New School Year

Another summer bites the dust.  We had a great one, but everyone was pretty excited to start school around here.

 Rachel started 3rd grade without a hitch and loves her new teachers.

 Ian was SO excited about kindergarten.  He did such a great job the first day (only an hour with parents) and cracked everyone up when he asked his teacher if the raccoon puppet was nocturnal and then proceeded to give her the definition, "nocturnal is when an animal sleeps during the day and is up at night.  You know, like bats and owls."  So funny and we hope he doesn't drive his teachers batty with all of his cute questions.

 Look at that adoring little sister.  Grade 3 and "Grade 0".

 His Chinese teacher clicking his picture.

 Getting introduced in his English class.

 After school the great Katie Kjar took these cuties out for milkshakes to celebrate the first day.  Rachel is loving carpooling with these two gals.

 After school wound down on the first day we thought we'd celebrate Josie's 4th birthday.  She is such a funny, unique, spunky, and sweet girl and we can't believe she's already 4.

Some Josie 4-year-old facts:
She is still very petite - only 25 lbs.
She loves to sing and dance.
She is good to try pretty much any food, but eats meat very sparingly and hardly drinks milk.  Her favorite foods are apples, cheese, eggs, cliff bars, and treats.
She is such a great big sister and is always paying attention to Andy.  She loves playing with her Rachel and Ian too and has a hard time ever leaving them alone.
She loves to help people with projects and has a great attention span.
She loves book and likes listen to Beatrix Potter, Fancy Nancy, Audrey Wood books.  She loves going to the library and playing library when she gets home.
Her favorite movies right now are Brave and the Little Mermaid.
She has a contagious smile and wins people over very quickly.
She can keep a straight face better than anyone when we're trying to play the "don't laugh" game.
Such has a big, strong personality in that little frame and we love our Josie so much.

One of the things she wanted to do to celebrate was to visit the SLC Library.  We'd read about this huge mobile (of butterflies and books that looks like a face) in an advanced version of one of Elaine Vickers' book and the kids have been excited to see it ever since.  The fun glass elevators also didn't disappoint.

 We then headed to California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate our little miss.

 Ian's first full day was Thursday and Bridget went to be one of the helping parents for their first time at lunch.  Our boy was just fine with the line, picked a little at his food, and loved his chocolate milk.  He is a happy camper.

Grandma took our big boy out to pick out a new kindergarten outfit.  He came back with this stylin' ensemble.

 Justin's theater group had a fun reading of "As You Like It."  It was a fun turnout and a great way to enjoy the end of summer weather.

 Our little Italian soda bar was delicious.

 Megan put together this little collage of the evening.

 Andy loves to get into pretty much everything these days.  Poor kid sometimes gets himself stuck.

Even with school there is plenty of time to make messes.  These two crazies made a little much pit in a place where Justin had removed part of the deck.

They also still have time for sweet things like this.  We hope that everyone is having a great school year so far!