Second Day of School

Summer has come to an end, and a few days ago we filled backpacks with school supplies once again. When Emma and Hunter were getting all of their school supplies organized, Hannah and Sabrina worked on decorating little bags with glitter glue so they could be part of the school time excitement. Yesterday was the first day of school, and it went great for Hunter and Emma!  Over the summer, many improvements were made to the school classrooms, restrooms, and office so it was especially fun to go back and see the changes.  The renovations were completed just two days before school started, so there wasn’t time to do much more than bring the desks and supplies back into the classrooms.  In spite of the bare classrom walls, Hunter and Emma both came home excited. Some shifting of teachers and classrooms also happened, so Hunter will be meeting in the same classroom that he did last year, but with his new fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Estrada. Hunter has two of his best friends in his class, and thinks Mrs. Estrada is awesome, so it’s shaping up to be a great year for him.

Emma was so excited about her new third grade teacher, Mrs. Somers, too. They were able to pick their own seats, and Emma already has a new best friend in the class. Another friend that walked home from school with us had the same teacher for third grade and told Emma that she was the best he’s ever had, so it looks to be a fabulous year for Emma as well.

I don’t plan to be a room mother this year.  I may try again when Sabrina hits preschool or kindergarten, but until then, I’ll be happy to help as much as I can.  I got in a bit over my head last year, and although I think it was fine, I didn’t feel like I filled my role as room parent very well.

Hunter and Emma rode their bikes to school this morning for the first time ever, and we are all very excited about that too!

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Always Remember – Hero Camp 08

Last week was “Hero Camp”, an amazing church camp that is planned and run by the mothers in my ward (congregation) and a neighboring ward. Last year Hunter and Emma had a great time, and they have been waiting all summer for this big week.  This year’s theme was “Always Remember” and focused on the wonderful examples of heroes we have had throughout time. Every morning the group of 99 children would meet together and get a visit from a hero that came through a Time Machine. Then they would split into groups by age and rotate through activities, music rehearsal, and a lesson.  I didn’t see everything that went on, but here are some of the highlights of the week:

Monday’s Hero: Old Testament – Joseph and the coat of many colors. The focus was on choosing the right no matter what happens to you, and having a good attitude. They talked about “CTR Power” quoting the scripture in 2 Samuel 22:33- “God is my strength and my power: and he maketh my way perfect.”  They also learned about other heroes in the Old Testament: David’s power of courage (they used sling shots to throw marshmallows at an amazing painting of the giant Goliath), Moses’ power of faith, Daniel’s power of prayer, Esther’s power to stand for what is right, Noah’s power of hard work, and Joseph’s power to forgive.

Tuesday’s Hero: The Book of Mormon – Ammon’s wisdom. God helped Ammon to be wise by giving him ideas in his mind and in his heart.  They did activities related to living in Nephite times, making an arrowhead necklace, a little clay pot, a headband and painted each others faces.

Wednesday’s Hero: New Testament – The Good Samaritan. This is the day I was most involved with and I helped teach a lesson about Christ and how he taught us to serve by the way he lived. We talked about how he used his hands for service, made painted hand prints and special pencils, did an obstacle course and assembled hygiene kits.

Thursday’s Hero: Doctrine and Covenants – Mary Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins (They saved many of the pages from the Book of Commandments when a mob destroyed the print shop). The theme for the day was “We can do hard things.” Much of the focus was on the early Mormon pioneers and the hard work and sacrifice they gave to live and defend themselves from persecution.They made covered wagon snacks, played games that pioneer children would have played, and made butter.

Friday: The kids all performed the songs they had rehearsed through the week.  Each group had a song they learned together, and there were two beautiful group numbers as well.  (I can’t remember the name of the CD that so many of these songs were on, so if you know please tell me!) Each child was given a memory book with pictures of them and the things they did all week.  Then we all went to the Lagoon for swimming, sand and water slides.

It was such a special week.  The kids felt the love of their Heavenly Father and learned so much while still having fun with their friends.  There were tears shed by one of my girls because it was over so fast and she just loved learning and singing.  A huge Thank You to any of you that were involved in making this week happen.  It will be something that my kids will always remember.

