The end of our summer

Our summer has come to an end. It was a crazy one. I'm exhausted but we had a lot of fun. Our weeks were pretty much the same every week but the kids loved the daily activities. Mondays Cole had gymnastics. Tuesdays was arts and crafts day at the library. Wednesday was summer movies and Grant's gymnastics. Thursdays there was a performance of some kind at the library. Fridays we had story time at the library. I don't know if you detected a theme but in case you didn't, it's the library. It is our saving grace every summer, providing much needed activities in a town that is severely lacking. About half way through the summer, we were introduced to the free lunches at the YMCA. We spent many lunchtimes at the Y park with our friends, enjoying the free lunches. We didn't do a lot of traveling this summer because of Tyler but we had plenty of excitement. Grant also discovered video games this summer. He loves the Wii. This summer he was allowed to play video games each day if he played outside and took a nap. I loved that all my kids took naps everyday. It saved me.

This is Cole and Grant with their library craft day creations.

We also spent some time playing at the mall play area. The boys love that place and always manage to find other kids to run around and play tigers or hide and seek with.
We continued to have swimming lessons every Tuesday and Thursday night. Cole was able to start swimming lessons in August. His class was just him and a little boy named Evan he's become friends with through YMCA activities since we moved here. Cole loves his class. Whenever I remind him about swimming lessons, he always says, "I have a teacher." He does everything she says. Grant is in the Guppy class, the second to last level for swimming lessons. He is the only five year old in a class of eight and nine year olds. He holds his own quite well in that class.

This is cute Tyler.


For Family Home Evening a few weeks ago we did our annual pot gardening planting. We can't have a real garden because we don't have a fence and the javelina just eat what we plant. We buy a few plants and herbs and plant them in pots instead. The boys love getting dirty putting the dirt in the pots and reminding me to water them. They also enjoy eating the fruits of our labor. We have planted tomatoes, jalapeno, green pepper and an herb garden. Tyler enjoyed hanging out in his car seat, watching the action. Next summer will be fun watching our little on year old Tyler throw dirt into the pots.

From July 26-29, we had our first visit from Steve, Alisha and their kids. It was fun but far too short. They arrived late Tuesday night. Wednesday, Steve took the kids to Sedona for some hiking and Slide Rock. Alisha stayed with me so we went shopping downtown and had some lunch. Thursday, Chad took everyone to the Grand Canyon. I stayed home with Cole and Tyler.




The biggest event of late is Grant starting kindergarten. Grant started kindergarten on July 25 at Sky View Charter School. It's a great school. There are only 14 kids in his class. He has two teachers in the classroom. It relies heavily on parent involvement. They teach by projects with lots of art, music and dance. Grant started school the same week the Siebers came for a visit. Grant did really well starting school for the first three days. However, by day four he was done. He was exhausted from playing with his cousins too late. After a meltdown at school, I let Grant come home so he could go to the Grand Canyon with Chad. It has taken a couple of days but Grant has settled in and is starting to enjoy school. Yesterday, Grant was Key Keeper. He was the child who opened the day, chose the morning dance and did all of the other morning routine.
Each day, we have to walk Grant into his classroom every morning and pick him up at his classroom door every afternoon. When we arrive, he takes out his lunch and puts it on the shelf, hangs his backpack on the hook, puts his water bottle in his cubby and his reading folder at his seat. He takes off his shoes and put on his special school socks (Phineas and Ferb socks). We then sit on the floor and play puzzles until school starts. Cole loves to go with Grant in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. I always try to get to the school early each afternoon so that Cole can play on the playground.