1st Day of School!!

 Well school officially started today!! I know that I was ready for it to start, but in some ways I was a little sad cause Kode starts school at a different school, where he rides the bus. This is where I have to cut the apron strings and let him become independent. Its so hard to see how much he has grown up over the years. But he was so excited for school. Anyway here is how their day went!

Kode ready to start the 5th grade at Flag View Intermediate School!

He has been so excited to start school for about a week now. He made sure he had his cloths picked out the night before. His shoes were ready to be slipped on in the garage and his back pack was hanging on the chair in the kitchen just waiting for him to grab it as he walked out the door.

He was up at 6:45 to brush his teeth, get dressed and down stairs shortly after that to eat some breakfast.

 Some of the neighbor kids were knocking on the door at 7:20 this morning. (the bus doesn't even pick them up until 8:05, but they wanted to make sure they gave them selves enough time to get to the bus stop before the bus showed up)

(I had Kode and some of the neighbor buddies take a walk down to the bus stop to see how long it would take them and they timed it and it took them 4 minutes and 43 seconds. So 45 minutes was a little extreme but what ever they wanted)

 

 Anyway, after hanging out at our house for 10 minutes they were on their way to the bus stop!

(hey I have to say I did great! I didn't even cry when I was watching them walk down the street to catch their bus. I am so proud of myself)

 

 So here they are on their way home from their day at school. The kids said their walk is a little brutal up hill in 95 degree weather but they made it!

Kode said he had a great day! He really enjoyed riding the bus and the school lunch was great! He ate a hot dog and 2 pieces of fruit! (that's great for him since hes such a picky eater)

He said he thinks he is going to like his teacher and he has a few friends from last year in his class. So that made him feel a little better to go to class. So I think its going to be a good year!! 

 

 So here's Bry! He is somewhat ready for 3rd grade! He on the other hand is not as excited as Kode. He had a rough morning. He actually got out of bed very well. (I was a little concerned cause most of the summer he has been getting out of bed around 11:30. So 7:00 am was asking a lot from him) But after the neighbor kids knocked on the door for Kode he got very emotional. He cried and cried and cried most of the morning. He just wanted to go to school with them. He wanted to ride the bus and he just didn't want to go to the baby school any more. He kept telling me! When it was time to drop him off he really wouldn't say goodbye cause he was a little upset at me. (we have been talking about Kode going to a different school then he goes to now all summer. So its not like this is a new thing) Anyway he had a great day. When I picked him up from school he said he likes his teacher, and he has some friends in his class that he had last year. So all in all its going to be a great year for him to!

 

So when he got home he had some homework to do and I had to fill out some paperwork for the school. Well on a few of the documents he had to sign them to. So I read what he would be signing then asked him if he would sign on the line. He said "no I really don't agree with any of that and I don't want to sign it" I looked at him and started to laugh. Luckily he was just joking. I swear he is Mac's kid. I sure didn't give my parents any flack!

 

Anyway so here begins a new school year! I feel its going to be a good one! 

all ready to go

 Kode is so excited for his first day of school that he has everything ready the night before! Its too funny!!

 

his cloths are laying on his bedroom floor.

(even his watch is ready to be slipped on)

 

his shoes are ready on the stairs. just waiting to be slipped on!

 his backpack is hanging on the chair ready to be grabbed as he walks to the front door!

 

I am so glad he is this excited for school. It makes me happy! I hope he has a great 1st day!

 

Cake Decorating

So I decided to take a cake decorating class at Jo~Anns the other day! I have never really done anything like this before and it was fun. It was a 4 day class. (not 4 days in a row. The classes were spread out over 2 weeks. Which worked out great!) I was not able to attend the very first class. We had some other things going on. Anyway here is what I did in the classes!

First we had to make our own cakes. I didn't read the directions very well and my first batch of cakes flopped. They were a mess when they came out of the oven. This was not a great start to my new found hobby! 

Then I read the directions more carefully and it was amazing how nice the cakes turned out! Then we had a recipe to make our own frosting. The frosting turned out good. I just wish I had the talent that Grandma Paxman has. Her cakes and pastries were to die for!!

 

Anyway, I took the cakes to class and the teacher showed us how to put filling in the middle if we wanted to (I didn't want to cause the kids wont eat the cake if there is filling in the middle) Then the next step was to frost our cake. She showed us a cool way to quickly frost the cake. Then we mixed our own colors in our frosting to decorate our cake.

