Awards and Banana Racks

Well, it's been a crazy week!  I've spent this week moving my music classroom to a new room at school.  Very happy to be closer to the students and have such a nice room! 

Cameron and Ashton had conferences this week and are both doing very well. 

Cameron made us proud by winning a team player award! 

Ethan got to bring home his first project from his wood shop class: a banana rack.  Now my banana's have a home!  :) 

This week, I start back teaching!  Yeah!

Ethan's growing...

I took this picture at Cameron's birthday celebration and noticed that Ethan really isn't too far away from Derrik in height!  Ethan is still taking bass this year and continues to grow (both in height and talent!)  So proud of him and all he's becoming.

Soccer Game #1

 We braved the heat yesterday for 2 soccer games!  Cameron and Ashton's teams made their debuts yesterday and went out fighting!

Another lost tooth

I have completely lost track of how many teeth Ashton has lost but one popped out last week!  It's always a relief when they fall out themselves.

Notebooks

 I start back to work the end of this month so I've been trying to use my time wisely.  I spent the last week filing away homework and art projects the boys did last year that I wanted to keep.  I bought three-ring binders and made each of them a notebook that they can look through and enjoy later.  Not a huge project, but the boys really liked the final product!

Working together

I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of homework Ashton had brought home during the first week of school.  His teacher has since decided to restructure the homework (whew!) so there may not be as much this early on.  Anyway, I was wiped and asked Ethan if he would sit and help Ashton with his last page.  I looked over from the kitchen sink and teared up a bit.  I loved the scene.....

New Van

Big Blue

We are the owners of a new (to us) van!  Our old van (affectionately called "Big Blue") is on it's way to the junk yard to be used as parts.  It still runs but is too expensive to maintain.  The new one (Toyota Sienna) is fabulous and we feel so rich owning it! 

Pre-Soccer Hullabaloo

 Soccer season was begun!  We have three practices a week (1 for Ashton, 2 for Cameron) and will begin games the second weekend of September.  Friday night we had 2 events to attend: a back-to-school picnic and soccer photos.  We had a funny when we saw that both boys are in the same color uniform but are on different teams!  Go light blue #6 and #10!  There was a carnival on site so Ashton got to go down the big inflatable slide.

Birthday Celebration!

Waiting for presents at breakfast

 Cameron had a super birthday!  We celebrated with just the family this year but surprised him a couple of times which made it very special for him.  He loved getting all your cards and gifts.  We're still celebrating this weekend with the Hubbards so he feels really loved!

#11

We surprised him by stealing him from school for lunch out!

First Days.....

We celebrated a few firsts today!  The first day of 2nd grade, 5th grade, 8th grade and the first day with braces!  Ethan had a big day and handled it all like a champ.  :)

Beach Trip

 Another item off our summer to-do list was a trip to the beach.  We've had 100+ temps in the valley so the beach was the place to be.  It was chilly there!  That didn't stop the boys from getting in the water and having some fun.

Hurrican Harbor - almost

We tackled one of our summer to-dos last week by using our passes to Hurricane Harbor.  We didn't check the weather (who really does during the summer in SoCal?) and headed out for a day in the water.  Of course, there were dark skies and then thunder and lightning!  Then rain!  What a memory!

Here comes the storm.....

Highlights

The truth is.....I took way too many pictures and the thought of trying to organize them just overwhelmed me.  So, in my attempt to summarize our trip to Kansas, I am going to try and hit the highlights.

Visit with Aunt Sonja in KC

Sister time in the lake

Boat adventures

Ashton jumping in the lake

Ethan in the kayak

Singing at the party

Ethan trying out the upright bass

Discovery center

Special time with Mom

The boys cruising in the golf cart

Coffee and toes with sisters

Attacking the water park with the Gustafsons

Lunch with Papa Ron and a ticklefest

Hiking guys

Hiking the trail

Cameron fishing

Goofy Olympic viewers

The mall crew

Whew!  More photos of everything on the fickr site.  Good times!