A Lady

Lucy needed new Sunday shoes so I took her to the store to pick up some new ones.  Lucy fell in love with these high heel shoes and wouldn't even let me try any others on. She has since worn them non-stop in the house, asked me about 100 times when the next time church is, and keeps thanking me for them.  The first time she put them on in the house and was walking around she turned to me and said, " I am now a lady!"

Last weekend when all the older girls went to the women's broadcast and Dad and Cameron were at a cross country invitational, Lucy and Grandpa Swany hit the town by themselves.  Grandpa took Lucy to Red Robin for dinner.  While there she told Grandpa that it was like they were married and on a date (because that is what you do when you are married-- obviously.)  She also told him that he should finish her salad she ordered because it would be healthy for him.  She is a NUT.

The BEST dinner ever

 Every year in school Natalie has a new BEST friend.  This year it is Hannah.  The other day I got a text message from Hannah's mom.  I have met this mom a few times at school functions and then Natalie went over to their house for a birthday party a few weeks ago.   When I got this text, I laughed and laughed.  This sums up Natalie's zest for life!  I can just picture Natalie telling her friend about this awesome dinner.  I mean lets get real, no peek chicken is good but I'm not so sure about the best dinner ever.  I guess it is nice to know some one likes my cooking occasionally!

Hooray for September!!

Seahawk season is back!!

Our neighbors were so kind and gave us two preseason tickets!  The girls were not too happy that they weren't going.  Good thing that a trip to the movie theater to see Secret Life of Pets seemed to make up for the injustice!  Although we told Cameron next time it is going to be Julia's turn. 

Sunday Night Fun

Mitch and the girls thought it would be fun to take a picture of all the stuff animals on the coach.  Sadly this doesn't include any dolls, or random decorative pillows (emoji, etc.)  We have so many!

About every 6 months I try to to through the stuffed animals and see if we can get rid of some.  Each time the girls will come up with one maybe two small animals that came in a happy meal or something like that.  If I suggest getting rid of a few, usually they burst into tears or worse one single tear slips down their cheek.  How can I even compete with that?  Seriously!  HELP!

An Official Middle Schooler

Lucy

This girl is killing me with cuteness!

Her day has come!

Today was Lucy's 1st day of Preschool.  She was so excited!!

What will I do with all my free time?  Ha!  I might travel....to the grocery store without whining.  The reality of the situation is I might just drop her off at school and go back to bed for a early morning nap!  

Her backpack is so darn cute!

The tree where all the kids have stood on their 1st day of preschool.  The tree is huge now compared to when Cameron went.

 A special after school lunch with mom.

3 Stitches

Tuesday night we had a  little mishap at our house.  Lucy was in the kitchen slipped and fell hitting her head on the ground right at the corner of the cabinets.  She had a small gash in her head that was deep. I decided to take her to the Urgent Care in Covington because the urgent care medical records are linked to her Dr. office which is nice. That Urgent Care is literally the WORST.  I HATE IT!!  I have never had a good experience going there.  They change the hours of that place so often it is insane.  By the time I got to Urgent Care it was 7:30 pm exactly.  They were closed.  They close at 7:30 pm.  The receptionist saw me coming with a bleeding 4 year old and just shook her head that they were closed.  I then got back into the car and took her to a Urgent Care that is one mile from my house.  It is decently a new Urgent Care and they are AWESOME!  No wait, get you right in, and so helpful.  Never again, Covington!!

Lucy was such a brave girl and hardly even cried.  Later when Mitch said to her, "I heard you were such a brave girl." She replied, "I know, I am."  Ha Ha!  The next day her stitches started bleeding really hard so I had to take her back to the Urgent Care to get them checked out.  Everything was fine.  Not sure why the bleeding.  She wasn't too happy about going back to though.  The Dr. we saw the night before was there and checked us out.  She was so great and we were in and out fast.  That never happens!

So much for school pictures next week!

Back to School 2016-2017

Cameron - Tahoma Junior High- 8th grade

Cameron left bright and early this morning at 7:10 am.  He was a little nervous and his mom was really nervous.  He arrived home around 2:30 pm all smiles.  He said there wasn't too many kids he knows in his classes but found some friends to eat lunch with.  That is a big deal since there are 3 lunches.  Mom was so relieved that things went well and he didn't get lost in his big school.

