Neck Pants

Tonight we were playing Just Dance on the Wii.  The song "Step By Step" by New Kids On the Block came on and as it was counting down to begin Austin says:

Austin:  I don't know what kind of pants he has on but I don't have any like that...and I don't think I ever will.

Me:  What do you mean?  What's wrong with them?

Austin:  I don't know but they go all the way up to his neck!

Me:  (After I stop laughing...which might have taken a long time.)  Those are called overalls.

Austin:  Oh.

I'm still laughing.  Ahh, the styles we wore back in the 90's.  

I had overalls back in the day.  They were awesome!  And I loved New Kids on the Block.  I thought they were awesome, too!
  

Did you wear overalls?

Student Council

Austin was nominated to run for Student Council this year.  Only 4th graders get to run for president, vice-president, and secretary.  He got to choose which office he wanted to run for.  For him it was president or nothing!  He had to make two posters to hang up in the school and then write a speech that was about a minute long.  He decided to play off the Austin, TX theme.  

Last Friday he gave his speech in front of the entire 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades.  He did such a great job! Personally, I think his was the best.  He had it completely memorized and it was just great!  There were 8 kids running for president this year!  Only 2 ran for vice-president.  And only one for secretary so she didn't even have to give a speech!  So it was going to be a good race!  We got his letter Monday saying he didn't get it.  Too bad.  He was ok with it though.  It was a good experience for him and I'm glad he had the confidence to do it.  He said he was nervous but I couldn't even tell.  I think I was more nervous just sitting there waiting for him to begin.  I thought I was going to die!  Ha!  I couldn't even sit still.  Too funny.  I ran out of the house to  listen to his speech and completely forgot to bring my camera.  I was so bummed!  Then I saw his teacher with her camera out and asked if she'd forward some on to me.  Yeah!  He can also run for his class representative if he wants.  Elections for that are this Friday.  

Austin's Speech:

Howdy, y'all!  My name is Austin and I'm running for Student Body President.  Awesome, Fun, Hard-working.  These are three words that describe me and three words that describe the year you will have when you vote for me.  

Awesome.  When I am president I will listen to all of your awesome ideas.  I'm awesome like that.

Fun.  When I'm president we will have lots of fun activities.  We will strengthen our school and show our Eagle Spirit.

Hard-working.  When I am president I will work hard to make sure you have the best year ever.

I WILL listen to your ideas and we WILL have the best year ever!

If AWESOME is what you want, then AUSTIN is who you need!

Vote for me.  Austin.

It. Will. Be. AWESOME!

Thanks!

Dallin also decided he wanted to run for student council class representative.  Each class has their own elections within their class to pick one representative.  Each student running has to make a poster and give a speech to their class.  Austin did it last year if you remember.  

Dallin wanted a dragon (surprise, surprise!) so that's what we did.  He will give his speech in a couple days on Friday.  I think it is very brave of Dally Boy to do this, too.  I was actually very surprised that he wanted to do it.  I think it will be so good for him to get out of his comfort zone and try this.  Right now he doesn't think anyone else is running in his class so he just might make it!  But it's hard to tell because his teacher hasn't even hung up his poster yet.  She says she keeps forgetting.  So who knows...there might be others.  We shall see!  Go Dally, Go!

We didn't have student council in elementary school or even junior high when I was in school.  So this is a new thing for us.  It's fun to see the boys get into it.  I actually ran for student council president in high school.  My vice-president was a guy in my class, Scot, and my secretary was my sister, Amy.  And guess what?  We won!  I was student body president my senior year of high school.  It was really fun!  I remember the poster-making and the campaigning and the speech.  I think it was one of the longest weeks of my life.  Ha. 

Check out that senior picture!

:)

Going for the denim with a touch of wild look.  But at least my hoop earrings are perfectly color coordinated!  

Fun with Hair

I love fixing hair.  You might not guess that by looking at my own...but I really do.  Even my own when I take the time.  But I especially love fixing other people's hair.  I used to always practice on my little sister, Kirsten.  She was a really good sport and let my do all kinds of braids on her and would always let me fix her hair.  Fun!  I would also french braid several girls' hair before our basketball games back in high school.  We'd all get dressed up in our uniforms and then they'd line up.  Ha.  It was fun for me!  And now I have a little girl whose hair is finally long enough to play with.  Now it just needs to get a little thicker. ;)  And luckily, she loves to have her hair fixed.  