Hannah’s group singing Nothing’s Too Hard For The Lord

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4tPi2GnCg

Emma’s group singing Good News

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53cieMeMGA

Hunter’s group circle dancing

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTaE8sXHWBw

The whole camp sings together

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hcnq-hU82Q

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Citrus

On Saturday we went to the Festival of Flight at Orange County’s Great Park.  There is a huge orange hot air balloon that gives people rides straight up and and down for a view of the area. Unfortunately for us the event was pretty popular and the time slots for a ride were all filled two hours after the festival started.  We walked around and saw the different displays, made birdseed art and got some free frisbees. There was also a place to make a simple kite, but the line was super long, and Sabrina was super cranky, so we decided to pass on that one.  The park was also giving out free frozen orange sorbet in orange peel bowls- yum!

 

 

We also got the lemonade stand and the kids set it up for the first time yesterday. The neighbors got in on it too, and there are plans to try again today… Fun!

 

 

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232 Years Old

We had a blast this July 4th weekend.  It started with the bike parade.  The night before we decorated our wheels with streamers, bead, pom poms, pipe cleaners and stickers. That morning we walked and rode two bikes, a scooter, and a doll stroller over to the community childrens’ parade.

After getting there, Hannah was a bit overwhelmed by it all, and she and Sabrina did not want to take part.

Emma loved every minute.

Hannah sat with Sabrina and observed for a while then she warmed up to the idea and rode her scooter for a while.  Sabrina’s doll stroller stayed in our stroller next to her the whole time.

Hunter was Mr. Cool on his bike.

Emma brought the American Girl on her bike for a ride too.

Hannah was so fun to watch on her little scooter.

Fireworks were banned because of fire danger, so we got party poppers instead.

Pop, Bam, Boom!

That night we went to the church for dinner in the parking lot while some bands of members of the stake played patriotic and popular songs. Then it was off to watch the fireworks show put on by our village association.

The next day, we cleaned out the garage and then decided to try out Hunter’s new kite at the beach.  We tried out a new beach which we heard was fun for families because of the mellow waves and tidepools.  A lot of people had the same idea.  It was packed!  So we weren’t able to fly the kite, but had fun playing around in the sand and tidepools.

Little Corona Beach

Rob and Hannah look for hermit crabs

Emma was great at finding the little guys.

Sabrina was not interested in being near them.

She was excited about finding a little purple shell though.

Sabrina and Hannah made initials on the sand.

Emma, Hunter, and Rob took a walk way out over the tide pools.

Hannah and Sabrina covered Mommy’s legs and feet with sand.

Sabrina made a fun game out of coming right up to the lens for me to take her picture.  I love this one.

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Summer…Summer…Summer

Sabrina in ribbons and a sun dress

Hannah in ribbons and a sun dress

Mormon night at Angels Stadium

Emma with her friends Mikayla and Emma

“Dads are Rad” Mini Golf

 

Our Dad is Rad!

Happy Father’s Day Daddy!

A “new” playhouse I found on Craigslist

Water fights!

Emma gets dumped on by their friend Kate

Kate gets triple teamed

Unfortunately, I never remembered to bring my camera to swim lessons, but we just finished a session of classes for Hunter, Emma, and Hannah. For a bunch more pictures go to the gallery. More fun ahead…

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Sunkist – Take a Stand

Sunkist is offering a free lemonade stand to children 7-11 who want to earn money and donate part of their profits to charity. I signed up with Emma and Hunter today. We found a great charity, A Child’s Desire, that they plan to donate a portion of their profits to. A Child’s Desire is an organization that assists those who want to adopt children, (especially older or special needs children) but can’t afford the fees that many times range from $18, 000 and up. They thought this was a great cause because it is helping give children a family. Emma and Hunter already wanted to do a cinnamon roll business because I still have a freezer full of them, and this way they can sell both lemonade and cinnamon rolls. We plan to set up shop once a week or more over the summer near the park or lake. (If you’re here locally and do this, just make sure we don’t end up on the same turf!) Check it out.

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