 

The instructor showed us a few examples of different decorated cakes. So I choose to decorate mine with a fish on it! It was a lot of fun and it really was not all that hard.

When I got home that night from the class the whole neighborhood was over so I fed them each a piece of cake. By then the hole thing was gone. I was so glad. I really didn't want that cake hanging around the house. I really don't need to eat it and I know I would be tempted to have several pieces.

 

 

Class #3

Anyway, our next class we were asked to make a dozen cupcakes. This time the instructor wanted us to fill them with a filling. So I decided to make chocolate cup cakes and use lemon filling. (Yea the boys wont eat anything with filling in them so I just filled 3 of the cupcakes.) I thought that putting a filling into the cake or even the cupcakes was going to be a hard thing, but it really was not hard at all. Then it was time to decorate them.

 

The teacher showed us a few different ways on how to make some flowers. So I practiced on a few of my cupcakes. Decorating cupcakes were lots of fun to.

So the neighbor kids got wind that I was at another cake decorating class. So again they were waiting close to the house for when I came home to have a cupcake. And I was so glad to let them eat them all. I knew that I had another class in a couple of days where I was to make another cake to decorate.

 

Class #4 

So for class #4 we were to bake another cake and make frosting. Then we had to fill it if we wanted to and then frost it before the next class. So I did just that. I was excited for this class. The teacher taught us how to make roses with our frosting. Roses are a little bit tricky to make but I feel I did good. Its amazing what kind of things you can do with frosting and how it changes the look of your cake.I feel that I have learned so much already but there is so much to decorating cakes or cupcakes.

 

 

So this is how my final cake turned out!

I am so glad that I took this class. It was so much fun. Now I am not going to use this cake decorating class as a money maker. I just wanted to learn how to do this to use it as a hobby. I love eat sweets. So now I know how to make my sweets even sweeter.

 (although I have found when I make sweets I really don't want to eat them. So that's a great way to curve that sweet tooth appetite)

 

and here's my certificate for completing course #1

 

So I really enjoyed taking Course 1 so I signed myself up for Course 2. Its not til October but that's OK.

Pretty Fly!!

 So I have been telling Bry for a couple of weeks now that we need to go to the store and get him some new shoes for school. I had already bought Kode some new shoes but Bry has not gotten any new ones. (he just wanted me to go to the store and choose some for him. Aaahhh no I wont just do that. He has to try them on before I purchase anything)  He is just so busy playing with the neighbor kids and cant brake away to go get some new ones. I thought he would be going to school in his old, stinky, worn out high tops. But finally I talked him into going to the store with me to get some new ones.

 

So we got to the store and Bry went straight for the high top area. I am not much for those kind of shoes but he thinks they are way cool! Bry is such a picky person. He has to be stylish and cool. So he tried on about 15 pair of high tops. He found a pair that were very colorful. This is not what I would have chosen but I guess I am not the that has to wear them!

 

 So these were the ones he really wanted but they didn't have it in his size. I was fine with that!!

 

 So then he tried these ones on. He was not much into these ones. So he was off looking for another pair. It could only be high tops though. This kid kills me. I don't ever remember being this picky. Anyway!

 

So finally this is what he decided on and they had one in his size. So after about 1/2 and hour trying on shoes we were off.

 

When we got home Bry went around the neighborhood showing the neighbor kids his new shoes. He came home to tell me that "these shoes are pretty fly MOM! All my friends really like them." Well I guess that is all that natters!! (so he is totally Shawn's kids)

Open House!!

 The other night the boys had an open house at their schools. Now that Kode is going to a new school we made sure that we went to his open house. This is kind of a scary adventure. I am not sure that I am up for this but I guess we have not choice. Anyway the open houses went well.



So here we are at Kodes school. Everyone had to meet in the gym for a quick introduction then we all ventured out to find the teachers classrooms. All of the 5th grade classrooms are all in portables at the top of the hill above the main building of the school. Its kind of a hike. The kids will defiantly be getting their exercise going up and down these stairs.

 We happened to be the first ones to meet Kode's 5th grade teacher. Mrs. Becker.

(I am not sure what I think about her yet. Time will tell)

Kode is a little nervous but he said its all going to be OK!

