BACK TO SCHOOL

Benjamin has been really excited to start this next school year! His Grannie teaches 1st grade too (in Utah), so it is kindof special for him. She sparked his interest in reading the summer before Kindergarten, and he has been a great reader ever since (check out his blog at www.benjaminsbookblog.blogspot.com)! We were able to go to the Back To School Night at his school and meet his teacher Mrs Bull. She let him choose where he wanted to sit and of course he chose UP FRONT! He was given a homework folder and in it there was a homework sheet that told him what he was expected to do for homework. Go to the Library once a week. Read for 20 minutes a day. 10 minutes for math and 10 minutes for spelling. Not too bad! He was so excited we had to go to the library today to get him some new reading materials. I just hope I can keep up with his book blog too!!! He came home today and told me that he had introduced himself to EVERYONE in his class and that they are all his best friends. Can you tell he loves people? He also told me that he was very respectful to his teacher and told her he would help her with anything she needed. Did I mention that he was up, dressed and ready to go for school at 6:40 am?? I wasn't even out of bed yet!!

YEAH!! ALL READY FOR SCHOOL!
"Please take the picture so we can get this over with!"
Isn't he just the most adorable 1st grader you have ever seen?
"Mom, I am ready to go now!"
I know, I know... he is a cute kid!
Ben is a CHEESER!!! He LOVES his lunch bag that he got from Costco... We couldn't see spending $20/week for school lunch, so he gets to make his own lunch and take it with him!!

Random Summer Fun....

I thought since our kids looked so good this morning as we were getting ready for church, that Dewey could take some pictures... They looked good, but they were too hyper to take pics.

We are at a Softball Tournament in Montpelier, Idaho. Dewey's men's softball team had an ALL NIGHT AND ALL THE NEXT DAY TOURNAMENT!! I am serious! The first night Dewey's game was at 10 PM, then he played at 5:30 AM, then 10 AM, then 2 PM, and they were still playing when we left (yes, that means his team lost and left early)!






We were invited to go boating at Jensen's Grove with some friends, the Thompsons! We had so much fun being pulled on the raft, and Dewey trying wake boarding and skiing! We loved just being able to play in the water too! THANKS THOMPSONS!!

This is Jennifer Jessee, Me, and Melissa Thompson, showing that we were brave enough to jump in the water off the dock!! It was cold, but fun!
Here is JoE and Ashlyn having fun holding the flag for the boat ride!!
Ephers really wanted to go on the boat to, but had to be happy with this little float thing to play with instead!
Willard and JoE riding the raft. A few times they were head banging, but neither of them wanted to stop. When JoE was riding with me, her face went white at some point because she thought they were trying to dump us into the water.

Aden Jessee and Ben going THUMBS up riding the raft.
"Are you sure you don't want me to get you wet? I can do a good job! Just GIVE ME A HUG!"
Ephraim wouldn't lay down and take a nap, so he just sat in the chair and chilled for a while!
Here is Willard, leaping off the dock. We were there for about 8 hours, and this never got old!
Willard and Ben going for a ride! Ben wanted to go faster, Will wanted to go SLOW!
There is one of my mom's pictures when she was chubby, and I think this face of mine looks just like it!! Ephraim LOVED the water too. I think all my kids are really fish!
Yep, we loved it too Ben!!
I can't quite tell what kind of dive this is.... I think it is a, "I can do it, wait, not yet." kind.
JoE is waiting ever so patiently for Willard to jump! They loved playing at Uncle Ken's pool!


Ben is learning how to dive!! I think he is still doing belly flops, but hey, he will get there!!Here is Willard trying to swim away before Uncle Tim does a cannon ball on his head!
Ephers loved this part of the pool. It is about 5 ft in diameter but only 6 inches deep. His favorite part was jumping in when I wasn't looking!
A sleeping body... what shall we do to him??



Aren't these the cutest princess ballerinas you have ever seen?

We were invited to Grandma & Grandpa Eliason's house for a 4th of July breakfast and fun. We ate, played in the yard on the swings, and of course, shot the guns!!! I believe that Grandpa got a rockchuck at over 250 yards!! I can't tell who was having more fun, Grandma or the kiddos.
Ehpers loved this swing in the back of Grandma & Grandpa Eliason's yard. It is on of those rubber horses. I had to tie him in with the horses mane, but he still had fun.
JoE is just like me when I was little. I would find whatever animal was closest and snuggle up!! She is lying on our Aussie, Annie!

Sometimes we don't let our kids take naps until it is too late and they drop where they are!!!

We had a pizza party in our basement! Ephers kept climbing on Dewey's legs and snuggling up there! It was too cute!