Summer ends, and school begins!

 Last, but not least, Ella got to go on her date with mom and dad! We had a lot of fun. Ella picked to go to Butterburs to eat (her favorite). It was delicious. Some yummy home made soup and bread are the hit there.

 We had fun shoe shopping, and going to Aeropostale, and of course milkshakes! Thanks for the fun night Ella!!

 On one of our last days of summer we went to one of our favorite places....Randy's Tumbling!! The pics are blurry, but it is hard because I was trying to catch the "mid-air" shots of the kids as they leaped from the platform into the foam pit. They had a BLAST!!!

We started school on the 26th. We enjoyed homeschool so much last year that we decided to do it again this year! We have a curriculum that we love, and we all enjoy learning at home. So here are our first day of school pictures........

Preston had to have his pic included and he is working on Preschool things.....so here's preschooler Preston!!!!

 

Livia was soooooo excited to start Kindergarten! (she's a little early, but I decided to start her anyway) and she is doing amazing.

3rd grader Ashton!!!! Ashton skipped a grade last year, and he has done really well. I am so proud of him and his hard work.

And 3rd grader Aaron!! Aaron is doing awesome and I'm so proud of his good example to Ashton. They work so well together (which is why I wanted them in the same grade). I love watching them do their schoolwork together.

 

Ella is in 6th grade!!! AHH!! I can't believe it. I really can't. She is such a good student. She knows exactly what needs to be done each day and NEVER complains. EVER. She always stays on task and I am so proud of all she does.

 Group shot! They are all looking in the same direction. Crazy! What a good lookin' bunch of kids!

We are in the middle of a crazy time in our lives....We just SOLD our home. (We close on the 27th of September) So, we have to find a place to live until our house is done, which Adam is guessing will be around March. And.......we're going to be having a baby sometime in the next 10 weeks. So we are just enjoying the chaos, and trusting that things will work out. They always do. :)  I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

Date nights with Aaron and Livia!

Our date nights this month have been so fun with the kids individually! They each have different personalities and different likes/dislikes.....it is so much fun to spend time with them one on one!

Aaron's date was last weekend.  For dinner he chose Texas Roadhouse. YUM! We all got steaks and had a great meal together.

It just happened to be the "Parade of Homes" weekend....which I really enjoy going to....so Aaron got to go with us! I didn't know how he'd like it, but he really had a fun time with us. He's a good sport!

And then of course shopping. :)  Boys are sooooo easy to shop for! Comfy shorts and shirts, and a pair of pants. We'd already gotten him shoes..... a trip to Walmart and we were done. Good job Aaron! What a fun date!

Yesterday we had our date night with Livia. She is so much fun to be with! She is so kindhearted, she wants to make everyone feel good.  And she was exhausted before the date even started.......hahaha

She kept saying she wanted to go to the place with "mozzarella sticks" :)  so we went to Applebees. And she was all smiles to get her mozzarella sticks! 

We had just gone through all of our clothes that Ella had and ones that people had given us and we decided that Livia has WAY TOO MANY CLOTHES!!! So---instead we went shoe shopping! Shoe shopping with a 4 year old is hilarious! She had to try on every shoe, and then still couldn't make up her mind. And since we were in no hurry---it was fun to just sit back and watch her have fun with shoe shopping.

 She picked out some cute ones!

 And then off to Walmart of course. We got some fun art supplies that she'll need for her Kindergarten curriculum and she got to go grocery shopping with us. And she loved it. It was nice to have her there :)

 Our latest tradition with these date nights is that we discovered that Sonic does half price milkshakes after 8 o'clock! YES!! So we get milkshakes every date night. :)  Thanks for the fun night Livia!!!

summer pictures from my phone :)

We've been having a nice, relaxed summer here. We love having no schedules and love being outside! (I love being inside in air conditioning in the afternoon though!) So here are a few pictures that were on my phone that I thought I'd share..........

Livia and Preston decided they wanted to be the in tree climbing club.....hehe

I made some YUMMY raspberry freezer jam! Our friends let us pick from their patch every year, and we take advantage of it!

Livia learned to ride without training wheels! She's way up ahead in this picture and Preston is trying to keep up.  He's been doing pretty good at pedaling though.  We try to go for a bike ride every morning. (I walk slowly behind them)  

Can you see the great horned owl in the tree?! This was fun to see on our ride!

                                                               And we've been to several small town parades. We LOVE parades! :) The kids get stocked up on candy for the year.  Then I hide it, so they forget about it. hehe

 Adam's dad turned..........  Well, let's just say he's still "less than" 60.  For now!

 The kids have had several attempts at sleeping outside in the tents but keep chickening out around midnight.

Our niece Callie has been staying with us this summer, and I took her to get her haircut one morning. Cute!

 Another parade.....I love the smiles!

They got to go on a wagon ride---that was the highlight of the day!

 Me and my love.........

 Every weekend in August we are taking each kid out on a date to go school shopping :)  Ashton got to go first! Chinese food, shoe shopping and then we found the rest at Walmart.  I love it when it's that easy!

Adam's red-neck sport :)

Adam tries to at least get one truck pull in a year. Last weekend he participated in "Bully Dog Days" in Pocatello and I took the boys to go see him.
It's always an interesting crowd that goes to those kind of events. hahaha. If you've ever been to one, you know what I mean.
But, Adam loves to break (I mean race) his truck, so we go and support him.  I'm such a good wife. :)
The purpose of this event is to pull a tractor thing behind the truck while it tries to slow you down. The track goes for 300 yards, so anything close, or beyond that is a good pull.
Adam got 2nd place, and here's the cool part.....$350!!! and a separate $280 gift certificate to Bully Dog products. Good job Adam!