School Begins

Jessie and Mark heading out to catch the bus on the first day of school.  Mark was excited to be moving on from elementary school and mom was glad that 9th grade isn’t at the high school.

Neil and Isaac were excited to sit on the front steps and wave goodbye to Abbie and Spencer.  Which we did pretty much every morning after that until it was too chilly. Spencer had a great year in soccer.  He was almost a year older than some of the kids and that certainly made a difference in his abilities compared to theirs, but he was pretty good about passing the ball to his team while enjoying his own share of scoring goals.  His coach was also really good – we were so lucky.  This year was another divide and conquer year and we were lucky enough to enjoy Rachel and Becca cheering with us frequently and that’s always fun. Grandpa Payne’s sister, Jennifer, came up from Texas for a visit and she invited all the girls over to make jewelry.  I played with the little boys while everyone worked.  Neil didn’t want to miss out on the fun the girls were having and tried on all the bracelets Jennifer had brought to show us. 

Isaac trying to feed the table his yogurt.

Grandma sent Abbie out a pioneer hat that we didn’t end up using, but it sure made a great chef hat… Lots of Ken’s family was in town and so we had a little get together at his parents.  I brought over our pretend food and single handedly entertained all the small children with it the whole time.  As long as someone kept reassembling the food for them to cut back apart the world was a happy place.  An exciting day for Mark….he brought home his new instrument to play.  And not only did he want to play with it, but so did all the other kids.  (I think the French Horn is as loud as the drums when it comes to practicing :-)! )

One of the toys I made up for nursery was a huge bucket of beans, along with bowls and spoons, so the kids can scoop, measure and pour to their heart’s content.  Neil and Isaac wanted to play during the week so we grabbed one of the blankets we take to soccer games that was still out and gathered up some measuring tools.

Fun at the park.

Ken and I went on a little date to the Bombay House.  Great food…great company! Ken out in the backyard playing soccer with the boys.  Check out that grass…I’m looking at it longingly and anticipating summer like crazy!

Yeah the peaches are getting ripe!!! Labor Day…was truly labor intense this year.  We hiked the Y with our good friends.  It took us all morning, but it was a great experience.  We all made it too the top!  YEA US!  Then Spencer and Neil wanted to see the Y from the bottom too, so Ken took them while the rest of us headed back down.

When we got back to the van we were all starving and HOT!!  So we headed to Macey’s for some ice cream cones….Yea for ice cream. The day finished off with a BBQ at Ken’s parents…I love holidays!

Neil found “The Lorax” a book I had picked up from the library’s discard pile.  Oh my, that book is LONG!!!! and he wants you to read every word of it.  And that book is a little preachy so let’s just say that after not too many days that book quietly disappeared from our house.  Shhhhhhh…..