Silly Hailey

Hailey went in for her preschool assessment today. It's an informal question and answer to help Hailey's teacher, Mrs. Debbie, know what Hailey has already learned. Here's a snippet of the assessment:

Mrs. Debbie pointed to a letter of the alphabet and asked Hailey, "What it this?"

Hailey responded, "I don't know, but my mom does."

Needless to say both Mrs. Debbie and I had a good laugh. I think Mrs. Debbie is going to have lots of opportunities for laughter this year!

First Day of School

The first day of school is finally here! For Megan it was also the first day of junior high. She's been so excited to see all of her friends again. Julie loves school and couldn't wait for today, especially since many of her friends are in her class this year. She's in fifth grade. For Josh, oh, what a difference a year makes! I walked him to class before school started, since we hadn't met his teacher yet. After finding his desk and locker, he told me I could go home because he was going outside to play! (Last year in first grade he was really nervous!)

Hailey doesn't start preschool for another couple of weeks, so she spent the morning helping to bake cookies for the big kids. I think she really enjoyed the quiet time at home with mom.

A Happy Sight

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see this happy sight -- three backpacks lined up and filled for the first day of school! Monday is the big day. The kids and I can hardly wait.

Swimming Lessons

We have two weeks of swimming lessons every summer. While the kids love and hate swimming lessons, they still end up having fun. Julie really pushed herself and was able to swim the width of the pool this year.

Megan worked on improving her different strokes.

Josh did great overcoming some of his fears and worked hard to pass off his level.

Hailey had a very strong love-hate feeling about swimming this year. The first few days she loved it. Then she decided she hated swimming and it took quite a bit of effort to get her into the pool. She loved the free time on the last day and thought that's what she should have been doing the whole time!

Lagoon, it's what fun is!

There are several families in our neighborhood with season passes to Lagoon. Every once in a while, we plan an outing with another family. Tonight was the Yuens. This cute little boy is Alex and he adores Hailey.

The biggest benefit of going with another family -- Tom can take all of the adventurous kids on the big rides while I hang out in Kiddieland. Here's Tom, Megan, and cute little Maddie on the Rocket.

Here they are again. Not my idea of fun, but they all love it!

Froggy

Tom discovered this little frog while mowing the lawn today.
The kids were excited, of course we had to scoop him up into a jar.

Hailey and Josh both wanted to keep him as a pet, but that was definitely not going to happen. Instead they got to take him around to show all their friends for an hour or so. Then Tom helped them let him go.

When I Grow Up

Tonight's conversation with Hailey.

Hailey: I'm going to be a princess when I grow up. (Long pause.) Mom, you're a queen right?

Mom: In my own house, yes.

Hailey: Then Dad's a king. Josh is a prince. Megan is a nurse. Julie is a nurse.

Mom: Why can't Megan and Julie be princesses too?

Hailey: I need them to be a nurse. Then I can be the only princess.