Julia- Cedar River Middle-Team Aspire-  6th grade

Julia was a little disappointed when she learned that her team she is on only consisted of two teachers and that she has PE first thing in the morning, but was happy to learn she has some friends on her team. She left at 7:45 am and got home around 3:25 pm.  She had an awesome day and said that everything is great!  She spent her time at home this afternoon organizing her binder and getting everything ready for tomorrow.

Natalie- Glacier Park Elementary- Mrs. Hampshire- 3rd grade

Natalie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her teacher.  Natalie left this morning at 8:45 am and got home at 4:00 pm.  She literally has talked non-stop until bed about everything she did today.  She spent a lot of time laying out her clothes for tomorrow, planning what she wants in her lunch, how her hair is going to be styled, etc...
I LOVE her enthusiasm!

Lucy- Preschool- Mrs. Hurley... A week or so more to wait!

I spent the morning getting each kid out the door at different times and then had them come home at staggering times this afternoon.  This will take some time to get used to.  By around 10 am I was ready for a nap!  Lucy seemed pretty happy and wasn't too bummed out that she was home alone with just Mom.  Hope this keeps up or it will be a long year.  I am also so grateful that everyone came home in smiles.  There were some tears last night...mostly mine.  I worry about my Cameron and I am a bit worried about Julia's teachers.  I guess time will tell.  Here is to a new school year and to a clean house!

End of the School Year

In my long hiatus from my blog and sheer exhaustion of when school got out I never posted my end of the year pictures:

Cameron finished up 7th grade at Cedar River Middle School and is headed to the Junior High!

What an awesome year Cameron had!  He had the very best teachers for 7th grade and had an outstanding year.  He joined the Man Club which turned out to be one of best decisions of the year.  It was a great experience and had the opportunity to spend time with other men and boys learning how to be leaders. 

At the awards night Cameron got a special award from his Science teacher.  He was really surprised and touched.  He worked so hard and his grades showed that.  At the end of the year, he received so many kind notes from his teachers telling him what a great kid and hard worker he was.  Nothing could make me more proud.

This was Cameron's first year doing competitive sports in school.  He played tackle football, basketball, and track.  He learned that he didn't love football.  He made the basketball team which was SO awesome.  It had tryouts and cuts.  He struggled with it a bit.  It was hard at times to overcome his anxiety but it was a good learning experience.  Lastly, Cameron was on the track team.  He was amazing. He ran a 5:05.1 in the mile putting him 5th of all time for a 7th grade boy at his school.  He also ran 2:25.22 in the 800m making the 10th best 7th grade boy in school history.  His team placed 1st in their league, something that has never happened. He had to qualify for the league meet and was one of only a very few 7th graders that made it to that meet (almost the entire thing was 8th graders).  The grade above Cameron has 4 boys that are even faster than Cameron in the distance races so they helped push him to get even better.  They will have quite the team when all these boys are in High School!  At the awards banquet Cameron received the "Most Inspirational Award" which was voted on by all the team.  That was quite a honor for him!

So handsome!

Miss Julia....

Oh my goodness!  Julia literally was living the 5th grade dream this past year.  She LOVED and excelled in everything she did.  At the end of the year the 5th grade classes have a tug of war contest that is very serious business.  Her class wore all blue; they had chants, cheers, and even researched how to win at tug of war.  Her class ultimately was runner up in the tug of war contest, but what an effort!

The last day of school Julia's teacher gave each person in her class "shades" because their futures are so bright.  Julia was so fortunate to have two really great teachers that truly cared about their students and wanted them to succeed.  What a blessing in my life!  Next stop....middle school!!!!

In Julia's report card her teachers wrote the nicest things in the comment section. I mean...WOW!! Can someone say anything nicer than that?

These are the gifts Julia gave her teachers for thank you gifts.  This year's teacher gifts also became "Mindy's craft time"

Medals for 100% attendance for the year!

Nat and the 2nd grade!

Natalie's last weeks of school were filled with a field trip to the zoo, field day, and so many art projects!  Nat loves school and I hope that she continues to love school.  I love hearing about her zest for everything when she gets home everyday!  

This was Natalie's teacher's gift

Last day of school!!!!!