Camp Outs and Back to School

My life has been so crazy busy the past few weeks!! About a month ago, Patrick and I got a new calling at church. We are now the Ward Activity Chairs. Which really is quite funny that WE of all people got that calling. I think it is just proof once again that our Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor! 

As we sat in the Bishop's office and accepted the calling he told us that the ward camp out was in just ONE MONTH! Holy cow! So we quickly got to work on it. The camp out was this past weekend. I can honestly say that in all the callings I have ever had, all the different presidencies I have served in, this was the most work I have ever had to put out for a calling at church. Sheesh! We were BUSY!! We went up to Mt. Charleston to a camp ground that is owned by our church. It was beautiful up there and the weather was great... if you didn't pay attention to the huge gusts of wind that would come along every once in a while. But it was SO NICE to get out of the heat for a while. The boys had so much fun running around and playing with their friends. They were so excited for the camp out. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve the night before we left, that is how excited they were to go.

Patrick and I were crazy busy the entire time we were up there. I hardly saw our kids at all.  They were having way too much fun playing. We were running all over getting things ready, serving food, cleaning up, you name it... we were doing it. I never even got a break long enough to take any pictures up there. In the mist of the million things we were packing up for the camp out, we some how forgot the pack and play for Landon to sleep in. He doesn't do well if he's not in HIS crib, so I ended up driving home at midnight with him and driving back up the mountain early the next morning. Thankfully our kids managed to stay uninjured and there were several people who helped us with all that had to be done up there and with Landon (the screaming baby that he was) while I was so busy. He's quite the momma's boy!

I think the camp out went well, but I'm sure glad it's over. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy the weather and yummy food... who doesn't like dutch oven cobbler and ice cream!??! However, my house looks like a tornado hit it. I have camping stuff everywhere! It going to take me a few days to get it all put back and organized!

Then today was the first day of school!!!! 

I sent 2 kids off to school this year!

Brayden was off to 2nd grade

and Conner started Kindergarten!

He was very excited about his new backpack and was very concerned that is wasn't in the picture, so I had to take one with his back pack showing!

Brayden was first in line on his dot (where the classes line up to go into school) and ready for 2nd grade!

Here are some of Conner's friends that are in his class. Up until our Ward was split about a month ago, all these kids were in Primary with Conner. So he was super excited to have so many friends in his class.

All ready to go into class!

Conner has been really excited to start Kindergarten. He has the same teacher that Brayden had for Kindergarten and he thought that was so cool!

Conner had a great first day of school. He is just in seventh heaven now that he is a "big kid" and gets to go to school everyday just like his big brother. 

Brayden had a great day too and is excited about his new class and the things he will get to do! He said his new teacher is really nice and he's excited about some new friends he has in his class!

It's going to be so nice and quiet around here in the mornings now while the 2 older kids are at school.

He's 11 months now!!!

Yikes!!! That means Landon is almost a year old! Holy cow! I can't believe that!

Our little man at 11 months.....

... does not like to sit still long enough for his mommy to take a picture of him
... loves to copy noises you make. He thinks its so funny
... is super ticklish on his ribs
... has gotten 6 teeth in the last month... bringing his tooth count up to 8
... crawls on his hands and knees most of the time now... and is pretty fast! He still army crawls sometimes too though.
... likes to throw his binky and Glow Worm out of his crib when he's mad or just done sleeping. He also loves to throw his food off his high chair when he's done eating
... if he sees you eating something he must have a bite too
... his favorite things to eat are Strawberry Yogurt Melts, graham crackers, apple juice, anything we are drinking, and all "real" food
... he loves drinking juice and water from his sippy cups
... is starting to walk around with his little walker... kind of. He's not exactly sure what to think of it.

... still does not even try to say any words. When I ask him if he can say "mama" "dada" or "baba" he just smiles and giggles at me
... is shy around anyone that tries to talk to him (other then his fam) and will hide his face from them, but smiles at them as he does it.
... loves to play in his big brother's room
... loves his naps, he still takes at least 2 a day
... loves to sit in the grocery cart and look all around and eat mommy's grocery list as we shop
... loves to stand next to the bathtub... all cute and naked... and watch the tub fill with water. He gets so excited knowing he is about to get in and play in all that water!
... wears size 12 month clothes
... loves to dump out his toy bin, the DVD's, and Wii games and controllers. Then if we try to pick them up again, he looks at us like "Hey!! I just messed those up, what are you doing???" Then goes and dumps them out again. I have given up picking up after him too much!

... is a really happy little boy
... makes his mommy smile every day!

What do you think....

Maybe... just maybe... it's time to get the locks on the cabinets.

 He may look all sweet an innocent, but he's up to something! 

Trust me, it usually gets much messier then this. He is a kid on a mission... and his mission is messiness!

 The Tupperware lids are his favorite! 

And I thought we wouldn't have to get locks on the cabinets... but he's discovered what's inside and there is no keeping him out!

Goodbye 1st grade!!

Brayden's last day of first grade is tomorrow. This year has flown by so fast. He did awesome this year in school. It's so amazing how much he learned and how much he has progressed since he started the school year. 

He is a great reader... he is reading on a 3rd grade level! I wouldn't say he "loves" to read, because I usually have to make him do his reading, but he has gotten really good at it. He is his daddy's little boy too because he is awesome at math! He was doing 3rd grade math facts by the end of the school year. At his school's award ceremony, he got an award for his Math Facts and passing his "Principal's Challenge" which is where they get to go to the Principal's office and they have a certain amount of math problems to do during a time limit, and if you get 100% you've passed the challenge. He did this several times for addition and subtraction for each grade level he passed. 

Way to go bud!

Also during this last week of school, his teacher had the parents come in for a small party and we could see all the progress the kids have made over the school year in their writing. It was fun to see all the journals Brayden has written in over the year. His writing and spelling have most definitely improved over the school year! It was so cute to see how he tried to spell words on his own and the pictures he drew to with it. One of the latest projects they did was to write a book. Brayden loves to write and make up stories. He even has a little "journal" (which is just a small notepad) that he would write stories and draw pictures and stuff in. He wrote this chapter book for his project about him and his friends going back in time and turning into dinosaurs. 

He did a really good job on it. 

Landon and Conner got to come see Brayden's books too... Brayden sure loves his baby brother!

Thanks to Brayden's awesome teacher, Mrs. Drew, he did so well this year! He really enjoyed being in her class and I am amazed at how much she taught him. Thanks Mrs. Drew.... we sure are going to miss you!!!

Now just 3 weeks and he'll be off to 2nd grade! WOW!! And Conner will be off to Kindergarten. Oh my, I'm not sure I'm ready to have 2 of my 3 kids in school!