Megan's parent program - Space unit

At Discover Club at the end of each unit, they have a parent program. This is where they can tells us all about what they have been learning and show us around their Club room. I love Discovery Club! Megan has grown so much over just a short time. She loves going to Club. She is learning so much. She has learned the names to all the planets in order, she's learned about gravity, astronauts, and so much more! And she's finally learning how to write her name...and she's wanting to do it! I was feeling a little bit like it was my fault as a parent that she couldn't do that yet, but really, she didn't want to do it and I didn't want to push her and make her hate it. Yeah for Discover Club for showing her that she can do it and it's fun!

Each day when they come home from Club, they bring home an information sheet. On this paper, there are questions we can ask about the things they learned that day. It is so nice to have that instead of the usual "What did you learn today?" (kid responds) "I don't remember, or nothing or I don't know." I'm amazed at all the kids are learning.

Here's some pictures of her club room. I also have some video of a couple songs in the program. Megan is in a pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front.

Megan is in the pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front. Here the kids are getting ready to start their program.

This is a special playroom off the main Club room. It is changed for each unit. This one is the space ship. Inside the cabinets there are space suits for the kids to put on. So fun!

The ceiling was covered in the kids foil body outlines. This one is Megan, of course.

Happy Birthday Grandma Long

Chris' grandparents took the entire family to Red Robin for Grandma Long's birthday. It was, as always, a huge hit. Chris didn't get there in time from work to eat at the restaurant with us, but we got him a to-go box. I'm always a little nervous at a restaurant with small kids because you never know if it's going to be good or bad. Today was good! I had Bradley next to me helping with Adam. He was a huge help because Adam loves Bradley. I think it's the first name Adam learned how to say besides mom and dad. It's still not completely understandable to someone on the "outside" but it's definitely his name.

After Red Robin, we went to Chris' grandparent's house for cake and ice cream. The kids played outside and the adults got to visit. So as to not break the nice silence of the kids playing outside, each great grandchild was invited inside one by one to get a picture with grandma and her cake. Then they each got to blow out the candle with her.

Then Saturday, the girls got to go out to our favorite restaurant Crackers. It was great food and great company. And the best part is spreading out the birthday celebration over 2 days. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Baptism day

My niece Eliana turned 8 this August and made the great decision to get baptized. So, my family made the trip to Vegas to be a part of the events. It was a quick whirlwind weekend for us. We left after school and work Friday evening. The baptism was Saturday morning with a wonderful luncheon afterward. I had the blessing of leading the music for the baptism, but I think one of my favorite parts was watching my nephew, Eli's brother - Ben, give the talk on the Holy Ghost. All of these kids are growing up so fast! The spirit was strong and it was a wonderful day.  Chris told me something Katelyn said after the baptism that I have to share.  They had gone to the lobby to wait for the rest of the group and Katelyn said that while the bishop was giving some remarks she felt really warm in her heart.  Chris asked her if she knew what that was and she said she knew the bishop's words were true because of the spirit touching her heart.  I'm so proud of how she's growing up and learning these important lessons.

I want to share a epiphany moment I had that day. At the luncheon I had the chance to visit with friends I have not seen in a long time. It is always good to catch up. At one point I was on the couch visiting with my sister in law Kristin's mom - Susan, and sister and others around. We were just talking about life and Susan was telling us stories about when she was raising her kids. As part of one of the stories, she was saying how when raising her 7 kids she had to have her date night every week and get out of the house with her husband. Kristin's sister made the comment that the kids needed them out of the house just as much as the parents wanted out of the house. I know this was meant as a funny retort to her mom's comment, but it really rang true for me. Our kids sometimes need breaks from us just as much as we need breaks from them to rejuvenate and appreciate each other more. I'm grateful for this insight. I have since tried to make date nights happen a little more often. I still have a hard time trusting a babysitter, but have gratefully found 2 girls that we really like and the kids like. In fact, the other day after a date night, Megan was asking when we were going to leave again so Briana could come back. Since then we've had some busy weekends and haven't been out much, but I know now that I can go out and I can have a date night, and really, I should do that not just for me and Chris but for my kids too.

As usual, I was terrible with taking pictures on this trip. We did however take some pictures of the Hoover Dam bypass bridge. We can't wait until it's open and we can ride on it! It's supposed to cut the time from Phoenix to Vegas by 45 minutes! Yippee!!

