Goodbye summer, hello school!!

Last day at the Beach:

Becky and I decided that we ought to have one last trip to the beach before school starts so we took our last wednesday before school and took the kids to Treasure Island. The kids had a ton of fun, because there were lots of tide pools and rocks to climb and explore. So goodbye summer, we already miss it!

Back to School and hello first grade!

Jake is a first grader now! yeah! A whole day at school! It has been quite an adjustment to have to get all of the kids up and ready so early, but it has been fun. The first couple of days were a little tough for Jake, but he loves it now (except for the whole doing a lot more work part). He even got to buy his first hot lunch today at school. He has been begging me every day, so we made a plan that on pizza day he would get to do it, and so today he did! I dont think he was too crazy about the food, just excited that he got to do something that some other kids in class do.

First day of school, jake decided to "test" his scissors out and see if they could cut his shirt... and it worked, who knew?

KiwiFrost:

After the first day of school, a few of us moms, decided to try out this new ice cream place as a treat for the kids. It was a lot of fun. I think it was more fun, because we got to all sit and talk about our first days! For the moms and the kids there was a lot to talk about, I hope it becomes a fun tradition because I sure enjoyed it. This poor little place though, we definitely took it over! By the way, if anyone wants to try out some ice cream check out KiwiFrost, it is right across the street from Spaghetti factory, and it is sort of a self-serve frozen yogurt place, it is really cool, you pay by the ounce and add as many or as little mixins as you want!

Cody's cannonball and his mischievious brother

Sorry it has been so long everybody! I am done with school for the summer, and dont start again until the 24th! Yeah, some free down time! So hopefully I will catch up on blogging in the meantime!

Thankfully besides the school, I have been trying to keep summer fun for the kids. So, thankfully summer has been full of fun and memorable times! One of my all time favorite memories of this summer though will be Cody learning to talk and the new words he is picking up. So I had to include this video of him trying to do his own cannonball! complete with the word! It is so funny to hear him mimic us, but even funnier because he mostly likes to mimic things his older bro and sis say! So "cannonball" is by far my favorite word that he is picked up! Of all the words, huh? Hopefully you can hear it on the video!

Last but not least, tonight, Jake and Cody were playing in the front room while we were in the family room, and after awhile we asked Jake what he was doing, and he answered the he was putting lotion on Cody, because Cody came up to him and asked him to! So, I video'd what the result was...

Summer fun

We have had a lot of fun this summer already, we have had swimming lessons, beach trips, free movie trips, tons o play dates!, and lots of other lucky stuff, but due to my great camera malfunction all I've been able to get pictures of this summer have been at the beach, because I stole my sisters camera! Our ward is so cool, they have something fun to do everyday for the kids, and one day was beach day! So we braved taking kids without dads, and it turned out pretty well, it was a little crazy at the end trying to get 3 kids showered off before we got into the car.. you know I'd wash one, then as I began to wash the other the newly showered one would walk back into the sand...but it was actually a really fun day! I love going to the beach every summer, because its fun to reflect on how much they have changed in just a year! Last year Jake would never have gotten into the water very far by himself, and this year he was in over his head before I knew it! We cant wait for more beach days this summer!

Jake and JP braving the ocean! I dont think either one of them would have gone out very far if it hadnt been for the other, but it was Jake that stayed out the longest!

Jake and JP good buddies!

Lily and Jessica, getting into trouble! All of a sudden they would disappear and be halfway down the beach, after one such trip down the beach Jessica said "I was just following Lily".. and Lily said "I was just following Jessica!"

A very happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everybody! We love Independence day in our family! Besides being the birth of our country, it is also my sister's bday, and Nephi's bday is the next day. So we had a lot of fun, first we got together with my family and had a fun day at my uncles parents house. They had a beautiful backyard with a huge pond in it, that even had a little rowboat in it to ride around in, the kids loved it! We all had a great time! Then we went over for our annual trek to the Azusa war zone. In Azusa it is still legal to light off your own fireworks, and while that is great and all, it doesnt stop very many people from shooting off the illegal ones too. So it drives the kids crazy, they love it, but they are pretty nervous about it by the end of the night, the only exception was actually Cody, who sat and enjoyed more than the other 2 did! funny, huh? Even more proof that he is more like Nephi! We all had fun, and Independence day activities ended with Nephi's bday today, 30 years old!

The birthday cake, America and all of the rest of the Packer's we've missed recently, not to mention Nephi! and you too Ri!

Lily's hair! Didnt it look awesome?

Grandpa giving Cody a ride in the boat, he loved it!

Erin giving Lily and Jake a ride

The kids, complaining about their food as usual!Even though we had super yummy food!

The firework watching in Azusa. Prior to this picture I had to beg Lily to put her hands down from her ears!

Lily in her normal position for the night, next to her little cousin Nathan.

I have realized that I never really put up any pictures of myself, so I decided I should, besides this one actually turned out kinda cute! At least Lily anyway!

Updates from June!! Sorry so late!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I blogged! I have gotten so caught up with school, and with Jake being out of school, and keeping the kids busy, that I havent yet shown off the funnest events of the last few months! So, first Jakey graduated kindergarten... I know its amazing! haha... kindergarten graduations are so funny, but they are fun! At Jakes school they call it the celebration of growth, so it really makes the whole event reflect on the fact that a whole year has passed and they really have grown so much! So now I have a first grader! yeah!

Okay, next on the agenda after the graduation, was Lily's ballet recital, which turned out to be one of the funnest events we have ever been too! I am actually a huge fan of the ballet, so I would normally look forward to something like that in general, but to have your own daughter in it made it so much more enthralling! Hopefully soon I will figure out how to put the video of it up so I can share my daughters amazing talent! Seriously though, she did so well, and had so much fun doing it! I cannot wait until next year!

Then we had Jake's last T-ball game of the season, uneventful, but fun all the same, I got some real good shots of him at bat, and he actually did really well at bat this last game. T-ball has been a fun experience, but I am so glad it is over!

Lastly Jake turned 6 yrs old! My baby! Nephi made the cake for his birthday, because at first he wanted a lego cake, which I was all excited to do, but at the last minute he changed his mind and said he wanted an army cake! So Nephi took over, and did a great job! As per usual! The picture turned out kinda fuzzy, but the candles make it look even more like the horrible battle scene it was, and believe me it was horrible, random limbs, explosions in the cake itself, it was definitely a battlefield!

So that raps up the end of the year events that I took way too long to get out there! Now, I just need to catch up on all of the fun activities we have been up to since school let out! and of course Nephi's birthday, watch out for the cake I made him!

The army cake

Jake with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Johnson, on the last day of school.

Jake with his T-ball coach, this guy was so awesome!

Jake's last at bat

Lily and Hailey with their trophies! Thanks Jamie and Colin!

Lily looking cute in her tutu!

Lily with her friend from her old ballet class, she was so excited to see Addie, it was great!

Last but not least! Jake recieving his kinder diploma! Cute, huh?

Its my birthday!

Its my birthday today, and although I usually like to avoid it and forget about it, it already started out really well! But, what began the day, was finding the awesome cake that my hubby made me! Didnt it turn out awesome? Now everyone completely knows how much Nephi not only influences but perfects all the cakes we do!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I LOVE Easter! Especially since I teach primary, because this way, not only do I remember the savior and the atonement, but I have to study it and think of new ways to creatively teach it. I had a really good sunday today. My kids had a real good time with their easter egg hunts and fun primary lessons, but my primary kids actually listened to 75% of the lesson! pretty good huh? Seriously though, I think after last weeks conference I was much better prepared to fully enjoy and truly appreciate Easter today. I hope everyone else had a good Easter!