"Fossil"

I'm blaming this one on Kristy Nerdin, Carter's afternoon 1st grade teacher. She is what Carter calls an "Earth Scientist" because he says that ANY question they would ask about the earth, she would know the answer. She was a fabulous teacher in all areas, but her focus is on science, especially rocks and fossils. Carter absolutely loved her and was inspired by her. I think that is where the obsession with bugs, spiders and rocks is coming from. So, thanks a lot Mrs. Nerdin on the following disgusting idea:

Carter had Caleb Hunt come over to play--they decided to put a praying mantis in a baggie of water and freeze it so it would become a fossil! They didn't exactly kill it before the freezing process so the poor thing had to slowly face it's death.

I'm trying to be patient with this love of nature and his creativity, but it's pretty hard for me to know there is a frozen bug in a bag next to what we are having for dinner.

First Day of School

Everyone was nervous and excited for the first day. They all got up on time--too early, so they all had 30 extra minutes to be nervous and jittery. I was a little emotional after Michael gave them each a blessing last night, and a little sad, but this morning, I was just happy for them--no tears this year! It's an interesting day for me--I sit around, knowing there are many things I can do, but end up just waiting for them to get home and hear how everything went. Here are the list of questions I know I will fire off as they walk in the door: Nick: "Did you find all your classes? Did you remember your combination? Did you like your Algebra teacher better than you thought you would? What school supplies do you still need? Did they make you shower in P.E.? Any hot girls in any classes? Mallory: "Did you already learn the computers? Was Mrs. Evans as nice as last week? Were you nice to everyone, even the girls that were rude to you last year? Did you sit by Lindsey? Carter: "Were you a good boy in class? Were you a good boy at recess? Were you a good boy at lunch? Were you a good boy on the bus going to school? Were you a good boy on the bus on the way home? What did you have for lunch?"

Well back to routines, stress, anxiety and waking up early!!!!!!

Nick, 8th grade


Mallory, 5th grade




Carter, 2nd grade

Carter's Girl Friends

Carter, Mallory and her friend, Lindsey, went to the rec center to swim. When he got in the car he said he saw his girlfriend (he hasn't seen her since last school year) but that she doesn't love him anymore. "Nope," he said, "She isn't my girlfriend ANYMORE! I'm SO moving on to number 12!"

The Spider Whisperer

Carter has been into bugs this summer, like I mentioned in the Summer entry. He's also been obsessed with spiders--black widows mainly--finding them in their webs, then feeding them grasshoppers. Well, my friend across the street, who is also Carter's primary teacher, called him for a ginormous favor: Would he come over and get a black widow off of her ceiling? She would supply the jar and ladder. When I asked him, he immediately responded with major enthusiasm. Once on the ladder, the excitement turned into fear, but nothing was going to stop him. He was shaking so bad but he wanted to get it. It was challanging because the spider kept going into the corner so the round openning in the jar made it hard to trap it. He agitated it with a skewer so it started crawling down the wall--we were screaming, Carter on the top rung of a ladder, shaking and yelling out in fear but he got the jar on it. Mission accomplished! He shook for about 10 minutes, but was so excited and proud. He thanked Jen and went home to work on his plan for the black widow. Now he had a speciman in a jar for close up spider/grasshopper and spider/katydid wars. I'll post a photo as soon as Jen downloads it.

Mallory's Excitement

When I took Mallory for her 5th grade assessment with her new teacher, she was a little nervous. She's worried that she isn't going to learn the computer program (she's in a class that does 90% of all work on a laptop) fast enough and she thinks she doesn't know her math facts well enough. She didn't smile or say one word in the car. After 5 minutes with her fabulous teacher, she was put completely at ease--all she had to do was read through 3 stories and report what she read. Then her teacher told her a little about what to expect this year and Mallory got a taste of what a nice, fun teacher she is. As we were driving from the school, she was beaming from ear to ear. I assumed it was because she was just excited for school but she said, "I can't wait for school to start because I love my teacher, I can't wait to wear my new clothes, AND we are having a baby!" All the way home I was thinking to myself how lucky she is to be a 10 year old girl and anticipating all of those things--life couldn't seem better to a girl her age.

Park City Trip

We had such a low-key, relaxing time in Park City for 7 days. Even though I couldn't do much, we still put in a pretty full week. Here are some photos of the highlights:

Annual Whiffle Ball Game: There is a big grassy area by the pool where Michael and the kids play whiffel ball--the rules seem to change every year.


Cute kids in the tree:


Michael trying to hold his pregnant wife: (I'm quite the armful.)


