Alison's Birthdays

Yes - I said "Birthdays."  Ali's birthday lasted for DAYS around here!  But that's okay by me!  Twelve is a BIG number!  I sure love my young woman!

Alison and I left the house at 5:30 in the morning (her idea) to pick up bagels for her breakfast. They were delightful!  The fresh pears and orange juice were heavenly too! 

After scriptures, all the kids brought Alison's presents to her. 

She got lots of fun things (including makeup!! Ahhh!) but her favorite part was the books.
I guess school was just a typical day, except that she kept telling people over and over that it was her birthday.

For dinner, she chose chicken pot pie, fresh pears (again), a baguette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip it in, and  home made root beer with dry ice.  

She didn't want a birthday cake, she wanted Krispie Kreme doughnuts.  So we all went there and watched them get made.

Quinton thought it was pretty amazing!

Our little birthday party - complete with party hats!

Over the course of the day, several people came to visit her.  She ended up with THREE bouquets of flowers (one from me, one from her new YW leaders, and one from my amazing visiting teacher/friend).  She also got a huge birthday cupcake from her primary teacher.  It was a pretty great day!

The celebrating didn't end there!  The following day was a Friday.  That's when she had a birthday party with her friends.  One of Alison's best friends recently had a birthday too, so they shared the party.  They started at her friend's house.  They ate pizza, opened presents, and played games.  I won't list all the girls names, but that's Nicole in the pink standing up and Alison's in the navy blue with a watch on her wrist.

It was fun to see Alison interact with her friends.  They're all a bit rowdy, quirky, and silly - like her.  They're good girls.  Ali is probably the loudest and quirkiest of them all.  Her friends all love her though - they were fighting over who got to sit next to her, etc.  

After a while, we took the girls to a drink shop called FIIZ.  We bought them all a fun drink, then I bought "sour shots" for them all.  It's just a little cup of straight sour flavoring.  The girls counted to three, then tried it.  Some were DYING!  Others acted like it was no big deal.  Alison faked it - she didn't really drink hers.  

So we made her do it all by herself.  

After FIIZ, we took the girls to the local cheap theater and watched "Max."  It's a show about a military dog.  It was good, but like all dog shows, a little sad.  The girls laughed all the way home about how hard they bawled.  In spite of the crying, I think it was a pretty fun party.  I know Alison loved it.

The THIRD birthday celebration happened on Sunday night.  That's when my family got together to celebrate both hers and her father's birthdays.  Grandma and Grandpa Smith surprised Alison by giving her two passes to LAGOON!  They don't normally do that, but like I said, twelve is a BIG birthday! 

I think Grandpa Smith took this picture.  Quinton was super social for the first time ever!  He sat on Grandpa's lap, hugged Grandma, and showed off for us all the entire evening.  Hooray!  Maybe he'll stop screaming in nursery soon! 

We had two ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen for the celebration.  

One for each birthday kid!

Bronson thought he'd help himself to the cake.  I found one cake with a knife sticking out of it like a stabbing victim! Boy! Turn your back for one second around here...

Shark Cage

I just want to say that my little brother, Scott is CRAZY!

Last week, Scott went on a shark encounter excursion.  He spent a week on a yacht about 200 miles off the coast of Mexico (far from any cell towers or television lines) near the Guadalupe Islands.  Every day, he spent hours climbing in and out of various cages watching great white sharks swimming around him.  He ate delicious food, met some pretty cool folks, and communed with nature.  How's that for CRAZY!!!

Seriously - I'd do it in a heartbeat!  We went to his house last weekend and heard all about it - complete with photos and videos.   If I ever get rich, I'm going!

Cookie Turns Nine

Yes, Cookie is still alive.

Yes, we celebrated her birthday with presents and a fish-shaped cake.

Yes, it happened to fall on a Tuesday, so the Mia Maids celebrated with us before our activity.

Isn't that normal?

School Begins

Last year, three of my kids attended the same school.  Ahhh, the good ol' days.

