William for Student Council

At our elementary school the 4th and 5th graders have the chance to be on student council.  William decided that he'd like to run for treasurer.  He made some fun posters to hang in the school.  (He wasn't happy about me taking pictures of his process.)

The primary elections weeded the candidates down to 3 per position.  Unfortunately, William didn't make the cut. William is very competitive and I was prepared for him to be sad about losing in the first round.  He surprised me by being a great sport! But he still really wanted to be on student council.  So he took the opportunity to run for class representative.  There were 2-3 elected from every 4th and 5th grade class.  He decided not to make posters this time.  (He told me, "It's just a waste of paper! They just take them down and throw them away!  They don't even let you keep them!")
He needed to write and give a speech to his class.  He wrote it by himself with a little guidance from Dad.

I want to be one of our classroom representatives because I want to be in student council.  I want to be in student council to know how it works.  I also want to help our classroom be AWESOME, even the best in the whole school!  I would be a good classroom representative because I'm awesome, more awesome, and more awesomer.  I'm also responsible and I want to help this school  I also like to help people and make people happy.
(Rich suggested that he end with "San Dimas High School football rules!" but William didn't go for that.)

The morning of the election we made him a walking billboard with "Vote 4 William" stickers all over himself.

And he did it!  He made it by one vote.  I'm proud of his determination and enthusiasm! Yea William!

My birthday

I really had a great birthday this year.  I received some wonderful gifts and phone calls throughout the day... and even woke up to fresh Krispy Kreme's for breakfast!

Since it is still so hot here in the desert I requested that we head up to the mountains for a picnic dinner.  It is at least 30 degrees cooler up there and only 40 minutes from our house.

Rich picked up some great food for us and it was nice and relaxing to eat in the fresh mountain air.

Afterwards we let the boys explore for a while until it got dark.

It was the perfect end to a great birthday!

First Day of School

This year was a little different because we were actually going to the same school!  Plus, 3 of my 4 are in school this year!

William is my 4th grader.  Really crazy.  Fourth grade was my favorite as a kid.

James is my big 2nd grader.

And Alex started Kindergarten this year!  He was my most excited... and still is!  Half-day really makes a difference because he has had the easiest adjustment to school of any of my boys.  In fact, he is overall more pleasant since school started.

I'm so glad we live near a great school with so many friends.

We are looking forward to a great school year!

Back to School Feast

I really love our back-to-school feast tradition.  And what's more fun is that the boys get excited about it now too!  In fact, William couldn't wait to find out the new theme.  He kept trying to sneak a peak at what I was working on.

This year our menu consisted of monkey bread pizza, fresh fruit, and apple cider from the orchard.

 For dessert we had shield shaped sugar cookies.  Yum.

I made little placemats for each boy reminding them of our new school year theme which is "Suit Up."  We want them to remember to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11)... and for them to be knights (using their best manners, being respectful, be gentlemen, etc.)

I also made some fun shrinky dink keychains for them to put on their backpacks as a daily reminder.

Every Monday at Family Night we share a "knight fun-fact" where we learn about knights and we ask them how they "suited up" during the past week.  So far it's been lots of fun!

The orchard

Before the summer ended I wanted to head up to the orchard to pick some pears.  None of the big boys wanted to join so Henry was my little buddy.  We had a great time picking pears and peaches.

The fruit was delicious but it was even more fun to spend some one-on-one time with Henry!

Too much time at the doctor's office

If I added together all the time I've spent at the doctor office since I became a mom 9+ years ago I still don't think it would be as much as we spent  there this summer!  Between OB appointments, well check visits, William's surgery and check-ups for William's arm we spent way too much time with doctor's!  The boys were great overall...

except the time we were at the orthopedic for three hours.  It was awful!




William was so brave and smiley going into his 3 hour surgery.  The nurses were super impressed that he didn't even flinch when they put in his IV. He was completely out of it when he came to though.  Poor kid!  He was pretty out of it for a few days actually.  He was really tough though!

He had a cast up to his armpit on for a few weeks and then  they shortened it for another 2 weeks.

And then it came off!  Hooray!  His arm was really starting to stink after 6 weeks!  (He had the splint for 2 weeks as well.)

Our follow-up visits are less frequent now and with only a month left until baby #5 arrives those appointments are ending soon too.  Thank goodness!  I am so done with doctor's visits!

Last Days of Summer

August was a busy month but we tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could for our last days of summer. 

We had a campout in the playroom.

We cracked open geodes.

And visited the Children's Museum several times.

We sure had a fun time around the house and around town during our last free days of summer.