 

 We walked around her room. There was not much to it. She didn't have much on her walls and no name tags on the desks. I asked her if the children were going to have assigned seating and she said "No. The students will sit where they want to."  I thought to myself this is going to be a crazy year. I hope things get better. I am a little nervous for Kode. I guess I need to introduce myself to Mr. Bryson (the principal) right away. But I have to remember that he is going into the 5th grade and he is growing up and its time to teach the kids to be independent. So I guess here goes!!

 

 Then after seeing the classroom we were off to walk around the school. We wanted to see where the art room, the lunch room, and the music rooms were at.

For the most part Kode seems excited to start school. So I guess its going to be a good year.

 

 Then we needed to attend Bry's open house!

 So we were off to see Bry's 3rd grade teacher. His teacher asked for some extra supplies so I got them a few days before we went to the open house and I made sure to take them with us when we went to the open house. Bry will have enough things to take to school on the first day so this worked great!

 

 

Here he is. His teacher (Mrs. McDermott) let the students choose their seats for the first week of school. Bry found some friends that he knew well and made sure he sat next to them. The table that he choose to sit at is at the back of the room and very far away from her desk. So I can see that she will be moving the students right away. Anyway its going to be a good year for Bry this year. His teacher this year is amazing!

 

I asked the boys if they were excited to go back to school now that we have attended the open houses and this is what they said.

 

Kode: "Yea I am excited to ride the bus and meet some new friends. I am not sure about the homework that my new teacher is going to give me. Just being able to ride the bus is going to be so cool."

 

Bry: "No I am not very excited. I really don't want to go back to school. I like being able to stay up late and sleep in as long as I want to. (yea he has been sleeping in till 11:00 or 11:30 each day) I like being able to play with all my friends in the neighborhood." Well isn't he going to have a rude awakening!!

being adjusted

 So it was time to go back to the orthodontist and have things adjusted and their colors on their braces changed. This appointment was a different one cause Bry got night gear! Something we have never had before. Not even Mac or I have ever had to have night gear! Anyway the appointment went well!

Kode choosing his colors.

He choose 3 different shades of green.

(that doesn't surprise me cause that's his favorite color) 

Then it was Bry's turn to choose 1 solid color! 

He choose red!

 Then it was time to be shown how this hole night gear thing was gonna work!

Bry is not so excited!

 And this is the new look for the next 6 weeks!

and this is Bry's new look for about a year. The night gear only has to be on at night while he sleeps. Which is very nice. I would hate for him to have to wear it all the time! So it shouldn't be so bad!

Anyway this appointment was a good one!

learning to sew in a different way

 The boys decided that they wanted to take another sewing class. So I signed them up for one at Jo~Anns. This class was a little different then the last sewing class they took. It was a hand sewing class. Not a machine sewing class. It was a great experience for the boys. (Now after taking that class I am confident that the boys know how to sew a button on their pants or shirt) I just love Jo~Anns. We have learned so much by taking these classes. Anyway here is how the class went!

First the boys had to choose their fabric and their thread!

Then it was time for them to choose their buttons!

Then it was time for the class!

 The kids made a fun decorative cup cake pillow!

(Actually this is not the class that I signed them up for but o'well we still made the best of it!)

 So the boys had to attach the pattern to their fabric that they choose! Then they had to cut it out and get it ready to sew together!

 Then it was time to sew the pieces together! Bry got a little help from dad. It was so nice to have Mac there. He was a huge help! 



 Then it was time to stuff the pillow! Bry said this was his favorite part!

Kode was just a pro at this sewing project!

And their finished product!!

Great Job Kode and Bry. You boys did an awesome job!! Your pillows turned out great!!

Golfing

 Not to long ago we took the kids mini golfing. We all had such a great time! It wasn't to hot but there were a lot of people so we had to wait our turn at each hole but we made the best of it!

Kode was first up! He did awesome golfing. He made a few holes in one.

We didn't keep score but if we did I am sure he would have beet all of us!

 

 Mac's turn

 

Kode again!

Kode went to hit his ball and hit it a little to hard and it rolled off of the green and right into the water. So him and Mac were fishing for it! It was kind of funny!!

 

Who's turn is it anyway??

Bry had to study how he was going to hit his ball before he started. He was a hoot!

 

Mac just made a hole in 1!!!

Anyway we all had a great time golfing!