Back to School 2015

Today was a successful first day of school for Brielle, Makenna and Brayden.  These kids were loving summer and did not want to go back but they were cheerful about it this morning and much less worried/ stressed than last year.  All in all it went pretty smoothly.  We are still working out our schedules and transportation but its nice to be back to business.

Ready to go... (except Emmitt who is in his pajamas...he'll start his preschool in 2 weeks)

Kevin took Brielle into her school and took these pictures.  She was so happy to walk past her old teachers classroom on the way to her new class.  She is very loved by Mrs Cortez.  She'll have a great time in her new class though because she has two of her good friends, Addie and Kylie in her class with her, and she says her new teacher seems very nice.

Last bit of summer fun

Heres a last few pictures of some summer highlights

Top row: kids @ a Rangers game, kids @ the Gardens,Brielle at horseback riding lessons,
Bottom row: Kenna on the flow rider, Makenna at horseback riding lessons

Canada

We spent a big chunk of our summer up in Canada so that the kids could have plenty of cousin time.  I was gone for 3 1/2 weeks and Kevin joined me for one of the weeks.  I traveled by myself with the kids and marvelled at how big and old they are.  At the airport they could all be responsible for their own luggage and belongings and entertainment on the plane.  I have arrived!  It was an easy trip.

Some of the many fun things we did included picnics up in the mountains.  This was at Bragg Creek.

For Family Home Evening we played the "candy bar game"  It was a big hit for all the kids.  Everyone ended up with a candy bar in the end.

We headed down to Cardson/ Hillspring for a Reunion on my mom side.  It was descendants of Nils Andrew Peterson and it was at Hillspring.  We slept though at my grandmas house in Cardson.  It was neat to go back to those places I havent been to in a very long time- and fun to show them to my children.

Inside my Uncle Myron's house.  These animals on the wall are a childhood memory for me.

This is the house my mom grew up in.  It was built by my great Grandpa Nils Peterson.  He first built the basement then gradually built on to it.  Then eventually my Grandpa moved his family in to the basement and Nils moved upstairs.  By the time my mom was born, Nils and his wife had moved to lethbridge and the house belonged to my Grandpa Peterson.  It is on a farm in Hillspring and it looks the same as I remember it as a child- inside and out.

The Canada Day Parade in Hillspring

After the parade, the reunion people went to a park for lunch and play.  Here's the whole Peterson group.  Its not a very great picture because I took it off facebook, but you get the idea ;)



 Emmitt wasnt feeling well at all and fell asleep on a blanket.  I always have to capture these rare moments - because they are hard to otherwise believe ;)

I am so glad we had some time with my grandma Matkin.  We stayed at her house for the Hillspring reunion.  She is 91 and still very bright and busy.  She had us all playing cards late at night.  And at home I play scrabble with her online almost daily.  Her mind is in great shape!  Im glad my kids could meet her again and hopefully remember her always.

 More of the Reunion in Waterton...

And  back in Calgary Kevin flew in to join our party.  We celebrated birthdays.  I made his usual cake and he outdid himself by actually making me an ice cream cake.  It was awesome!

 And heres some shots from our day at Calaway Park...

One of the fun activities that mom surprised us with was renting these big balls that you could roll around in and bump into each other with.  We all had a lot of fun with that.

And just a few random shots from other fun things we did- including Plinko, at the Grigors ward stampede breakfast, climbing at Tommy K Play, riding the train downtown Calgary to the Devonian gardens, and other picnics at the park.

All in all, a great trip!

Krispy Kreme Adventure

Sometimes in life you do things that are crazy... like spend the night camped out at Krispy Kreme donuts to earn free donuts for a year.
Kevin and Makenna and Emma Thomas did just that.  They were crazy and in the end very tired but they spent the night there in the Krispy Kreme parking lot and earned their punch card.  The girls slept in the back of the van and Kevin mostly just stayed up all night.  It was a crazy but memorable adventure.

And here they are at about 4:30 in the morning, getting their first batch of free donuts.

The girls slept most of the next day but when they got up we went to Bahama Bucks and they showed off their new shirts that they "earned"  (and the pic of Dallas is just for fun)

Summer Fun

The first week of summer, Brayden was at summer camp so the younger kids and I laid low and occasionally went to the mall.  The girls have discovered Sephora (thats the make up in the first picture) and now they LOVE going to the mall and looking at the make up and everything else.  We had fun stopping in for lunch with Dad too. They always come away from there with some sort of goody or gimmick.  And the last picture, is Emmitt in his Hulk hoodie.  He's a character- thats for sure!

Graduating 1st Grade

Brielle's school did a little graduation ceremony.  I guess they do it for every grade.  Here you can see her being called up, hugging her teacher and the principle and then smiling by her good friend Addie.

Her other end of year festivities included a pizza party lunch and a party (with Emmitt and I).  She made some great friends in her class and had an awesome teacher.  At the beginning of the year she struggled to adjust to the new school and changes in her life but she overcame and really even liked school by the end of the year.  We are so proud of her!

Taking things Literally

We were all in the car chatting away and some of the things Emmitt said, just made me laugh...

Makenna was listing all the things she did at school and she ended with "and then we got to watch the movie "How to train your dragon?"

Emmitt:  So do you know how?

Makenna:  How to what?

Emmitt:  How to train a dragon now?

*laughter*

Makenna:  No it was just a movie, and we only got to watch half of it

Emmitt: Oh so you only know half way how to train a dragon?



-----and later in the conversation-----------



Makenna:  ...and I won a drawing for a free ice cream cone

Emmitt:  Do you get to get ice cream in it too?

*laughter by all*   *pause*

Emmitt:  No seriously guys, can you get ice cream in it too?  I just want to know!