This time I tried a side braid on her for the first time.  I think I need to brush up on my french braiding skills.  I think I've gotten a little rusty!

Beautiful!

What a pretty girl!

Check!

Coen can check one of his goals off his "when the boys go back to school" list.  He learned how to tie his shoes!  Claire was invited to play at her little friend's house for a few hours so I just had Coen and Beckham at home.  I asked Coen if he wanted to learn how to tie his shoes and he was so excited!  He ran and got his "tie shoes" and was ready to go.

I showed him how to do it a couple times and then it was his turn.  I'm not even kidding.  After two tries he had it down.  He was one quick learner!  

He is quite proud of himself and always wears his tie shoes now.  He was very excited to show the boys when they got home and then Dada when he got home that night.  

And he's been tying his shoes ever since.  Never gets old!

Watermelon

The kids enjoyed having lots of watermelon for after school snacks.  Our Sprouts grocery store was selling watermelons for $1.88 or something like that.  That's one cheap snack!  And sooo delicious!  Tastes like summer!  Only one condition...no shirts allowed.  (Austin promised he wouldn't drip.  He did a good job.)

Labor Day

I just barely got my pictures off my camera from all of September.  My card reader wasn't working so I had to "patiently" wait for Tory to fix it.  It is finally fixed and here come some posts!

We had a quiet Labor Day this year.  Tory left us for 6 days.  He went up to Colorado Springs to help his parents get their house ready to sell.  His dad just got a job down in Arizona so they've got a lot of work to do to get their home ready.  They have lived there since 1995 so it's been well lived in.  I'm sad that I'll never get to see it again.  Lots of memories in that house.  Some of my first dates with Tory were helping his family finish their basement.  Fun times.  Our first kiss was by the grandfather clock in their entryway.  Too bad we didn't know back in July that that was going to be the last time.  I would have taken more pictures.  Plus, I'm sad that we don't have an excuse to go to Colorado Springs anymore.  We loved it there.  One of our most favorite places we've ever lived.  But anyway...he got a lot done in those few days.  He painted the entire outside of the house and the shed, painted every ceiling in the house-upstairs and downstairs, and painted every wall in every room except for one bathroom.  They also packed up a lot of the pictures, artwork, and nick-nacks that they had to move to paint anyway.  

We missed him.  I'm not cut out for single parenting.  But we still had fun and took advantage of the lovely weather.  The Saturday before Labor Day was the last warm day for awhile.  We decided we better take advantage and go to the Splash Pad before Monday which was supposed to be a lot "chillier" (we're talking 80s or so but 20 degrees cooler is a big deal!)  Plus Monday was the last day for pools and splash pads to be open so off we went.  

It was still a little too "cold" for them with the wind that was blowing that day.  Plus is was "only" in the 90s.  Brrr...right?  

They found a place on the sidewalk where the water was pooling and the warm sun heated it up.  They spent a lot of time warming up there.  Crazy kids!  But they still had lots of fun playing in the water.  Beckham couldn't get enough.  I think he had more fun this time than ever!

After they had their fill of the water area, we went and played at the park for awhile.  It was soooo nice to be able to just sit outside and enjoy the weather.  We all commented on how we could just sit outside and not be sweating.  What a long, hot summer this has been.  I laid back on the park bench and just enjoyed the breeze and looking at the beautiful tree above us.  It was HUGE!  Dallin decided to join me and curled up on Beckham's blanket on the ground.  So relaxing.  Nowhere to go, nowhere to be, we had all the time we wanted.  It was a great afternoon.  

On Monday, the kids didn't have school and the weather was REALLY cool!  It was so nice to be outside in the coolness.  I think everyone had the same idea.  We went to the park.  Austin and Dallin rode scooters, Coen rode his bike, and I pushed the babies in the stroller.  I haven't seen the park trail that busy in a long time.  I had to laugh to myself.  The thought I had was that it was like everyone was coming out of hibernation.  A hibernation through a very long, hot summer where you could hardly go outside.  All summer long the parks were empty and now they are all busting at the seams again.  We all hibernate in the summer instead of winter around here.  Ha!

Finally!

Tea Cups With Dada

This summer we finally got to go to Six Flags!  So exciting!  The last time we went was the summer of 2007!  Austin was 5, Dallin was 3, and Coen was 1!  They were so little then.  Check it out HERE.  We've been wanting to go forever.  2008 was out since I was pregnant with Claire, 2009 was out because I was pregnant with Beckham, and 2010 was out because Beckster was still so tiny...and I didn't feel like I was quite healed enough to be thrashed around.  Sooo...I guess it's mostly my fault we haven't been back in so long.  :)

We took advantage of free refills all day!

