Belated Birthday Celebration

Codey and his friend Peyton have been friends for what seems like forever and have been celebrating their birthday together for many years. Their birthdays are only 7 days apart so this has made for some great parties. This year they were unable to get together in June so they celebrated just the two of them with lunch and a movie before school started back. Peyton even got to hang out with us for a few days! Though they are getting older, I hope that this celebration will continue for many years to come!!

1st Day of School

Every year I take a picture of the kids on their 1st day of school. This year it was much harder to get Joshua to take his Back to School picture. I don't know if it was the age or if maybe he is just to cool of an 8th grader to take a picture. Jeremy didn't help out any either!

Anyway, this is the ONE that turned out. Here he is all ready to go.

We love you, BossMan and know you will do AWESOME IN 8TH GRADE!!!

Alpha Omega, Here We Come!

Joshua is starting back at Alpha Omega after one year of homeschooling and is both excited and nervous. He will be in a new class this year, in the 8th grade, since we did both 6th and 7th grade last year at home. We had Student & Parent Orientation last night so that they could get their schedules and lockers. The older student's orientation was after the elementary students so Joshua wanted to take a couple of friends to get some ice cream before they set out on their new journey. The three had a good time with a quick bite of ice cream and some friendly chatting. All three will be new to Alpha this year so this was a good fit.

It was hard to get this picture, thanks mostly to Joshua. I guess it's just not cool for Mom to take pictures of pre-teen boys.

Dima, new to Alpha and the USA as he was adopted from Russia this summer, Taylor, and Joshua.

Delicious Dinner

Jeremy made an awesome dinner Sunday with some fresh shrimp that Codey got from a neighbor of ours. He skewered the shrimp with some veggies and we served it with a side of fettucini alfredo. It was YUMMY!!

I'm thinking he needs to do the cooking more often!!

Brogan's Super Summer Swap

All of the kids participated in the Super Summer Swap and Brogan got some really neat stuff. Her partner was "The Frog Princess" from Virginia and she had a lot of fun getting to know her. Brogan sent her a heart wreath that we made because "A Friend Loves At All Times", some personalized stationary that we made (hopefully they can keep in touch), some personalized magnets that we made, a postcard and note that she typed with just a little help from me, and a folder that she can keep all of her art or schoolwork in. I wasn't able to take a picture of all of Brogan's stuff that she recieved because she was just way to excited and ran off to her room with it. But I did manage to snap a few pictures of her opening her package. She got a rainbow necklace with her name on it, horse stickers, personalized notepad and pen, a homemade flower press (very cool!), a tooth fairy pillow (her favorite thing!), postcards of Virginia and Washington D.C., a letter from her new friend, and I feel like I'm forgetting something but it was all so cool! Brogan's package was even more special because so many of th items had her name on it. We NEVER find anything with her name on it so she thought it was all very special. I hope that they will continue to keep in touch! When we visited The Frog Princess' Mom's blog we saw so many cool craft projects. Brogan saw the tooth fairy pillow and said "Awe! I want one of those!". Well, she got it in her box and she was super excited! She said ""E" sent me just what I wanted Mom!". You can find the blog at http://pinkandgreenmomma.blogspot.com. I couldn't get the link to work but I encourage you to check it out!!

Codey's Super Summer Swap

The kids participated in the Super Summer Swap put together by Hadley over at the blog http://lifeofadairyqueen.blogspot.com/. They had so much fun corresponding with another child their age that they didn't know. Codey got Nathan, from Wyoming as his partner. They traded emails, and made a package for each other to send. Codey made Nathan a dry erase board with his name on it to hang outside his bedroom door for people to leave messages on when he isn't home, a memo holder for his soccer schedules or any notes, a postcard from Texas, some personalized magnets and a letter. Codey received all kinds of great information on Wyoming, some fishing stuff, some rocks (I think), and some other great stuff that Mom has never seen since we received it. Codey has just been having too much fun with all of it. This was fun for the kids and I hope that Codey and Nathan will continue to keep in touch. You can check out Nathan's mom's blog at http://delightfullearning.blogspot.com/.

Joshua's Super Summer Swap

The kids participated in the Super Summer Swap held over at http://lifeofadairyqueen.blogspot.com/ . They had fun picking out things for their partner and couldn't wait to see what they got as well. Joshua's swap partner was Cori over at http://scottchriscoricassicali.blogspot.com from Alaska. Joshua was they only one that did not receive a swap partner of his same gender. I was a little worried at first but he has loved emailing her and finding out what life is like in Alaska. Like a bad Mom I forgot to take a picture of what he sent her. But, here is what we sent: personalized stationary, personalized magnets, a horseshoe, a postcard of Texas, and there must have been something else but I just can't remember. Here is what Joshua received: an Ulu knife, a special knife used by the Eskimos for generations, a pooping moose (something that most boys get a kick out of in Alaska, and Texas too!), sponge waterballs, lots of books and info on Alaska, postcards (that were supposed to be for our world map but Joshua won't let me have them now), a chocolate bar, a sketch pad and pencils (Cori made the sketch pad out of a cereal box and thought of it just for Joshua. He mentioned to her that he liked to draw but that he did not think he was very good. She thought this way he could practice. Very Sweet!). Joshua had fun with the swap and met a new friend. I hope they can keep in touch!

Joshua with all of his goodies!

Fun with the Heald Family

We got our family together with another family after church and had a great time getting to know each other better. Clayton, Hope and the kids were so much fun to be around and the conversation was great. Here are some random pictures of our afternoon together...

The kids enjoyed popsicles and swimming...

And, of course there was eating...

New friends are so much fun! We can't wait to do it again!