Labor Day at the Cabin 2011

We were invited up to the cabin once again to celebrate Labor Day with Uncle Matt, Aunty Brooke and our cousins and boy was everyone excited!  Aidan told all of his friends at school that he was going to the snow, this was because we haven't been up there since Thanksgiving I'm sure; and what was up there but SNOW! I tried to tell him it was summer and you can't have snow when it is 90 degrees.

We got up there Friday night and basically just ran around crazy, to fun with cousins and three floors to explore.  Early Saturday morning Aidan got to go out fishing with Daddy and Uncle Matt, he was very excited.  The excitement didn't last long because Aidan didn't realize that you had to wait so long and then not even catch a fish.  We then got our swim suits on after breakfast and piled into the boat and found some shoreline to picnic and play.  And boy there was so much shoreline to choose from since they are emptying Shaver Lake out to do some dam repair.  It was fun in the sun and the little yellow raft that Uncle Matt had brought. Then after naps the daddies took Mikyla, Aidan, and Caleb fishing.  Who caught the fish, Mikyla.  Why, because she was the only one with enough patience to sit down and wait for the fish to bite.  But after the fish was reeled in Mikyla ran away from it scared and wouldn't hold it for the camera.  Then with Daddy's suggestion a big stick was found and the fish was continuously torchered, and each time it jumped the three kids jumped with a scream!  Then it was time for movie night and popcorn, Tangled was on the movie bill.

We ended the weekend on Sunday night and SMORES then after all that sugar what could be more fun than a big game of Simon Says that Aunty Brooke even got into, which was so fun.  And I have to say that the winning command that became everyone's favorite was "Get ME" and then the dog pile followed!  And then we naturally flowed into a group dance party with music from the 90's  and Aidan was the winner of the most enthusiastic dancer with his robot jive and rolling around on the floor, I NEVER get tired of watching him dance!

The Eager Little Girl

Mikyla's first day of school was today and to say she was excited is an understatement, more like the understatement of the year.  Aaron has been out of town the last few days and it has been all me to get her ready.  She got up every hour on the hour starting this morning at 4:00am.  Finally at 7:00am I told her that she could get up, since I was getting up anyway.  As I'm getting her and I ready I tell her, "you're just a little bit excited aren't you?" and she tells me, "NO Mommy I'm REALLY excited".  I said, yes you are sweetie, yes you are!  She just didn't stop talking about what I thought they were going to do at school and what who was going to be there.  Questions, questions, questions, they just didn't stop coming out of my little talking munchkin, it really made me smile to see her so happy. 

As I was dropping her off she couldn't get rid of me fast enough, "Ok Mommy, can I go now?"  There it was, who needs Mommy, not Mikyla my little socialite.  She couldn't get rid of me fast enough.  But that is all right, so she is off to make new friends and have new experiences; I love it and I love her!!

She is so excited!

In front of her cubby on the first day of preschool!

My beautiful preschooler!

My Big Bad First Grader

Today was Aidan's first day of first grade at Peterson Elementary School.  His teacher is Mrs. Harden and boy was he excited to go to school and begin his year of first grade.  I got him a special pencil box and pencils and goodies to fill it up, everything that a first grader might need.  This year wasn't anything for me compared to dropping him of at Kindergarten last year but I was still nervous for him to do his best today. 

Aidan on the first day of school.

My little first grader.

When I picked him up at the end of the day I couldn't stop the chatter.  I loved how excited he was about school and I need to remind myself to soak it up because I know it won't be that way forever.  He told me all about who was in his class and that he got to play a cool math game that had gummy bears as a reward.  He then told me about Mrs. Harden's son and daughter how they came by and that "they were old and in college, but not too old more like Alli Ferguson". It is too funny how kids gage age and if you have silver hair you are automatically the same age as Grandma Esther.

It looks like a promising year, now I just have to get through Mikyla's first day of preschool on Wed. what are Ethan and I going to do by our lonesome?

He got his own cubby for his backpack.

Aidan at his desk

Mrs. Harden!!

Dinosaurs, Fossils and Discoveries Oh My!

The last Saturday of summer, what should we do?  How about going to the Fairmead Fossil Discovery Center.  Well when we talked about it, everyone wanted to go, Grandma, Nono, Grammy, Papa and Uncle Matt and Caleb; we made one big group!  Aidan has been talking about dinosaurs and fossils for over a year now, since Grady took him up the hill at camp and told him something they found might be a dinosaur fossil.  We got to start out by digging for fossils, it was great after scooping and brushing the sand away everyone discovered a different fossil.  I was amazed at how patient Aidan and Mikyla, they did it step by step exactly how Grady told them.  Mikyla was especially patient, off in her own world working away at getting that fossil unearthed.  Aidan on the other hand worked at his then moved on to Ethan's helping him and then there was Caleb that needed help to.  And of course Ethan was more interested in scooping the sand and pouring and throwing it. 

After the fossil dig came the real tour and the real meaty information, and let's just say it was all over in the kids eyes.  They looked around and were amazed at the bones of the Ground Sloth and Short Faced Bear but then they wanted to color and the attention was gone.  Overall it was such a great day and a really great facility and Grady loved seeing us and giving us the tour.  He really had such a great time giving us the grand tour.