My parents came up for one night to spend time with us. In the morning, we all went on a hike up one of the ski runs near the Alpine Slide. My mom and I went up half way--It was all I could handle--and everyone else went to the top. We worried about them because it started to pour when they were at the top--there happened to be a big white tent at the top where they waited out the rain. Mallory and Carter shed some tears when they were almost to the top because it was so steep and Mallory got a whole bunch of stickers stuck to her shorts and were hurting pretty bad. But they were glad they made the effort to finish. Here is the mountain:


Of course, we have to do the Alpine Slide every year--this was the first time doing the Mountain Coaster and Slide. One advantage of not being able to go on these rides is that I could take some photos!

The Mountain Coaster:


Riding the ski-lift for the Alpine Slide:


Mallory, proud of herself after beating her dad:


The fun, new thing this year was the skate park! We didn't even know it existed, but this is the first year the kids would have even been interested. They allowed Ripstiks and scooters and they had a blast. I was really nervous because they didn't have the right kind of helmets or other protective gear, but they were careful not to push their limits. We went a couple of times--Saturday morning was completely baron, so they had the whole place to themselves:




We had a great week--lots of school shopping, eating out, eating "creamies," movie watching (we had a Batman "Binge"--three different Batman movies in a row) Olympic watching, bike riding, tennis playing, swimming and sleeping in. The best part for me was not having to cook or clean. Next year will be interesting with a baby. . .

Neighborhood Summer Stuff

One nice thing about not traveling as much this summer, is that the kids got a chance to play a lot outside with their neighbors/friends. It's interesting to watch them start certain activities and games with other kids that seem to develop over a few days. Then they move on to something new--sometimes with new friends or just different combinations of friends. At the beginning of the summer, it seemed like the kids wanted to just be with one friend or certain friends, leaving out others. Now that most of the summer has gone and everyone has played so much together and gotten to know each other better, (I think this happens because when one family goes out of town, they give new kids a chance and find out they like to play with them also) they are playing more as groups. Whoever is outside gets to play. Another thing that is fun about summer is that girls and boys play together more, and they play with different ages (at least when they are pre-Jr. High.) Here are some of the things they did that seemed to capture the essence of what childhood summers are all about:

Scooters: (Sorry about the bad photo--my camera was brand new and I obviously forgot to put it on action mode) All of the kids still use these scooters. Even though they've added "rip-sticks" and "power-wings," they still ride these scooters. This jump at the Rouska's house kept getting built, torn down, then built again. Nick and his friends started a scooter gang--they use this jump, go around the neighborhood and ride to Wal-Mart & Game Stop. We'll try to get a photo of the gang if possible. I think that matching bandanas and decals are involved. . .

Eating Watermelon: What's cuter than 3 little girls eating watermelon on the porch? I brought out a large tray of watermelon for Mallory, Roma and Madi. By the time I got outside with the camera, they were all on their third piece. I guess it was too close to dinner. (In fact, it ended up being dinner I think.)

Mud Pies: Mallory and Madi--not worrying a bit about getting dirty!

Backyard water slides: Since Mallory's birthday is in May, she usually gets a water slide from one of her friends. Good thing she gets one every year since we've all learned that they are disposable. These photos were taken pretty far away with a zoom lens so it wouldn't get wet.












Bug Jars: These really gross me out, but come on, you've got to let little boys do this! Carter and his next door neighbor Rhett, collected bugs day after day. The problem is when they want to make slits with their pocket knives into metal lids, by themselves. We managed to avoid huge lacerations. Another problem is that they were discovering that lots of grasshoppers seem to gather in the tumbleweeds that get stuck in the window wells. Their solution was to get them out by throwing rocks down in there to scare them and make them jump. Hmmm. . .not too bright guys. Let's lay off the rocks near windows. Carter also entertained the neighbor kids by feeding grasshoppers to the web of a black widow.







Club Houses: Our new neighbors set up this play gym that has a little play house. The kids had a stuffed animal party in there. I'll be interested to see what else they do up there before the summer is over. Madi Rouska, Carter, Gavin & Cole Ayotte, Mallory & Kylie Branom.






Watergun Wars: They always start out fun, but eventaully somebody cries. There is one going on right now and I'm just waiting for Carter to come in crying. But it's a summer must activity. I took the photo before any fighting could start. Someone always sprays too much water too many times and the other kid feels like it's unfair. Pretty funny.



Rhett, Carter, Gavin, Jett, Kole & Jarrett

Cute body, cute swimsuit: Mallory looks so cute in her swimsuit. I'm a little jealous. My life-long, amazing, gorgeous and creative friend, Nicole Bruderer, started the swimsuit company with her sisters. It's called limericki.com. They sell modest but trendy swimsuits. Women love them too, but they are targeted for teenage girls. (She was old enough finally to fit into the XS this year, right before they came out with a pre-teen size that is even smaller.) What's great about the tankinis is that the top and bottom overlap about 2 inches, so they still cover the tummy, even when they raise their arms. Plus, the material is really thick and great quality.