Alison thinks it's acceptable to disobey her mother's direct order and continue to grow up.  She is in seventh grade this year.

She's feelin' pretty good about it.  

Does this picture of my daughter walking into the junior high school for the first time cause you major anxiety?  No?  Maybe it's just me.

Nicole's in fifth grade.  She's my only child at the neighborhood elementary school.  

She's at peace with it.

Since we have kids all over the place, David and I had to divide and conquer on the first day of school.  He took Nicole.  The PTA had balloons lining the sidewalk.

They also had these cute photo areas for kids to have their pictures taken.  However, David totally dropped the ball and didn't take a single picture - the ones I have were stolen from the internet.  Just imagine Nicki and her friends here.

Josh is in first grade.  This is a hard year for me.  Kindergarten is fun, but first grade is for REAL!  They are gone for so LONG!  I hate it. 

But he had no fear.  

He was accepted into the Spanish immersion program.  He goes to a school clear across town.  Luckily, our next door neighbor is also going here, so we carpool.  Please tell me that this picture of my six year old going to a new school where he doesn't speak the language gives you at least a little bit of anxiety.  I'm hyperventilating.  

Here he goes!  That is his English speaking teacher, Mrs. McKenzie.  He spends half the day in her classroom,  The other half  is spent in Maestra Saintz's class.  She only speaks (and understands) Spanish. 

Bron helped and cheered everyone on as they started their first day of school.  He hasn't started his speech therapy preschool yet.  That starts next week.  In the meantime, he loves being my "buddy" and helping me with all my daily chores.  He also has a preschool program on the computer that he takes lessons on.   He misses his siblings when they're gone.  But next year, it will be his turn to go to kindergarten and he can hardly wait.

Some Af-"FAIRS" To Remember

Alison came up with the title of this post.  I probably would have named it something like "Really Busy Day" or "Is it bedtime yet?".

On August 15th, we had THREE major events to attend.  It was actually a really fun day.  It started with the ribbon cutting for a brand new library close to our home.  It is beautiful!  Guess who spoke at the ceremony...Commissioner Smith, that's who.  It is always fun to watch my dad in his official capacity.

After the ceremony and a tour of the new library, we headed outside for a fun carnival.  Actually, only Josh, Bron, and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was geared more towards their crowd.

Train rides!

This juggler was pretty good!  

When asked what balloon animal he'd like, Bronson chose a Rhino!  Ha ha!  That's what you get for asking, balloon man!

In the afternoon, we headed over to our stake center for the first annual Holmes Creek Stake Fair.  I didn't know what to expect, but I was totally shocked at how much work was put into it!  They started the whole thing with a primary parade.  Three of our kids participated.  Then, there was a full-fledged fair!  I mean animals, entertainment, displays, games, food, crafts, face painting, dunking booths, you name it!  All for free!  I was amazed.

Shooting off their own rockets.  We did this one activity for about a half hour!

After that fair, I put the three boys to bed while David took the girls to the Davis County Fair.  It was probably a little bit bigger than our stake fair.  :)  They wandered around for a while.  The girls rode the Ferris wheel.  Then, they met my parents at the rodeo.  Grandpa had to ride in the back of a pick up at the beginning of the fair, so he asked my girls to come with him.  How cool is that?!?!?

Those are some seriously long horns!

I always pictured the Eiffel Tower as bigger than this.

David LOVES rodeos!  I do too, but David loves them even more.  He had such a great time!  It's been a very long time since he has been able to attend one.  The girls had fun too.  They are finally old enough to sit through the whole thing (hours and hours long).  Alison even went down and chased a calf with some other kids.  Nicki was NOT interested in doing that in front of all those people.  For Grandpa Smith, on the other hand, the rodeo was not so much fun.  He is severely allergic to horses and this one was held in a closed arena.  Not a good combo.  Let's just say that he had to leave after the first hour and my mom was very concerned about his breathing for many hours afterwards.  I guess he'll never be a cowboy.

What a fun day. In some ways, I like having everything packed into one Saturday so that the others are free.