Miss Photogenic

For our date today, Addy wanted to get dressed up and go on a "photo shoot" at the park. We had a fun time exploring the rose garden, then eating some yummy donuts afterward. And the fun part is, we have some really cute pictures to remember our fun time by! I love our Saturday morning date tradition!

First Day of Connections Academy

These are no ordinary back to school pictures. The kids are cute and excited, like usual. It's the mom behind the camera that's having a hard time. Not only am I shocked to find that my babies have grown up so quickly, and they are now in the second grade, kindergarten and preschool. But there's a whole other range of complicated emotions going on regarding this school year. With so much up in the air, we weren't sure where our kids would be attending school this year. I secretly hoped that something miraculous would work out so we could afford to send the kids back to ILC, but with no job, scraping tuition together for three kids is a bit impossible. For the third year in a row, we did not get drawn in any of the charter school lotteries. I tried really hard to keep an open mind about our local school district, but just never got a good feeling about it. And complicating matters worse, all of Brent's job prospects have been out of the state, making me feel like a move is inevitably in our near future.

Through a strange string of events, I was led to Connections Academy. When I first began researching it, I had no idea that it was a "virtual" school--I just thought it was a charter school. Believe me, I never would have gone looking for home school options, as I have always sworn that I would never home school my kids. The more I looked into Connections Academy, the more impressed I was. When I finally figured out that this was a virtual charter school, I cried for days. Mostly, I was crying because I knew it was the right thing to do for our family, and I really, really did not want to do it. How would I ever possibly home school three kids plus take care of two little babies? Throw some particular special needs and difficult personalities into the mix and it seems impossible. After several weeks had passed (with several more days of crying), I compared CA with all the other options I could find, and somehow just knew it was what we needed to do. Can't say that I'm overly excited about the prospect. But I can't deny that it feels right, either. That's the only reason I'm doing it. Lucky for me the kids are so excited. And lucky for me that I know Heavenly Father will help me do this thing that seems impossible. Because there's no way I could do it on my own. Thank goodness I don't have to.

Keaton, Kindergarten

Addison, Preschool

X

Delaney, 2nd Grade (M.I.A. for her turn!)

Mason, 23 1/2 months

Mason had to get in on the action, too. He thinks he's such a big boy now that he's almost two! He's the real wild card in this whole scenario. He's one busy kid--as all toddlers should be. It's their job to explore, climb, dump, scribble, and generally wreak havoc. He's at the top of his game!

Bear Lake Vacation

We just got back from our family vacation to Bear Lake. We realized on the way there that this was our first family vacation (since having kids) that was not a camping trip! Let me tell you, staying in a condo is the way to go at Bear Lake. Can you imagine all that sand in your tent? As it was, even with showers every night, we still had sand in all our crevices for days after. Not only was the condo cleaner, it was also more fun! The highlights of our condo experience are as follows:

*Sleeping in the "closet bed" (which is actually a murphy bed that comes down out of the wall.) Everyone fought over a turn sleeping in it.

*Playing in "Small-land" (which actually was a closet--a giant one under the stairs!), affectionately named after the kids' play area at Ikea, our favorite store. There were, of course, no grownups allowed in Small-land. The kids had fun playing, reading, hiding, and even sleeping there. Who knew a closet could be so much fun?

*Of course, the real highlight of any Bear Lake vacation is playing at the beach. The water was a beautiful crystal blue, and the sand was the softest, finest, squishy-between-your-toeiest sand ever. We can see why Bear Lake is called the Carribean of the Rockies, because it really does remind you of the ocean!

There were two beaches that we loved, for different reasons. North Beach (on the Idaho side of the lake) had the softest, cleanest sand and water that was ankle to knee deep forever--the perfect kids' beach. They could wade, dig, roam and wander without any worries.

The beach on the Utah side was completely different. It actually had little rolling waves that we had fun body surfing in. It was the perfect kids orientation to playing in the ocean--no yucky salt water, and waves that are rhythmic and fun, but yet won't slam you to the ground unmercifully.

Since the water at this beach was a bit rough for Mason, he got his kicks by chasing the seagulls around, trying to feed them his chips. Sometimes it wa hard to tell who was chasing who, though!

Despite the lack of photographic evidence, I was actually there on this vacation. (Gotta get better at that, or it will look like I never existed.) We all had a great time, and can't wait to go back to Bear Lake again.

The End :)