Meet The Teacher - Preschool

Dilan starts pre-school this fall and she was so excited to meet her teachers today. She literally ran into the building only to hide behind me as we walked into the classroom. She acted shy at first and then once she warmed up a bit, she didn't want to leave. Dilan found a puzzle of the lion king that she put together over and over again avoiding the requests of pictures that I and the teachers wanted to take. But I'll get more on her first day of school Tuesday. Dilan also checked out her bucket which had a beach ball in it just for her to take home. The teachers had written on it, "We are going to have a ball this year!" It was very cute and this little girl could not be more ready to go to school!

Dilan and Ms. Meredith

 Dilan in front of her bucket and holding onto her new beach ball

First Day of School 2012

Drew woke up on his own this morning so excited to start second grade. He let us style his hair too! With his favorite shorts on, new shoes, his Spiderman backpack, Thomas water bottle and lunch box, he was ready to go! He gave his teacher a hug and the note he made for her. Then, he began his morning assignment of drawing a picture to represent himself (a train), what he did this summer (learned how to play checkers with Mimi), what he wonders (if recess will be as long as first grade's recess) and what his goal for second grade is (not to be tardy once!). He met a new friend named T.J. and was excited to see old friends too.

 My second-grader ready to go!

 at school in front of the Cottonwood Creek Colt

 in his class staring his morning assignment

Grapevine Railroad - LAST DAY OF SUMMER 2012

I usually do a fun-filled last week of summer where we do something fun every day for the week before school starts. This year, I took the kids to Utah for an even better last trip of the summer. But once we got back, we had one real day of summer left. So, I planned a ride on the Grapevine Railroad. We rode this train at Christmas time but as I've learned from my mom, doing things over again as a child is like watching different football games - no game or experience is ever the same and it's important to do things again especially if the kids love it. And boy do all three of my kids like to ride trains. :)

Here's the conductor punching our tickets

Me and Dilan on the train

 Drew looking out the window

 Drake trying to look out the window

 Drake and Dilan taking in the scenery

 Drew and me on the train 

(all three kids were snuggle bugs on this ride. they took turns on my lap and sitting beside me and cuddling, it was very sweet)

 My three kiddos in front of the train after the train ride

 Drew totally in his element

Meet the Teacher 2012

Drew was so excited to meet his new second grade teacher, Ms. Helwig. We went the day before to order school supplies, buy a new school t-shirt, and find out the teacher's name. Once we had her name, he went straight home and wrote her a letter about how excited he was to meet her. 

Here's Drew with his cubby - once again, he chose number 15 to represent his birthday. He was so happy to get it!

 Drew in front of his teacher's desk

 Ms. Helwig and Drew

 And we ended with our tradition of a treat on Meet the Teacher Night - Drew chose Tappy's yogurt

 

Utah Trip 2012

As summer was coming to a close, I really wanted to go to Utah for a visit. It's been two years since we have seen our nephews and nieces up there and they had never met Drake. David's mom moved up to Utah last year too and we wanted to visit her as well. But I was to go alone as David needed to work. Bravely, I booked our flights and took the journey up there by myself. Let's just say that was quite an accomplishment because it takes three legs to get up there with Southwest. At the end of the first leg, Drake screamed and cried for the last 15 minutes before we landed. I could not calm him down. I basically started panicking, my heart was racing, I was shaking and about to cry. Finally, he calmed down after we landed and I was terrified he'd do it again the whole way there. Luckily I was smart enough to bring 6 bags of m&ms and that saved me the rest of the trip. Any time he was going to melt down, I brought another bag out. Once we got to SLC, I felt very relieved and knew I would need help on the way home. My mother-in-law is great and offered to travel back with me so I took her up on her offer. 

Our five days in Utah were so much fun and well worth the trip! The only thing better would have been if David was with us but we made the most of Grandma and cousin time. 

We had pizza in the park (Dilan and Drew with cousins)

 We visited the Oaker Mountain Temple because I had never seen it before. The kids loved walking around.

 Grandma, Drake, Joely, Josie, Dilan, Jenna, and Drew at the Oaker Mountain Temple

 Me and my kids at the Oaker Mountain Temple

 We swam at the Legacy Center with lots of slides

 Countless hours on the cousins' trampoline in the backyard

 And playing in the backyard in general

 Took at trip to SLC and visited the church history museum. Drew is posing in front of the missionary display and a taco in hand! 

 Drake and Drew with a statue of angel Moroni, which is also on top of every temple

 Dilan in front of the replica podium at General Conference

 Me and my kids with my sister-in-law, Amy, and her three girls in front of the SLC temple

 The kids in front of the SLC temple

 Drake at the reflection pool

 Drew and Dilan with their cousins at the reflection pool

 We took a trip to the splash pad

 and to Jump on It where the kids jumped on multiple trampolines, and finally to SNOASIS where Grandma treated them to snowcones - a definite highlight of the trip!

Interurban Railway Museum in Plano

I have been looking at fun things to do this summer and when I saw that there was a Railway Museum close, we had to try it out. This train was an old train they used from 1911-1948. White passengers sat in first class where smoking was allowed, then "colored" passengers in the middle car which did not allow smoking, and the last car was a mail car where they delivered bags of mail in each city where they made stops. It was so neat to see it in person and realize not long ago, people were using it as a means of transportation through Dallas.

Drew and Dilan at the front of the train where the train driver sat and drove the train.

 Drew and Drake in first class where you can see the leather seats that used to line this car.

 Drew and Drake in the mail car where they sorted mail and packages. The employees of the train carried guns because people used to get cash in the mail from employers back then so trains often were robbed.

 Drake, Drew, and Dilan on the steps of the train

 A better picture of the kids and the train but Drake was too interested in drinking his milk than standing for the picture.

 Inside the museum, they had a model train of the one outside going around old-town Plano. The kids could have watched it all day.

 Drake was interested too.

 Learning how the train ran on electricity

 The kids in front of the Museum as we left. It is clear Drake would like to go back inside.

Disney at Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines invited some Disney characters to join them at headquarters and say hello to the employees' families. It was a fun event and one I didn't want to miss so we could introduce the kids to Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. You had to stand in quite a long line but the fact that David could come down from his office and stand with me definitely helped. Drake was totally interested in Pluto but Mickey somewhat freaked him out at first. As you can see in the first picture below, Drake could not stop staring at Mickey Mouse. And Dilan was a bit shy at first but having Daddy with her made her nervousness go away.

 David trying to get Drake to give Mickey a high five... not so much.

 We got yummy rice krispie treats shaped like Mickey Mouse's head and ears.

 After our Mickey Mouse picture, we ate our treats and headed over to meet Pluto.

 Pluto was fun giving high fives to the kids and Drake was a bit more comfortable with him.

 This is when Minnie Mouse came back from her break to take Mickey's spot and they kissed. Dilan couldn't stop talking about their kiss the rest of the day. Now, it was time to get back in line to meet Minnie, and David had to go back to work...

 So, we waited and it was well worth it. Dilan had time with Minnie alone giving her a hug and taking a picture with Minnie all by herself.

 Happy girl!

 I took a picture with the kids and Minnie Mouse. We picked up more treats and headed home - what a fun time! It totally motivates us to get ourselves to Disney World!!!