A Right Of Passage

One of the things I love about being a mother is watching my kids discover the world around them. It is fun for me to experience things with them, and every now and then catch a glimpse of what they are seeing or thinking.

The age of two is often referred to as "Terrible", and there are many moments when I can see why, but while my two year old is making big messes every time I turn around, I also see that they are trying to learn. Often times they are mimicking the things I do, but they are just not quite old enough to understand what that is exactly.

I will admit sometimes this can be frustrating. Especially when you are trying to get out the door, and you suddenly realize that you are going to have to give them a bath before you can leave, because they can now open the fridge on their own and got into the sour cream.

However there are times when it is easy to sit back and enjoy their attempt at being big.

Yesterday was one of those moments.

Most mornings when I am in front of the bathroom mirror getting ready for the day I have a little shadow standing on the toilet next to me helping.

At first Valerie would just watch what I did, and play with things on the counter or in the drawer. As she has gotten a little older she understands what items I use every day. While I am getting ready she hands me the things she thinks I need to use. Every now and then brushing her own hair with the hair brush, or brushing her cheeks with the make up brush. I knew it would only be a matter of time before she took it to the next level, and yesterday it happened.

Valerie went into my bathroom, and came out with beautiful mascara all over her eyes.

I think this must be a right of passage for every little girl, because when Emily was almost this exact same age, she did the exact same thing.

Aren't they pretty?

King Joe

On Friday, Joe was King for the day.

This is his teacher's fun way to get to know the kids a little better and spotlight them for the class. She has each table (4 kids) be the king and queens for the day. Joe is the only boy at his table, so on his day, he was the king, and there were three queens.

Thursday he came home with a crown and a spotlight bag. He was to decorate his crown however he wanted and place five items in the bag that would represent him. The kids who had gone on the days before had been given Thor crowns. Joe had planned to put his face on Thor. He was a little disappointed when he got a BK Club Kids crown instead. It did not slow him down to much though. By the time he had walked home from school he already had a new plan. For this crown he wanted to take advantage of the word club. So we made it into a club Joe crown. We printed photos of his friends and brother and sisters and glued them over the cartoon heads on the crown. Club Joe represents the people who like Joe.

The five items he took to share were:

His Karate Trophy

A Joke Book

A Baseball Trophy

A case to a DS game

and something he had built out of Lego's.

It was fun to see how creative Joe is, and also to see what is important to him.

For Joe, the best part of being king for the day was getting to eat lunch with his teacher, and his fellow royals of the day. I thought that was pretty cool too. During lunch his teacher talked to them about school, and friends and some of their interests. He really feels like his teacher cares about him and what he likes. It really made him feel special.

Silver Lake

Because Josh does not start Kindergarten for another week, we went to Silver Lake on Tuesday.

My sister-in-law Jenny and I had been trying to get together for a couple of weeks, so she met us there with her kids, Jaxson and Violet, and her brother Clark.

Valerie thought she wanted to be carried around the path, but she really liked the boardwalk, because she thought it was a bridge. She would walk on it and sing "Grumpy Old Troll" to herself.

My friends had warned us about the bugs up there. So Jenny came prepared.

The bugs were not as bad as I thought they would be, but I did wish I could have put a net around me too.

The kids loved the ducks, and the ducks seemed to love the kids. They came swimming over to us looking for treats. We forgot to bring them any.

At the end of our walk we stopped at a picnic table for lunch.

The squirrels thought our lunch looked pretty good, and came to see if they could get a bite.


We tried not to share with them, but we did share our cookies with Violet. This was her very first Oreo Cookie.

I think she liked it.

Thanks for coming with us Jenny and Clark. It was great to visit with you. We don't get together often enough.

First Day Of School

As summer is winding down and school is beginning our house is filled with all kinds of activity. I remember how I felt the few days before school started for me when I was a kid. The nervousness I had for the unknown, but the excitement I felt for the new adventures ahead. I didn't know that as a mother I would have these same feelings when my children started school every year.

This year is a big year for Emily. She is now in 7th grade and going to Middle School. So the unknown factor for us is huge. Needless to say we were both a little anxious.

I am so glad that Emily's middle school administration understands this.

Last Wednesday (before school even started) we had back to school night. After the initial introduction to the school and it's programs and policies, we were sent on a run through of Emily's schedule. We were able to visit each class for 5 minutes in the order she had them on her schedule. So not only did we get to meet the teachers, but she was also able to see most of the other kids that would be in her class.

Then Friday they had 7th Grade orientation. The 7th graders went for half a day and learn the ropes of the school without the 8th and 9th graders there. So Monday they were ready to start. Emily has at least one person she knows in each of her classes. She is also very lucky that her friend Lindsey is in three of them and they have lunch together.

