that he has completed 183 AR points out of the 15 required for the first trimester. His sweet teacher wrote a note, "Way to go Reading Rockstar!" :)  He likes reading big chapter books, so they end up counting for more points. (A regular children's book like the Bereinstein Bears is half of a point. A basic chapter book like Magic Treehouse is about 3 or 4 points. A more difficult chapter book, like the books in the 39 Clues series, is between 5 to 9 points, a book in the Warriors series is up to 12 points, and a Harry Potter book can be 14 points or more.  He was loving the Warriors series over the summer and into September. Now he is into 39 Clues, and he is starting the Harry Potter series, but I said he could only read the first three of that series... I remember the last ones being kind of dark. He checked out #2 yesterday at school and finished it around dinnertime last night. He got to read it while we were at ballet for Eliza, so he finished it quicker than usual. Because normally I have him do other things after school besides reading.)  Anyway, he loves to read, and the AR points are only a fun afterthought for him. They're definitely not his motivation, though.
Now he is in second place in the school AR race, behind Austin Mills the 5th grader. Yes, I know him by name because Ben told me a few times about how Austin Mills was the boy who beat him last year too, and how he wants to get ahead of Austin Mills... :)  Ben asked me if we could go bowling if he won the race, and I told him that we would go bowling if he was in the top five in the race, so that he wouldn't concern himself too much with competing. :) He hasn't mentioned it for a long time, so I'm glad it's not that big of a deal. :)

Eliza had her first day of preschool on September 18th. Her preschool is at Ben's Elementary School, Monday through Thursday for three hours in the afternoon. She loves it!  She has two teachers, Miss Bonnie and Miss Alex, who are the sweetest teachers ever. Eliza invited them to come to her Church Primary Program in October, and they both came! And Miss Bonnie brought her husband along, too. Wasn't that so sweet of them to come see her? (They also knew another family in the program, which helped make it more fun for them, I'm sure.) Anyway, she loves preschool.

Labor Day 2012

 We took the fam to the Stake Labor Day picnic on September 3, where there was food, games, a playground, a softball tournament, and even rides in sportscars. Ben almost immediately went off on his own. He's like a teenager - he loses no time in ditching the old folks and shaking off the little siblings. :) I found him later at the sportscar rides, where he was rearing to get as many rides as they would let him. When a new corvette pulled up to give some rides, Ben ran right up and asked him if he could have a ride. Then he jumped in, buckled up, and was ready to roll. :)

While Ben was lovin' the sportscars, I took Eliza and Sam to watch Jed play softball, and then we left to check out the firetruck and meet the firemen.  We had a fun day!

Birthday Party

Our really good friends, the Balmforths, invited a few families over for a big birthday party on September 1st. It was a lot of fun! 
Ben is busily unwrapping a candy bar while the music is paused in the Hot Potato game.  I love this picture of Jed. I captured that sweet smile that our kids do.  Now I know exactly where they got it.

Our friend, Trevor Davis, is rounding up the kids for the pinata. I just love Sam and Eliza in this picture. What face is Sam pulling? And why is Eliza licking her balloon?

Sam, being the youngest in line, was the first to get to hit the pinata. He grabbed the bat that was offered to him and aimed it right at the pinata like a joust, handle first. It was so hilarious! No one fixed the bat for him - it was just way too funny to watch him attacking the pinata with the handle!

Me with two of my best friends, Anona Davis and Jenny Balmforth. We are all parting ways in July 2013 (husbands finishing residencies) and we're starting to feel a little sentimental about our remaining time together. I love these girls!

Summer's last hoorah!

 My friend, Annie Christensen, had a fun backyard water party for all the kids. She made this 'water blob', which was a big hit!

 I took the kids to the Toledo Zoo with a bunch of other moms and kids. The hippos were especially fun to watch. They can swim effortlessly and fast under the water, bounding around in big long leaps. Cool to see them so active!  (That's Eliza watching them through the window.)

 
Gotta stop off at the children's playground at the zoo. Luckily we were heading home after this, since Sam was wearing a wet shirt and a diaper after his free-for-all playtime in the wading stream. 

Sweet little Charlotte tagged along and was her usual content self.

My friend, Jenny Balmforth, and I went together to Eastern Market in downtown Detroit.  There were lots of booths of vegetables and produce, homemade salsas and hummus, whole grains and baked goods, and even homegrown mushrooms. It was a fun place to spend a morning.

The kids had fun exploring. Here are Eliza and Liesel, with Sam and Charlotte in the background. They each got to buy flavored honey sticks, too.