But this year the timing was perfect.  July 22nd was the day.   The two oldest boys had free tickets for reading at school.  Beckham was free and we made sure we went before August 1, while Claire was still two years old...and free.  We made it just in time!  Then I searched around for the cheapest tickets I could find for Tory, Coen, and I.  Turned out to not be too bad for a family our size!  Cheaper than the zoo!  We got there at opening and the family drug me out at closing.  That's right...I was the one who didn't want to leave.  Just one more ride!  I don't know what it is about amusement parks (and trick-or-treating) but I just can't stop! :)

This was the first ride Austin and I went on together.  It was like those rocking ships only this one went upside down and all the way around.  I spent most of the ride looking at Austin and telling him to breathe!  So funny!

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I just wanted to have fun.  But I did try to get at least a couple of each of us on rides.  It was the best day!  Austin could ride every single ride and even rode on the NEW Texas Giant (which was totally AWESOME by the way!  For sure my favorite ride EVER.)  Tory said he really thought Austin was going to get out of the seat and be sick before it started.  He was sooo scared!  But at the end of it he was wanting to go again!  He also went on the Batman ride with me.  Again, I thought he was going to pass out from fear while we were waiting in line.  He kept asking me if a person could die from being too scared.  But he was very brave and loved it at the end.  On each ride I kept having to remind him that every time he was scared the ride ended up being a blast.  This was a pretty big deal for Austin and I am pretty surprised that he actually went on ANY of these rides.  You see, he has a real fear of heights!  Way to go Austin!

The boys with Dada.  They loved this roller coaster!

Dallin also could have ridden almost all of the big roller coasters except a couple.  But we absolutely couldn't even drag that boy on the big coasters.  He wasn't quite ready for them yet.  Maybe next time.  But don't you worry, he still had a blast and rode all of the rides that he really wanted to.  We just wanted him to have fun and he definitely did.  While Austin was on Batman he begged to go on the swing ride.  Definitely more his pace. Cute boy.

This one just cracks me up.  Coen's holding on for dear life, Austin's got his hands up next to him, and then there's Dallin  behind them sitting with some stranger just trying to get a little wiggle room.

Coen loved the rides as well.  Coen was the age Austin was the last time we went and was able to ride a lot of the smaller coasters.  He was a silent sufferer.  Cracked me up.  I think he was terrified half the time but not a peep came out of him.  You could just tell by the death grip he had on the handles.  He'd put his head down and wrap his arms around as far as he could.  I'm glad he didn't get sick after his day at Six Flags because his face was plastered to the handle bars on every ride.  He would try almost every ride though.

Claire's first roller coaster.  Love her little tongue sticking out.  She was trying to be very brave with her hands up.

I was also surprised with how brave Claire was.  She's also not into heights. She won't even ride on our shoulders!  After having my hair pulled out and my eardrums almost ruptured from her screams too many times, I've finally learned to never put her up there.  But this day she was going on the big rocking ship and all kinds of high rides!  So fun!  It was just a blast watching the kids and hearing them say over and over how it was the best day ever!

Happy Beckham hanging out in the stroller with some fruit leather.  What a good baby!

Beckham was just the happiest little guy the whole hot day.  He never complained once, took a nice nap, and just had fun watching everything.

This is one of our favorite rides.  We all love it and the line is so short we just go on it over and over again.  Here you can see Claire and I, Coen and Austin, and Dallin behind them.

I think my favorite part of the day was getting lots of one-on-one time with the kids as we waited in lines.  Tory and I had to take turns with the boys while the other one watched the little kids.  It was fun talking with them and seeing them so excited.  The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to be able to ride with Tory.  He's my most favorite roller coaster partner.  Even though it was a very HOT July day, we weren't miserable.  There was plenty of shade and misters and we guzzled down water all day long.  We just needed a few more hours, too.  There were way too many rides we never even got to.  Why can't they open at 7:00 am?  I'm all for it!  I can't wait until we can go back again!  Hopefully it won't be another 4 years!

*Did you notice how the boys are all wearing bright orange shirts?  Yes, I planned it that way.  Last time it was yellow.  Makes it sooo much easier to keep track of them when they're all wearing the same color especially if it's bright.  And it also makes it way easier to spot them in the lines!  Just a helpful suggestion!