Discovery Club

Megan had her first day of school this year too! She is in a preschool called Discovery Club. I have heard great things about this preschool from friends in my neighborhood. Club is only for kids who are getting ready to enter Kindergarten the following school year and is 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. Because of how Megan's birthday falls in the year, she will only get this one year of preschool before Kindergarten, so I wanted it to really get her ready. She has not been interested to this point in writing her name or her letters. She knows all of them, she just doesn't care about writing them when I suggest we work on it. I'm hoping this year, she will get a love of learning and enjoy her class. Good luck, Megan!

1st Day of 1st Grade!

Katelyn is now a big 1st grader! I'm so excited for her this year. She loves school. She loves learning and she loves her friends. I hope that she can keep that enthusiasm for as long as possible.

Let's ROCK! One more day in Disneyland!

We woke up on this day 3 of our celebration weekend and made it to the fireplace early, so there was time for another family picture. Going to Disneyland has got to be the least relaxing, most work, wonderfully awesome vacation there is.  When it's all over, you can't hardly move from being so tired, but it's all worth it for the memories we create together.

Don't let the girls fool you, they're not really tired.

Today is last chance day, so whatever someone missed or didn't go on enough was where we went.  On another round of Autopia, Adam hung back and enjoyed a blueberry muffin.  A new favorite, we've discovered.  I rode with Megan, while Bradley and Katelyn teamed up behind me.

Mmmmm...blueberry!

Ready to ride

Driving Miss Daisy

Adam's not quite feeling the family picture anymore.

Back over in California Adventure, we let the kids kinda guide us to where they wanted to go.  On the way to Paradise Pier, I had to stop and take a picture of the Mickey Ferris Wheel.  You can pretend that we're riding it, but we really aren't. :)

On the way to Toy Story Mania, Katelyn and Megan considered a future as a toy.  Fortunately, they just stayed in the box long enough for some pictures and then rejoined us for the rides.  Adam realized that he can still go on rides even when he's asleep - as long as he just hangs on to Mommy!

We put the 'action' in Action Figures

Just happy to be here!

Who says you have to be awake for the rides?

Kaley and Chase hung with us so we could caravan home together.

Can you guess Megan's favorite mode of transportation?

Adam still enjoyed a few more rides awake too, and then it was time to bid adieu to this vacation.  The kids picked their favorite letters and had a last bit of fun before jumping back in the car for the long ride home.  But hey, at least Adam got to enjoy a Rice Krispy treat on the way!

I'm such a big boy!

'O' Megan

I can do that too!

Best picture of the trip?

Keep these coming and we'll do just fine together.

We love every chance to spend together as a family, and are so grateful for this trip to Big D.  I think you could drop us just about anywhere and we'd all be glad to spend good family time together.  But as Five For Fighting sings, "it's a nice day, when you wake up in Disneyland."  Hope to wake up again there someday!

Happy Birthday Amy, it's Green Day!

Keeping the Celebration theme going, today we celebrated Amy's birthday by wearing new green shirts that magically appeared in this Happiest Place on Earth.  We usually are running so fast first thing in the morning that we never stop for a classic "castle" picture, so this time we did.  It's one of my favorites, especially since pictures of the whole family are rare (I'm usually the one behind the lens).

Smile big, this is for the blog!

Near the castle is one of the places where a princess shows up sometime during the day.  We found Ariel so the girls got to enjoy while Adam just explored.

Sometimes it is better above the sea!

I see the girls over there, and I'm happier right here.

After the fun at the castle, we met up and conquered Fantasyland.  Adam got to ride with Cassi on the Casey Jr. Train.

I think I can...I think I can...escape!

Katelyn and Megan still like to listen to "It's a Small World" to go to bed at nighttime, so we had to ride those quiet boats.  It's also one of the few rides Mom likes to go on so it was a "whole fam" party (we take up at least two boats when we're all together like this).

Small world, the perfect quiet time at Big D

I haven't been to Tom Sawyer's Island since it was overrun by Pirates.  We didn't go there before the pirates either, but I was surprised how big it is.  We assigned at least 1 adult to every couple kids.  I snapped this shot of Joshua and Megan when they paused from running around.

We could tell you we're twins and you might believe us.

At lunch, Adam figured out what to do with the boxes when they're empty.

Have you ever noticed the fountain on the Autopia?

See you tomorrow!