Preschool

I am SO glad that Elsa has started preschool.  Not just because I get time to myself while Sage is napping at home, but she desperately needed the interaction outside of the home.  Last year was hard for her with staying at home while her two buddies left her everyday.  Not to mention me being busy trying to adjust to a newborn at home.  She has been talking about going to preschool all summer ever since we mentioned it to her.  There was a backpack that came in some Pullups we bought and she has been carrying it around talking about how she is going to wear it to preschool.  Preschool, preschool, preschool.  It's the best.

I had initially signed Elsa up to go to Timpview High's preschool program (Rowan had done something similar in Illinois), but it seems to be a really unorganized program and I never heard back about whether she was guaranteed a spot or not.  Then I got a flyer in the mail advertising a musical program called Raya Grace preschool that only admits 8 students per class and they were flexible with potty training.  I had heard good things from others about the program, so I called them up and they had exactly one slot left for a girl.  We weren't sure if Elsa would be 100% potty trained by September and it seemed like a great fit otherwise, so we snatched up the slot. 

The first two days were hard.  She cried as she does with transitioning to new activities or locations, but she did a 180 on the third day and is doing great now.  She is smiling and happy when I pick her up and the teacher has been great with her emotional moments.

 Her free Pullups backpack.  Nadia wanted in on the picture taking action.

 Sometimes we walk in the morning.  The second day walking all the kids to school,  I blew a flat and had to haul Sage up the hill in blinding hot sun.  I haven't walked since.  Hopefully we'll fix the stroller soon and I'll get back to exercising.

 These are some pictures of the inside of the school on their open house day.  They have a room of these keyboards where they learn to mimic their teacher who is on the piano in the corner.  It's pretty awesome.

 Both girls have these kitty ear headbands.  They are kind of obsessed about them.  Elsa also loves the playground and talks about the slide a lot.

I am so grateful we seemed to have stumbled onto a good situation for Elsa.  Without many exceptions, when Elsa is happy, everyone is happy.

And when Sage is left with only the cat to play with, the house falls apart.

The New Cook in Town

I think I'm in need of a vacation.  It took me two weeks to figure out Rowan's homework schedule for fourth grade.  I kept signing things wrong and submitting the wrong homework.  Then I got frustrated at his teacher and myself when Rowan ended up getting punished for it.   My house is in a constant state of disarray.  Going anywhere is a massive chore with the minions in tow.  Everything just feels HARD.  Making dinner sometimes is enough to drive me over the edge.  Thankfully Steve has been picking up slack where he can (it's a losing battle no matter what you do) and has gotten into cooking a lot more.  Most of his culinary efforts have been performed on the grill and he has gotten really good at quite a few dishes.  Unfortunately, a month ago our grill we adopted from our neighbor who put it out on the side of the road, bit the dust.  It served us well for someone's castoffs, but it was now time to get something that could support Steve's new interests.

Enter Steve's parents who generously gave us an early Christmas present.  We opted for a Weber and ended up getting some specialty stainless steel grates from some guy on ebay.  Steve has already made some delicious dinners on there.  He even baked rolls on the grill one day.  I'm a lucky woman.

Sage's First Word??

It's so hard to know when "mama" and "dada" transitions from babble to an actual word.  Sage loves her daddy and she definitely shows a preference when she babbles to saying dada.  She and Steve have a special bond and it's so cute to watch.



Excuse the messy house.  It's par for the course here.

Sagie had roseola here and was battling a high fever.  Steve was soothing her with some one handed melodies and she would rest her head on his chest while he sang.  It was beyond sweet.

School Days

We're back in session!

 First Grade!!

 Fourth Grade!!

I just love these guys.

It was hard to see this little girl go to her first FULL day of school.  Yes, she did two kindergartens last year, but I got to see her and eat lunch together in the middle of it all.  I'm glad not to have to drive her around, but I was nervous for her none the less.

 The whole walking crew.  The kids walk to school and back with Austin again this year.  Nadia is not happy about walking up the hill home and doesn't appreciate my comeback that it builds muscles and character.

 

Elsa still had another week until preschool starts.  Thus the jammies and bed head.

Last Hurrah

The last day of summer before school started, the whole Beck clan went to Cowabunga Bay.  It is a crazy maze of water slides that we drive past off I-15 anytime we go up to Salt Lake.  Every time we pass it, my kids ask "can we go there some time?"  Now it will be "can we go there again some time?"

 This girl has no fat and thus no ability to tolerate cooler water temperatures.  I need to look into getting her a wet suit for next year.  The water was great when we first got there, but they stopped heating the water slides later in the day and it got really cold. 

Elsa in her batman "wim suit".

I didn't really get any pictures of the others until we were about to leave.  They were too busy running/swimming in all directions.

It was the perfect send off to the summer.  I wish these guys could all get together more often, but we'll take our cousin time when we can get it.

Beck Family

My brother and his family came down on their way to California to have our families participate in Spencer's ordination to the Aaronic priesthood.  Spencer stayed over two nights at our house and the boys had a blast together.  I love seeing my kids interacting with cousins their age and having fun.  It turned out to be a good thing that three of us got married in the same year.

We took Spencer out to go to our favorite soda shoppe here in town.  We need to have more talks about drinking and driving.

 I don't think anyone ever anticipated how popular this toy would be.  With boys and girls.  Frankly, I might be a little jealous that I can't fit in it.

Sunday's party.

Vesta had a friend come over and we got some family pictures taken prior to eating the Minecraft ice cream cake.  I can't remember the last time we took pictures altogether, so it was a good idea.

Swimming

I swore off swimming lessons this summer.  It would have been too much of a hassle to drag the older kids to the pool and try to prevent the younger two jumping in water trying to drown themselves.  Not to mention driving there and possibly interrupting nap time.  Everything seems so complicated with 4 kids!

Then I was talking to a friend and I found out a neighbor who is in another ward gives swimming lessons a block away from my house!  I could drop them off and pick them up so that I wouldn't have to bring the whole crew there.  So I called the lady up and there was a slot available where I could have both Rowan and Nadia take their lessons at the same time.  She even offered to have Elsa come try to have lessons with them.  How ideal!  We signed up immediately and happily discovered that my mom would be here for the 2 weeks they would take lessons so I could even go and watch.  I really appreciate moments like this, where what seems impossible suddenly comes together.

Well, we all went for the first day and it went great until Elsa decided she wanted the pink floatie board.  There was no convincing her otherwise.  The lady kept asking her "Why are you crying??" and I thought to myself I'd been asking myself that very question for the past 3 years.  Needless to say, hers was a short career in swimming.  Maybe next year sweetie.

It still turned out to be a really ideal scenario.  The younger two stayed home with my mom while I took Rowan and Nadia and got to visit with friends while they did their lessons.  I probably got the better end of that deal, but I truly appreciate my mom's help.  It has been such a relief over the summer to have help with the kids!

Nadia is such a little fish.  I'm amazed at how happy she is under the water.

Rowan has improved so much this year.  He's at the point now where he is fully swimming front and back and is completely at ease in the water. 


Despite being unable to get Elsa to engage in swim lessons, our new instructor and her son were fabulous!  She did such a good job encouraging and getting them to try new things.  I'm looking forward to next summer's lessons.