All in One Day

The FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL was a busy one. We started by going for doughnuts and juice with the neighborhood. We have some really fun families in our ward that are always planning something.

It was fun to see all the kids in their new clothes. It was a little windy and a little cold. I love this picture of Gracie and Jake at school. I love that she is rolling her eyes, too bad she is only in 4th grade, I can embarrass her all I want until she starts 7th grade. That is a perk for being the mom.

Jake started 1st grade. Gretchen is going to kindergarten this year. I feel the need to justify having kids in consecutive grades. Both Gretchen and Jake have August birthday's. We kept Jake back a year and it really made a difference. We were planning on doing that with Gretsie, but it turns out that she does not associate with kids younger than her. When Gretchen makes up her mind, there is no compromising. That is not to say that we don't have to work a few things out, it just means that we pick our battles carefully.

Kindergarten does not start for another week, but we had the KINDERGARTEN ASSESSMENT interview today. It was fun that she got to be involved in the first day of school.

After school we PLAYED WITH THE MOCK KIDS. I loved hearing the kids report to each other about their first day.

For CRAFT DAY, we went to Emily's friend, Audrey's house. She taught us how to tie dye silk scarfs with Kool Aid.

This picture of Gretchen & Rachel was demonstrating how you can use your scarf as a sling. I made them make moaning and groaning sounds.

Then we wrapped the scarfs around Gracie & Rachel to demonstrate just how fashionable scarfs are.

Rachel was a fantastic model. She did whatever I told her to & wanted me to keep taking pictures. This one is of 3 different scarfs in 3 different flavors. I had her flip her head back and fake laugh. It was hilarious, too bad I did not have a video camera too.

This was a fun craft & we were all tickled with the results.

Because we were down that direction for craft day, I took the kids to SEE GRANDMA & GRANDPA "AMELOPE".

We always plan on a short visit, but end up staying past bed time. Grandma & Grandpa think they are getting old. Somewhere Granny read that when you are older, you should "put away the worldly things". That is what she kept saying. Grandma has always been a sucker for dolls (I guess that is where I get it) She has a beautiful doll collection. She let Gracie pick one for her very own. Grandpa told me that he had the box in the attic and that would make it more valuable. We had Granny write "To Gracie, Love Grandma" on her little foot. We think that makes it more valuable than a silly box.

Grandma Jo has a few dolls that the kids play with when they visit. This one is Gretchen's delight. Gretsie is not ready for a collector, so she got to take Baby Clarie home. She could not have been more delighted. I think Gretchen might be a sucker for dolls as well. (It makes me proud)

Grandpa & Grandma Richins got the nick-name "Amelope" because of this little dandy right here. It was a really impressive piece for Jake. Grandpa was cute enough to give his Antelope to Jake. We can't wait to get it hung up in his room.

We had some cookies and Grandpa made me a Diet Coke with Apple Juice. It was funny. We ended our visit with a sweet family prayer. I left with such a feeling of gratitude--maybe it was the mixture of Diet Coke & Apple juice:)