Here are my cuties, just about to head off on their first day of school! They were all so excited, and were up and moving as soon as that alarm went off (at 6:40!!). It was still pitch black! But it was a great first day of school. Ella started Kindergarten this year (sniff, sniff), and she has been so excited. I was a little concerned that she would freak out about me leaving her there (she has been known to do that!), because she gets so shy in new situations. Well, I think she would have been OK except there were about 10 different goodbyes before the parents actually left. By goodbye number 10, and hug number 10, her arms just never released me. Oh no. I know the signals of a good old fashioned freak out, and we were about to have one! So yes indeed, I had to pry those fingernails out of my arm, and leave her in the care of her wonderful teacher as she flailed and thrashed about, arms outstretched, calling for me. It was quite a scene, and I was pitied by most of the onlookers. Poor peanut. But that was the end of it! After that scene on day 1, she has been dropped off at the curb every morning with Tyler, without a tear shed. She loves her class and her teacher, has made so many new friends, and has even been known to say at dinner time, "I wish it was time to go to school!" So that is a good sign, I would say! And her outfits...she is decked to the nines every day! The jewelry, the sparkly tennis shoes, the skinny jeans. I wish I had a picture of her every day for those first two weeks! As long as we lay the outfits out the night before, so there are no "morning clothes fights," all is well. We still have the occasional hair-do argument, but oh well. That's Ella! 
Now, little Ruby. Little Ruby is going to pre-school this year, two mornings a week. Can you believe it? I knew that she would be so sad without Ella (and she was), and I also wanted to continue to be able to volunteer in the older kid's classes at school. So I decided to see how Ruby liked going to Ella's old pre-school. Well, never has a girl been so excited to have her "own school!" She wore that back pack around for days before her school actually started, and asked at least every day when she got to go to her school. Finally the day came. She loved it! And continues to love it! I pick her up earlier than the other moms (not quite ready to lose her for so long yet!), and my plan was to pick her up before lunch. Well, on day 4 of her school she informed that she "wanted to eat lunch with her class." Not at home with mommy? No. Her class. So, that is what we do now. It's been hard for me to get used to, and I really miss her on those mornings, but I'm happy she is having so much fun. My little Ru!!!
This summer, while the kids and I were in Idaho, Bryan competed in his first triathlon. You may not know this, but Bryan has been seriously pushing it up in his working out for the past year or so. There are days that he exercises twice a day - which I think is sheer insanity - and that boy works hard! He sweats like nobody's business! But anyway, back to the topic of the triathlon. Our good friend Spaniard, who we met in Korea years ago, brought his two kids and dog up to Boerne to cheer on Bryan and to snap these (and many more!) pictures of him. They were up there at 6:00 in the morning on a Saturday! Thank you, Spaniard, for filling in for me and the kids!!! There were 300 people who participated in this particular triathlon, and 28 in his age group. First came the swim. It was an open water 500 meter swim, and I have to say that Bryan rocked the swim! He was 6th in his age group on the swim, and some of these guys were serious die hard racers. So way to go Bry! Then came the biking portion, which was a 14 1/2 mile ride, followed by a 4 1/2 mile run. His total time was 1:31:55.9. That is a LONG time to be racing! But he loved it, and is looking forward to many more. Hopefully we'll be in town next time, and we can be up there cheering him on. Way to go Bry!!
Now he's transitioning from the swim to the bike...
Headed toward the finish line!!
The girls were begging to do a Girl's Night Out while we were in town, and soon the boys caught on and wanted a Boys Night Out. So we busily planned two super fun nights for the kids, but unfortunately I only have pictures of the one I was invited to! So here's a brief commentary on the Boys Night Out, and then we'll get to the pictures. Grandpa took Masen, Dallen, Spencer, and Tyler out for their big night. First, they went on a late afternoon golfing expedition. The boys love golfing with grandpa! Then they hit a little hole in the wall burger and scone joint, that they wolfed down a good dinner at. Then they went to see The Karate Kid at the dollar theater, with their pockets full of candy. It was a several hour affair, and they had a blast! Again, I wish I had some pictures, but I do not. But I DO have quite of few of this next big event - the night of makeovers and dinner...the Girl's Night Out. Ella and Aubrey had been planning and anticipating this night since before we even got to Idaho. They wanted to get all dolled up, go to a fun hair place, and then get their nails done. So we found a cute little place called To Be a Kid, and we made the reservations. Carson also came along, just for the hair cut portion of the night, and then Brian picked him up. So here is how the night went:
Next came the nails. Ella chose red with gold sparkles.
Ruby was not a fan of the shampooing!
She did like getting those nails done, though! She also chose red (what's up with my little girls choosing RED!), with silver sparkles.
