Back to School

The girls (except for McKell) went back to school on Monday. Hooray!

They were all super excited and each of them had a great week. :)

Here are the classic back-to-school pictures (meet the teacher night and first day):

I LOVED the teacher Brenna had last year and am still really, really, really sad she decided to retire. Hopefully she'll do well with her new teacher, Mrs. Rogers.

Ashlyn (1st Grade) is in Mrs. Wilder's class. This is the teacher Ashlyn was hoping for and I have only heard wonderful things about her. I think Ash will have a great year.

Kaylee (3rd Grade) is in Mrs. Sommer's class. This is also the teacher Kaylee was hoping for. She was new to the school last year, but this year she's the veteran in 3rd grade since the other 3 teachers are brand new. Mrs. Sommer is Kaylee's homeroom teacher, but halfway through the day the students switch teachers, so Kaylee has Mrs. Rhame in the afternoons.

Miss Brenna is riding the bus to preschool this year, so she actually leaves the earliest. (I'm still picking her up at the end of the day - which for her is around 11:00 AM.)

I can hardly stand to have this one growing up so quickly!

Don't you love the shoes Ashlyn picked out this year? Bright and fun, just like her!

Hopefully this doesn't make me a terrible mother, but I am so glad everyone is back in school! They are all really thriving with a more set schedule and being back in a classroom environment. Kaylee doesn't get bored any more, Ashlyn doesn't get in trouble nearly as often, Brenna whines less (probably due to the fact that she's getting better naps now that the house is quiet in the afternoon), and McKell is napping better as well. I like that I can get all the pressing stuff (showering, doing dishes, prepping dinner, cleaning) done while kiddos are napping, and when they're awake and/or home from school I feel like I can focus more on THEM.

Baby had a Birthday

McKell turned ONE last Wednesday - August 21st! CRAZY!!!

The night before her birthday I pulled out a music table Brenna was given when she was about that age (McKell doesn't care if I re-gift, right?) so she'd have something new to play with when she woke up. It was a big hit (possibly with all 4 of the girls).

After dinner that night we did the rest of her presents. Her sisters may have *helped* open all of them.

We waited until Friday night to do the real birthday party. We invited over some friends to play and share cake and ice cream with us. Counting our family I think we had 8 adults and 12 kiddos.

Here's the cake I made for her. I've done a teddy bear for each of the girls when they turned 1, but all the cakes have been slightly different and unique.

I made extra cupcakes since I knew we had a crowd coming over.

Here's McKell with her "best friend" Parker. Obviously babies don't really have best friends, but Parker is just a few months older than McKell and they see each other a lot. It's always fun to watch them interact.

And here are the cake pictures . . .

I'm pretty sure she wins the prize in our family for messiest baby. :)

And here's what remained of the bear after McKell had finished with it.

I am very thankful for this little gal. I was just telling Russ the other night how much my attachment to and affection for her has been growing lately. Of course you always love your children, but I feel like now her fun little personality is really emerging and I am falling in love with her because of who she is and not just because she's my child.

Ashlyn Adventures

Adventure #1: cooking

I think she's been watching a little too much Food Network. She found a bag of crunched up Teddy Grahams and wanted to make a dessert with them. She was VERY proud of the finished product (and the fact that it was semi-edible.)
 

Adventure #2: fashion

She decided to accessorize Russ during his Sunday afternoon nap. He's a pretty sound sleeper, so he had no idea until he woke up. He almost left for a Stake meeting with a hair bow still clipped on to one of his belt loops.

The shoes and socks were a particularly nice touch.

Adventure #3: dancing

I just really like this picture of Ashlyn because it captures who she is. She LOVES to be fancy and wears dresses and skirts every day, but she's a whole bunch of crazy and silly and wild at the same time.

Star Wars!

The Walton family LOVES movie parties. When we do movie parties, it isn't like grab some popcorn and candy and watch a movie together, we go all out . . . costumes, activities, prizes, games, food. It's awesome.

For this summer's reunion we wanted to do something EPIC, so we chose STAR WARS. Sweet! My Mom was seriously prepping for this party for like a year. Every time she saw some sort of cool Star Wars item at the store, she bought it (think Pez dispensers, yo-yo's, puzzles, games, Darth Vader head Easter eggs, etc.) She had so much stuff that we decided to make a "Star Wars Store". The kids earned tickets throughout the party, then they got to "shop" at the store with their tickets and buy whatever nifty stuff they wanted.

Here's the party run-down:

We let the cousins work on some coloring pages, crossword puzzles, and mazes in the afternoon while the littles were napping.

Then it was time for costumes! I was pretty lazy and just purchased a few things for our costumes (I did make Kaylee and Ashlyn's headbands), but others really went the extra-mile this time.

Yoda #1

Yoda #2
(I smile every time I see this one - Brenna's just so darn cute!)

Princess Leia #1

Princess Leia #2

Princess Leia #3

And Princess Leia #4
(for a movie that only has 1 leading lady, you're going to see her a few times over in our family of 2 grandsons and 8 granddaughters)

R2-D2

The Emperor
(my Gran had never watched Star Wars before this party, but I think she looks pretty convincing)

Darth Vader
(I bought Russ this shirt, and he decided to spice it up with a few additions)

Storm Troopers
(my parents made these awesome masks out of milk jugs)

Ewok #1
(Ewok #2 was equally adorable, but is about 2 years old and wasn't interested in keeping her costume on long enough for a picture)

Darth and a Storm Trooper
(these masks scared Brenna to death)

Princess Leia (on Endor)

Obi Wan Kenobi

Chewbacca

Han Solo
(somehow I missed getting a picture of Bonnie the Jedi - sorry!)

We did our best impressions of Vader's breathing, Jabba's laugh, Chewbacca's . . . whatever that sound is he makes, and Yoda

Jedi training with pool noodle lightsabers, which was followed by some Star Wars trivia

Dinner was all movie themed: Death Star Melon, Yoda Soda, Vader Taters, Obi Wan Kabobies

and Han Solo frozen in (Jell-O) carbonite

After dinner we settled in to watch "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi".

Part way through the flick we took a break to fill up on snacks: Luke Skywater, Wookie Cookies, Jabba the Nuts, Hans Rolos, Dark Side Skittles, and Ewokookies.

It was a great party. :)

12 Months of McKell

Happy Birthday today to McKell!!! Below are 12 photos of the babe, your job is to put them in order. Beginning with August 2012, there is 1 pic for each month. (WARNING: it's pretty hard)

Good luck!

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

Leave your guesses in the comments, or email me if you prefer more secrecy. ;)