Silly String Party

What do you do when Dollar Tree has a sale on silly string? Have a Silly String Party! Derek, Bryce and Preston were the only ones interested in the silly string, but Clara and Sierra were happy to watch the silliness unfold. Aunt Sereen and I even got in on the action! The boys took a few tries to figure out how to aim the silly string (see the first picture) but they were just thrilled to see it shooting out of the can. Clara and Sierra were bored pretty quickly so they started sliding down the plastic slide. It was fun spending time outside as the air began to lose its oppressive heat!

Derek and Preston are still trying to figure out how to aim the silly string

Close-range shot

Preston turned the tables!

Preston had an Old Western style of shooting (think quick cocking action with the pistols)

The Pretty Princesses!

Bryce was thrilled when he figured out how to shoot the string - he was ready to get in on the action!

Getting every last drop!

Sweet Clara!

Sweet Sierra loved to carry around that squirter stick

  Even spent silly string can be fun to use to decorate your sister. :)

Aunt Sereen got Derek!

Derek FINALLY Gets to Ride the Bus

The long-awaited day has finally come! Derek has been begging to ride the school bus ever since he saw the first bus drive by our door about four years ago. He was disappointed to not ride the bus yesterday, but I wanted to drop him off for his first day of school. :) I didn't get any pictures of that because it went so quickly, but this morning was adorable. Derek, Bryce and Clara were all up at 6:15 and we had a normal breakfast, but I packed a special cookie treat in Derek's lunchbox. :) The bus comes right at 7 am, so we all trooped outside at 6:55 to sit on the step and watch for the bus. Bryce and Clara wanted to sit right next to Derek and he was a great sport to scoot over and let them sit with him. I couldn't resist such an adorable photo op! Derek was quick to give everyone hugs and kisses as the bus pulled up. He was so excited that he was waving to us from his seat on the bus even as it pulled away.

The three musketeers!

He wouldn't take his eyes off the bus during this momentous occasion. :)

First Day of School!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Derek and I are both super excited for him to start school today. He and Bryce woke up at 5:45 this morning and I gave him his schultute after breakfast. He was thrilled to finally open it and Bryce was thrilled to help, too. Derek picked out his own clothes (he was absolutely set on that Jurassic Park shirt!), and he picked out his own Bigfoot backpack and T. Rex lunchbox. We left Clara sleeping while Grandma worked on her calling of transcribing patriarchal blessings and Derek, Bryce and I loaded up in the car to brave the drop off line. When it was our turn, everything happened so fast that I barely had time to say goodbye before Derek was off and yelling "bye, mom!" I didn't cry until the principle shut the car door and I was supposed to drive off. :S I sure missed him today, but he had a blast!

Finally! He was so excited about the candy, fruit snacks, batmobile hotwheels car and giant glowsticks.

"Let me help you with that, bro..."

Brothers and best friends!

Look at my giant five-year-old KINDERGARTENER!

I told him to strike a pose. Classic Derek!

He had to show off his Bigfoot backpack. :)

Meet the Teacher

We finally get to meet Derek's teacher tonight! She sent Derek a postcard with a little message on it saying she's excited to meet him and knows that they'll have a great year. We discovered a great German school tradition called a "schultute" (shool-TOO-teh). Parents make and decorate cones that they stuff with school supplies and treats for the kids' first day of school. I let Derek decorate his own schultute and we decided it would be nice to decorate one for his teacher. He was more absorbed in putting stickers on his, so I painted a Prosper "P" and her name, Mrs. Avila, on her schultute. Derek picked out the treats and a giant silk peony flower to give to his teacher. He was excited to carry it in to give to her. Mitchell and I took Derek, Bryce and Clara to see Derek's classroom and meet his teacher tonight and the kids had a blast! I really like Mrs. Avila and her no-nonsense yet laid back attitude.She and another mother thought Clara was so cute with her tiny person walking around like she owned the place. She was very confident and comfortable walking independently around the room, inspecting things and walking in some of the storage buckets. Derek and Bryce helped themselves to her small class library and "read" books to themselves. Derek seemed very comfortable with his class and his teacher and I know he's going to have a great year!

Derek was very proud of the effort he put into Mrs. Avila's schultute!

Mrs. Avila and Derek!

Derek and Bryce reading books

Derek is so excited to start kindergarten at Cockrell Elementary!

Bryce can't wait to start school like his big brother!

Broom Pictures

My mom took a picture of the four of us when we were younger than has become iconic in our family. We recreate it from time to time, and decided it was time to do so again. We even added the next generation!! I love my sisters and I'm so glad my kids get to know their Aunt Bella, Aunt Amy and Aunt Val. :) I wish we saw Aunt Alex more. Check these photos out!