Now it was time for Ella to get her hair cut. Her hair had been through a lot over the summer, with so much swimming, and so we got a good couple of inches cut off, plus some long layers thrown in. It turned out pretty darn cute, complete with sparkles for some added flair. Lookin' good , Ella!
Next came Ruby's first REAL haircut. She like the carousel horse she got to sit on, and she liked the sucker. I think she could have done without the actual hair cutting, though! Now Ruby's hair had grown quite long - but only in the back. But it avoided full-up mullet status because I always did it up in pigtails or all curled. But still...it needed to have the back cut so that the sides could eventually catch up. It was a little frightening seeing all of that hair being cut, and also a little scary that my two year old was getting her first razor cut, but oh my did it turn out cute! Look at that adorable bob!!!! I took way too many pictures of her in the days that followed, because I just couldn't get enough of that little cutie. Sweet Ru.
All of the girl cousins were there to watch the make-overs, and they were all looking darling and ready for our fancy dinner out on the town. We went straight from the salon to a fun and fancy dinner in downtown Boise. The girls were all so well behaved, and it was so much fun to be out with all of them. I think that this is a tradition that will stick, for years and years.
We went out for ice-cream afterward to finish up the night. Love those girlies!!
Here is one out-take from the night. We took about 20 pictures of all the girls before we left the salon, and this is just about what they all looked like. Ella and Aubrey were being very silly!
Swimming at grandma's house is the best! My kids make it a yearly goal to swim at least once a day while we are up there, and they almost always meet their goal. In fact, they swim so much while we are up there that I inevitable end up needing to take at least one child to Urgent Care for swimmer's ear. It becomes a nightly ritual - take a shower, brush your teeth, and get ear drops. We try to prevent it, but when you're in the pool for hours and hours a day? I guess those ears just can't dry out! So anyway, back to the swimming. Spencer and Tyler were both diving and doing flips this year off the diving board, and they got pretty good at them. Ella has turned into a little fish this summer, after a two week stint at swim lessons. She said goodbye to those water wings, put her face under, and hasn't looked back. Way to go Ella! The last weekend we were in Idaho I suggested that she try to jump off the diving board. She'll jump all day off the side of the pool, but that diving board seemed too scary. After lots of bribing and chickening out on her part, she finally gave it a whirl. And loved it, of course! So she jumped like crazy for the last few days we were there. The best thing about having the pool in the backyard is that we were always BBQing and munching, just hanging out, and it was always so much fun and easy. There were lots of naked babies running around, with chocolate all over their faces, and just some good family fun. 
A few more outings in Idaho still to document! We'll begin with the beloved trip to Boondocks - aka Boonies - and all the fun to be had there. The boys love the go-karts, the laser tag, and the video games the most. The girls love the video games! They do enjoy the Kiddie Kove, and riding on the go-karts, and even the bumper boats. But really, it's all about using those tokens to get tickets for them! This year, Ella and Aubrey were tall enough to be passengers on the go-karts, and also to drive the bumper boats. It sure was cute to see them cruising around the track! Spencer took Aubrey one time, and he was so busy waving to our cameras that he crashed right into the wall! It sure was funny that Aubrey didn't seem very interested to go again after that! Then poor Aubrey got stuck out on her bumper boat. Ella finally got the hang of steering it, but Aubrey is over a year younger than Ella (although she is taller), and couldn't quite get it. After getting escorted to the side by the worker, she decided that she would ride with Ella the rest of the time! Tyler took Carson out for a ride, which he loved, and Spencer proceeded to soak every other soul out there. He can't imagine that not everybody on the bumper boats has plans of being dripping wet at the end of their ride! But it was a fun day!!
We took the kids bowling one morning, and it was great! They had just as much fun playing on the video games (without money, of course) as they did bowing! We only had a couple of balls get stuck on the lanes, which I thought was quite good considering the age of the bowlers!
We went to the beloved Discovery Center again, and it never disappoints. The kids, that is. I thought it was a lot of work this year, frankly! Those girls shopped and shopped in that pretend grocery store, for at least an hour. All I did was follow them around, re-shelving the food that they just "bought." Then, before I was even finished, they were off to shopping again! I was seriously worn out! I got quite a kick out of watching the kids do the green screen, though. Look at those crazy heads floating on the bridge! I could have played in that room a little longer, I think. 
After the Boise Hawks game from last year, which was such a hit, we knew we'd be adding that activity to our yearly repertoire. It was a fun night, and the kids seemed to really like watching the game! (Plus eating the suckers and popcorn!). Ruby and Carson wanted to see Humphrey the Hawk, and lo and behold...he came over and said hello! Ruby buried her head into his shoulder for a hug, and then he held her up for everybody to see her. She seemed to enjoy the attention! And she looked as cute as can be. Spencer won the "Pizza Scream" again this year, meaning he was the loudest in our section, and so he was very proud as he ate that piece of pizza. Evidently it was the best pizza ever! 