Emily was very disappointed that she does not have any classes with her friend Tiana. In fact they might as well be going to different schools. They have different lunches and their lockers are on opposite ends of the school.

Emily's biggest struggle was getting her locker open, but by the end of orientation day she had it down. At the end of the first day Monday, Emily came out with a smile on her face. I think middle school is going to be okay. Emily seems to love it.

At the end of the year last year We had the chance to submit our first and second choice for teachers we wanted next year. For Emily I never did this and I was always happy with her teachers, but Joe is a different personality and I knew there was a teacher I did not want. As for the other two choices, I think I would have been happy with either one, but after many days of pondering which one to put first, I went ahead and requested the one I thought would push Joe a little more.

Wednesday the class lists were posted, and Joe got the teacher I requested. However, she was not the teacher Joe was hoping for. And to pour salt in his wound most of his friends were in the other two classes.

Having friends and being liked is a big deal for Joe, and to have a class without his friends was heart breaking. There were many tears shed that night.

I still had a few things to buy for school, so Friday I took Joe and Emily shopping to finish up. Joe was only interested in t-shirts with some kind of cool picture on it. We found some really fun ones. One was even a scratch and sniff. It smells like grapes. (I am not sure how long it will last.) That night I asked Joe if he was happy about his new clothes. He said, "Yes. They are very rare." Then a little quieter and to himself he said in an excited voice "popular!"

Monday Morning was the first day of School. Joe was feeling excited about school and told me he was not worried about his teacher. He still wished more of his friends were in his class, but it would be okay.

We walked up to school with his good friend Cooper. Cooper was also sad that they were not in the same class.

After School Joe was very happy with his first day. He realized he would still see his friends, and he likes his new teacher.

Josh is really excited to start school this year, and was very disappointed when he found out he has to wait another week to start Kindergarten.

Now that we have made it through the first day, I can happily say,

I think we are going to have a great year.

Karate boys

Saturday Joe and Ryan had their karate belt test.

Joe was testing for his orange belt,

and Ryan was testing for his Purple belt.

They both did a great job and passed.

Congratulations boys!

Hike to Cecret Lake

Thursday was the last day of Summer Vacation for our family. Emily was headed to school on Friday for 7th grade orientation and after that we would be in full back to school mode.

So for our final summer vacation adventure, we hiked to Cecret Lake.

Ryan had a little bit of free time, so he came with us. Valerie was really glad to have dad with us, because that meant she could be carried up the trail a little more than usual.

Josh loved using his hiking stick on the trail. He kept telling me how he was using it to make hiking easier,


Joe kept telling me where good spots for pictures were, and then he would pose for me.

Most of the spots were somewhere on a rock.

About halfway up the trail the kids found something very unusual for the end of August in Utah.

SNOW!

We also discovered something that we did not notice last year, a waterfall. I am not sure if it was there last year. I think it must have been, but maybe there just wasn't enough water to make it noticeable. I have asked a couple of my friends if they remembered it and they said no. But there is definitely one this year.

We went and got a closer look at it, and then headed over the hill to the lake.

It was beautiful and very full. Last year there was a beach around it, but this year we had to just climb around on the rocks.

The kids did not mind though.

Valerie liked the water, but she also liked the squirrels that came over to see if we had any snacks.

The lake was at least three feet higher than last year. I could not get a picture of the biggest rock we sat on last year with our church group, because it was much smaller and what was there had people on it, but this was another rock we sat on last summer, and it is completely under water.

Emily found a good place for pictures this year.

I had Emily take a picture of Ryan and I. He has been very busy this summer, and I am so happy he could come with us this time. (He wished I would have warned him about the picture taking.)

Cecret Lake it still one of my favorite hikes.

I love my hiking buddies, and will miss hiking around the canyons with them. Maybe we will be able to sneak another one in on a Saturday before the snow starts flying again.

Solitude Lake

On Tuesday our mom and tot hiking group headed to Big Cottonwood Canyon for our hike.

This week we started at Silver Lake and from there, we hiked a little over a mile and a half up to Solitude Lake. I was excited to go on this hike, because it was one we had not done before.

Once again our group was filled with little girls, and this hike was a little longer than our other hikes, but a nice easy climb.

A little ways up the trail we came to a field of sunflowers.

This was only the beginning of the wild flowers. After the yellow there was a field of white and then blue. Our whole hike was beautiful.
The hike was nice and easy, until the very end. Just before the lake there is a big hill, so when we got to the lake, the kids were all ready to rest.


Our friends had to get back home, but we had some time, so the kids and I walked around the lake.

A little ways down the path we found this cave. The kids were very disappointed I had not packed a flashlight.

I was glad I had not. I did not want to see if anything was living in that cave.

We took our time getting back enjoying the beautiful flowers.

It was a perfect day for a hike,

and Solitude Lake is definitely a hike we will do again.