2009 Lana – 1st Grade Kyle - 7th Grade
2008 Kyle – 6th Grade Lana - Kindergarten
2007 Lana - Preschool Kyle - 5th Grade
2006 Kyle – 4th Grade Lana – 3 years old
Those bars on the windows that I hate come in handy for something. They show me how much my kids have grown!
I am very lucky because I have kids that love school and actually like getting up early. I know one of these days in the near future all that will change, but for now just let me revel in the ease of the first day of school.
School was starting and we hadn’t taken the kids camping all summer long, so what do we do? We take the kids camping the weekend before school starts of course, because it’s not like we need to prepare for school or anything. Okay, so it was probably all my idea and the we referenced earlier should be I and Ronnie was just along for the ride.
On Friday we went to Valley of Fire and set up camp around 3:00pm. It was hot but luckily our camper has an air conditioner and the next day was supposed to be cooler. We had to come back to Las Vegas for Kyle’s Court of Honor for Boy Scouts at 6:30pm on Friday, which I found out about after planning this trip. We also had the kids meet and greet at school at 7:00pm that same night. So we leave Valley of Fire and and get to Kyle’s Court of Honor. Kyle’s Scout Master had Kyle’s scout shirt that Kyle lost at a campout and was supposed to bring it to the Court of Honor. Well, he forgot it. Kyle advanced 2 ranks and all I got where pictures of him in a black shirt and my eyes were closed. Not going to be scrapbooking those.
Then we left early to make it to the meet and greet at school. The kids have really great teachers this year and are very excited about school. We just said hi to the teachers, grabbed their letters telling about themselves, and left. On the way back to camp I was reading the letters from the kids teachers and when I got to the part that is underlined Lana busted up laughing.
She said, “I can’t believe that he said that! Why would Kyle’s teacher say that!” She went on and on and we were just laughing so hard, her reaction was just priceless. Of course we didn’t tell her the difference between tutor and tooter, because we’re good parents like that. So, to this day she still thinks one of Kyle’s teachers is a “tooter”.
Finally we make it back to camp around 9:30pm and realized we left the camper keys in Vegas. Luckily our camper is not very secure and we managed to get in. The night sky was beautiful that night. There was no moon to be seen and the stars were so bright. We sat outside for about an hour looking at the sky until our necks started to hurt then went to bed. That’s when the fun started, wind, and lots of it. The kids fall asleep no problem, but Ronnie and I couldn’t fall asleep until 3:00am we kept thinking our camper was going to blow over or something. Then of course we wake up at 7:00am and the kids are ready for a hike. So off we go!
Then it gets hot and the wind picks up again so we head back to the camper around noon. We eat some lunch, take showers, then decided to go to St. George. We are really campers huh? On the way to St. George we call my Dad who is working there that week and see if he wants to meet up after work. We make plans to have dinner together. When we make it to St. George we have about 45 minutes before my Dad is off of work so we go visit the Brigham Young House. We take the tour and then meet for dinner at Outback. Doesn’t everyone go out for steaks when they are camping? Then my Dad heads back to Las Vegas and we go shopping. I love Tai Pan and wanted to pick up some Halloween decorations. Then we hit Seagull to stock up on reading material. Then head back to the camper and sleep. Then Sunday morning we eat breakfast and pack up. We made it home at 11:00am and shower and go to church. We didn’t really do much camping, but we had fun none the less.
Now I’ve spent the first part of the week getting caught up on all the school preparations that should have been done before school started. Oh well, there is always next year to be totally ready for school to start.
We are gearing up for school in our house. This year both kids are in all day school and at the same school. There are good and bad things about it but I think the good outweighs the bad. For example less miles put on my car, I am able to spend more time helping at school, and I don’t have to keep track of two different school schedules. But with both kids coming home at the same time homework time is going to be tough. Kyle is really good about doing what needs to be done, he’ll just go to his room and lock the door so Lana doesn’t bother him and spend hours doing homework. His homework shouldn’t take hours to do so I guess he gets sidetracked a bit. I’ve decided this year he’ll do homework at the kitchen table so I can help him stay on track. Lana is used to having me all to herself helping with homework so that will be an adjustment.
I was flipping through a Family Fun magazine today and saw these awesome homework stations that I wanted to make. So after dinner the kids and I braved the Wal-Mart school supply aisle a week before school starts. It really wasn’t that bad and we were able to find all the stuff we needed. I went home and an hour and a half later had two homework stations with their own privacy walls ready for the new school year.
Kyle’s Homework Station
Lana’s Homework Station
Here is one of the all folded up.
Cardboard, hot glue, and spray paint never cease to amaze me. There is plenty of room for us to add things we didn’t think of later. Here is a link to Family Fun if you think you might need this at your house.
I don’t know about you but I’m dreading the first week of school. I sleep in longer than Kyle does and I must say I love the freedom Summer brings. Kyle will have no problem at all getting back in the groove, he has set his alarm for 6:00am almost every morning since school was out back in June. Many times I sent him back to bed, it’s just wrong, kids should like sleeping in. The only ripple I see in Lana getting back in the groove is she doesn’t like to eat before 11:00am. Any yummy breakfast recipes I can try to entice her with?
I thought this might be Kyle’s last themed party so I had to do it up right. He loves cooking and thinks he will open his own restaurant some day so I used that as my theme. His invitations where printed on manly recipe cards.
We had been recording episodes of Good Eats on our DVR for about a week. Our plan was to have that playing on TV while all the boys were coming in, but some how Rock Band took over. Go figure, a TV, boys, and a video game, silly me, what was I thinking.
Once everyone arrived the boys were asked to put on some aprons and make some lasagnas for lunch.
While the lasagnas were baking they went outside and played cold potato, with ice cold water balloons.
In case the ice cold water balloons weren’t enough refreshment the boys came inside and did a root beer tasting.
They knew their root beers! I was impressed. The favorites were IBC and Mug. Then they made some fruit kabobs before sitting down to eat.
After lunch we brought out the bugs.
Followed up by the stinky cheese.
I was really surprised by how many folks tried insects and how many thought the stinky cheese tasted good. We also had some nasty tasting jelly beans like from Harry Potter, but I didn’t get good pictures of that, see the video. As to not leave a bad taste in their mouths, we saved the best for last.
Then it was back to Rock Band
And who could forget presents
Can you tell his Grandparents did good?
Perhaps the biggest surprise was his cousin from Logan showing up
I don’t know about them, but I had a blast. I’m so glad Kyle has such a good group of friends and they were able to come celebrate with us. I’ve put together a little video or the craziness that was the party…enjoy.
Kyle's 12th Birthday Party from Shawna Lutes on Vimeo.
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