The Broom Picture!

We added Clara into our traditional broom picture. We definitely have room on the broom for her!

Continuing the tradition with the next generation. Awwwww!!!

Historic. Absolutely historic. :D

Moon Sand

Oh man... we got messy today! I found a recipe for homemade moon sand on Pinterest today (4 cups of flour to 1/2 cup of baby oil) that was a big hit with the kids. The cousins came over for a playdate today and we all played in the moon sand outside. I'm pretty sure this stuff is going to kill the grass, but it sure was fun! After they played in the sand, Andrew asked for a bucket of water to wash off the toys that had gotten "sandy"... and that turned into a water game! Score!

They've dumped some of the sand out of the plastic bin and onto the ground

Yep. That grass is going to be dead. Lots of fun though!

Aunt Sereen showed them how to get some really good splashes to clean the toys ;)

Splish splash!

Starting 'Em Young

 I like to turn on TV while I clean my room. Of course, the older kids heard it an stampeded into my room, clambered onto my bed and proceeded to become enamored with Mythbusters. We were watching one of the countdown episodes that has a lot of booms and crashes - perfect for three little boys. :)

 They loved watching a car driving fast and shooting up and over a berm

So many spectacular crashes!

Thinking Turtle and Hatching Eggs at the Dallas Zoo

 Yet another Dallas Zoo post, but these pictures were too cute not to share! Liz and I met up at the zoo to see the dinosaurs today. We passed by the Galapagos Tortoise exhibit and the kids were thrilled to hear a tortoise hiss at them from deep in its mud puddle. Another tortoise looked like it was thinking happy thoughts and I had to take a picture! Maybe I'll come up with a good meme for it later.

I finally got Clara's adorable new pose on camera! She's been walking around with her hands clasped behind her back looking at things on occasion, and today she stood in front of the Baryonyx model contemplating the mysteries of the fish it had in its mouth, haha! Derek and Bryce were more inclined to try their hand at hatching dinosaur eggs with Isaac, Andrew and Emeri.

 Whatcha thinkin' about, turtle? Turtle stuff?

 She was fascinated by the Baryonyx

Busted! She's just too cute!

 Four baby dinosaurs in their nest

 Derek tried his best to hatch that egg!

Not all the baby dinosaurs were thrilled with the bright, hot sun. Emeri wanted to go back to eating raisins, lol.

7 Year Anniversary

 Happy anniversary, Mitchell! My mom watched our kids while Mitchell and I went for a mini-getaway Friday night to Saturday afternoon. We spent the whole time laughing, talking, watching movies and just having a blast! We stayed at a beautiful Hyatt in Dallas and went swimming, had a late-night snack at the hotel restaurant and watched parts of the Harry Potter marathon ABC was running. Saturday morning, we ordered anything we wanted from room service (because it's our anniversary!!) and then went to the Perot - without kids! It was so cool to be able to take our time perusing the displays, discovering and exploring hidden treasures - like a whole new area of the dinosaur exhibit! My camera died soon after that, but I still got a cool picture of the view from the elevator ride (which doesn't allow strollers). Those were the two things I wanted to do anyway. :) We had a blast talking about what we liked and we even went to one of the 3D movies. It was an interesting documentary about one of James Cameron's deep sea expeditions. Not bad, but definitely not something the kids would've sat through.

I'm going to get mushy now. You've been warned. Seriously though, I'm so glad Heavenly Father blessed me with such a wonderful husband! Mitchell is a wonderful husband, father to our kids and my best friend. We are so different and yet so similar and it's been amazing to see how we've woven our personalities into each other through the past years. From two, we're continually growing into one. We've made it through some of the roughest years of our lives and he never once wavered in his commitment to our family or the Lord. He's a wonderful example of a priesthood holder and I'm so thankful our kids will grow up having the power of the priesthood in our home. Our relationship has grown so much and changed in a myriad of beautiful ways; I can't wait to see where the next seven years takes us, babe!

 Seven years down, eternity to go!

 I love my handsome husband!

 Look at that spread! A feast fit for a king and his queen! ;)

Entelodont or "Hell Pig" skull - one of my favorite prehistoric animals!

 Edaphosaurus - gentle herbivore with a cool sail

 Coelophysis - graceful therapod dinosaur

 Fossilized Green River ray - I can't wait to decorate my home with fossil accents!

 Fossilized sea stars

 Giant fossilized crab!

The skyline view from the escalator ride! We had a blast!