Starting School

Clayton's cousin, Rebecca, had the brilliant idea to have a back to school party on the day before school started.  She planned all kinds of fun games, like pin the name on the backpack.

and pack your lunchbox relay races.  Thanks for the fun idea, Rebecca!

Luke and Clay on Luke's first day of school.

First Grade!

 On the bus.

Getting off the bus and going into the school.  Yes, I was one of those moms.

Ready to start.  And looking a little bit nervous.  He did great, though, and is excelling in school.   His teacher, Mrs. Hendrickson, is amazing.  His class is small (18 kids), and he is making lots of friends.  And, best of all, he is talking like crazy!  Hooray!

Audrey's Pre-K didn't start for another few weeks, but here she is trying out the covered wagon at Meet-the-Teacher.  This year, the theme is about Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I think this is kind of neat, because our Elementary school is Wilder Elementary.  Laura lived in Missouri for quite a bit of her life.

 Audrey and Laura

FINALLY, it was the first day of school!  Here is Audrey getting her name tag from her teacher, Mrs. Kim.  

Audrey is also loving school, although she wishes she could be in Kindergarten and ride the bus with Luke.  I try to tell her to enjoy this last year with more time with me.  She is not impressed.  :)  Although is was kind of sad that she missed the Kindergarten cut-off by 22 days, this year is already helping Audrey so much.  She is learning tons and having a great time at school!

Lake Fun

Although my parents assure me that this was a light lake summer (not nearly enough lake time), we felt like we have never spent so much time on the lake.  We were able to go with them to their lake house on several occasions, and it was always lots of fun.  And, Audrey almost always threw up on the way.  Nothing like super windy Missouri roads!

 Alex!

Skipping rocks from shore.

Luke succeeding at kneeboarding!

Getting ready to ski...

Not this year, but he was a really good sport and kept a smile on his face the whole time.

We love the lake!

Summer Fun List - Post 3

Here are a few more pictures of things we were able to cross off our summer fun list 2012:

We went to a Springfield Cardinals baseball game.  It was lots of fun.  Well, there was good and bad.  The good: my dad was able to throw the first pitch since he was Physician of the Year at Mercy Hospital.  The bad: We forgot our tickets at home and had to turn around and go back.  We missed my dad throwing the first pitch.  Aarrggghh!  The good: our seats were great, and the team was doing well.  The bad: our kids were mostly into the food.

 

Here is a picture from our Secret Agent Spy Day.  This was navigating a laser obstacle course.  We also lifted fingerprints and bagged evidence, as well as coming up with a secret code for messages.

Aren't these kids a total riot?!  This was water pinatas.  We combined it with our backyard Olympics.

Hurdles.

Yes, our grass was dying.  It was a combination of a really hot, dry summer and our slip 'n' slide escapades!

Crossing the finish line.

It started raining, so we moved the javelin throw indoors.

On another day, we made balloon rockets.  Honestly, they didn't work that well.

This one was really fun.  I froze a bunch of dollar store stuff inside huge ice cubes.  Luke and Audrey had to "dig" for the buried treasure.

Here we are covering the driveway with chalk artwork.  I particularly liked Luke taking possession of it.