First Day of School

I couldn't decide whether to title this post "First Day of School" or "Summer is Dead". We'll go with the positive, but I will miss summer. I don't think I'm quite ready to get back into the routine of school. At least we are still having great summer weather. The kids were super excited to start school. We really like the school they are at and their teachers seem great too. Texas schools seem nice. Although they kind of look like prisons on the outside, (brick buildings with tiny windows) they seem warm and kind on the inside. Yesterday at the school, they had a prayer meeting to pray for safety and learning. I thought that was pretty cool and maybe something that only happens in Texas. The best part is that Allie only has 19 children in her 3rd grade class and Luke has 20 in Kindergarten. We've already been to a meet the teacher night which I though was a fun tradition to help everyone get excited about school.
In third grade, it's not really that cool to have your mom take you to class and take your picture so this is all we get of Allie. Just like kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, I didn't really even get a goodbye. Just all business and independence. It's so weird to me that she's already in third grade. I taught third grade when I was pregnant with Allie and it just doesn't seem possible that she is that old. At the time, it seemed my class was so old. I'm so excited for Allie to be in third grade. In my opinion, it's the best year. I will miss her at home as always, but I wish could go to third grade with her.
Luke was overjoyed to finally start kindergarten. A lot of his friends started kindergarten last year, but because of his birthday he has had a long wait. He's been ready for a long time. The last couple of weeks, he has been devouring workbooks trying to get ready. This morning when he got up, he said, "This is the best day of my life."
Luke picked out his shirt for the first day. When I was taking him school shopping though, he didn't really want to go and said, "How about you just go buy lots of stuff and then bring it home for me to try on and then you can go return what we don't want." Such a man. He picked out all his school supplies too and everything had to be be green!
At this point, he just wanted me to leave so he could start coloring. I will really miss have Luke around with me all the time. He's so funny and just very enjoyable to be around. The other day, Allie was gone and Kate was sleeping. Luke and I made cookies and tidied up the house. He sang the "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" while he worked and I realized that those days are soon over. He's growing up and I will miss that one on one time I had with him. I'm so glad that his birthday was late and I didn't have to send him last year.

Now it's just Kate and me. First time I've had just one child home since Luke was born. It's very quiet. I'm sure Kate will keep it interesting.

Kate "helping" me with a this blog post
Kate sitting on the table throwing stuff off. (A favorite pastime) I need to be serious about keeping her off the table, but she's just SO happy up there!

Kate is in Nursery!

This last week has been some exciting firsts for Kate. She finally got to turn around and face forward in her car seat. She barely weighs in at 20 lbs, but her legs are so long that her knees end up around her ears when she is in a rear facing seat. She likes the new view and has been a lot happier in the car.

She also got to go to nursery for the first time. She loved it! She didn't really like snack time because they served various types of crackers and she doesn't really eat crackers. Her favorite part was when they closed one of the legs of the tables and made it into a slide. She also liked playing with the bubbles.

She got along well with the other children and only bit one girl. But it was totally the other girl's fault because she put her hand in Kate's mouth. What else was Kate supposed to do? She even got to wear a little badge home about the lesson. It said "I can be happy when I say I'm sorry." She ate most of it on the way home (that's what is in her mouth in the pictures).

This week when we walked by the nursery room, she pointed and wanted to go in so I think that's a good sign!

Monday in San Antonio

Waiting for the bus

Here comes the trolley

Here's some pictures from our San Antonio tour. We bought a bus pass and caught the bus right by our hotel. The kids were excited because we got to ride on one that was a trolley. It took us through the city, by Market Square and then to the Alamo. Kate wasn't too happy while we were waiting for the bus--it was nap time. She fell asleep while we were waiting and then slept for the ride. It was a short nap, but enough to get her by. After touring the Alamo, we walked to the Riverwalk and then rode the bus to Market Square--which is a large Mexican Market. From Market Square we were within walking distance to the hotel.

The Riverwalk

We loved the riverwalk in SA. It is so beautiful in the middle of the city. We didn't get a chance to actually walk it, but we did take a little boat ride and have lunch there.

Allie snapped this of us.

We ate lunch at this little restaurant. It was great!

Shortly after this was taken, Luke fell in the river. Well, not really, but that would have been gross.
I can't think of anything that I like better than my family, Mexican food and a river all combined in one. Perfection!
When your neighbors finish eating, the birds come finish their leftovers. Pretty cool until the baby at your table entices them over with everything she has dropped.

Waiting to take off on the boat ride

A boat just like the one we rode on.

Views from our boat ride

Ending up in Market Square. The best place I've ever seen if you are looking for a Nacho Libre costume.

Sunday in San Antonio

We drove to San Antonio late on a Saturday through a crazy West Texas thunderstorm. I have never seen so much lightning or such heavy rain. It was spooky being out in the middle of nowhere driving through it.

On Sunday we went to church in a ward by the temple and the went to see the temple. It is breathtaking as you drive up to it as it stands high on a hill. It is a smaller temple, but very nice.

The San Antonio Temple

Kate was too into the flowers to look at the camera.

We wanted to have a picnic lunch near the temple, but the gates were locked. So we decided to go to a park. But.....this is what the park looked like. Since it was 105 degrees, we decided to eat our PB & J in the car and drove to our hotel.

Allie and Luke were a little stir crazy after the car trip and church.

I have been neglecting my blog lately for a good reason--we moved to Texas! We now live in West Texas on the South Plains. It's flat, hot and we love it here. We miss our family and friends in Portland, but hope to be back soon. Michael wants to be a pediatric dentist and found a job down here that will give him great experience. We have been enjoying having him around and not in dental school! When he starts work tomorrow, we will all be sad to see him go. (But happy when that first pay check comes!) Our time in Portland came to an end quickly and so we didn't get to say good bye to everyone we wanted to--we're sorry. We do plan to be back though so please don't forget about us!

The Alamo

In front of the Alamo

Michael bought us snow cones. Boys shared with boys and girls shared with girls. Lucky for me Allie chose grape, but unlucky for Michael, Luke chose watermelon. Kate definitely likes snow cones too! It was a nice surprise and helped us cool down. It was in the low 100s in San Antonio. It felt good though--we really are warm weather people!

Our gifted and talented daughter

Another bright child

And a third brainiac

Luke getting to know a cactus

The grounds at the Alamo are beautiful.

Kate's favorite part of the Alamo was definitely the fish pond.