Labor Day

On Labor Day, we went down to Dorothy and Jack's to have lunch with the fam. 

 They are growing some colossal cabbages-- Cassie put her hand on one of the heads for size comparison.

 I tried to get some photos of the family as a stealth photographer.

Nancy 

 Jack had just finished firing a bunch of pottery, and Eli and Benjy's creations that they made with my mom in June were in the kiln. They were both excited to get their bowls back, even though you can't tell it from Eli's expression. ;)

Grandma and Dorothy

 The boys had fun riding the mega zipline.

 Uncle Dan

 Jack and Dan

School Continued, Remembering Ben, Fort Collins Temple

A couple weeks ago on Monday I had my 20 week appointment. They did the full anatomy ultrasound, and we're very happy that the baby is growing well and everything seems to be normal. It was hard to stay strong and not find out the gender! We're going to let it be a surprise this time.

School is getting better for Benjy each week. He cried less in the morning the third week, although one day he had a complete breakdown and did not want to go to school at all. I had to persuade him by letting him buy hot lunch that day, which he had been wanting to try. Three dollars was worth it for him to have a good day at school! Eli started doing some testing so his teacher could figure out where to put him for math. I had told her that he had already done second grade math, and I think she could definitely tell he was bored with what the class was working on. Eli was a little anxious about it and kept asking if he was going to get kicked out of school if he did poorly on the tests. Both his teacher and I explained multiple times that he most certainly would not!

My mom's cousin Nancy, whom I stayed with for a month in France when I was in high school and who now lives in Colorado, recently experienced the death of her stepson Ben. Her husband Kevin has three sons by his previous marriage, and Ben is the youngest. Together, Nancy, Kevin, Ben, and his girlfriend Emily opened the City Stacks bookstore three years ago and have been running it together. Ben passed away from liver failure a couple weeks ago. On Friday, we got to attend a memorial gathering at City Stacks to remember Ben. 

That same weekend Justin, the kids, and I got to attend the Fort Collins Temple open house. This was my first time attending a temple open house and it was amazing. It was such a wonderful experience to go through that beautiful building as a whole family, since the kids don't get to go inside the temple once it's dedicated. They really were in awe of it (at least the boys) and Eli wished there were even more rooms to see. We got to take some family pictures outside the temple after our tour.

Some random photos:

 This was one of the boys' after-school diversions: sucking the squishy interior out of grapes and blowing up the skins into grape balloons.

The kids like to make forts using all of the couch cushions upstairs. 

Benjy wrote me this note one day. It says, "Dear Mommy, I tasted a bug. Unfortunately, it tasted bad." (I had to ask him to translate it for me).

 Eli wrote this on our driveway because he said he was trying to show Justin how the letters formed "I am Lord Voldemort." Anyone familiar with Harry Potter who happened to be walking by might have thought it a rather sinister message!

 Little miss Emmeline Rose.

Cuties, all.

Second Week of School

Benjy did so great on his first day of school... it was a little downhill after that. The next day, he cried when I dropped him off and wanted me to stay with him. I reassured him that I would be there to pick him up right when school got out, and he went into his class bravely, wiping his tears. It broke my heart a little bit. :(

The next week was not much better. Every morning we had a little breakdown at the door. Benjy says that school is so long and that he has to watch the hand on the clock go around seven times. His teacher says that he asked her every hour when it was time to go home for the first few days. Gradually that has gotten less and less. He also says that he misses me and wants to stay home. It hurts my heart when he says that, but I know that he would be bored at home and will get through this tough transition period.

On Friday, though, the kids had the day off except for a brief testing period they had to do. After both Eli and Benjy were done with their testing, we headed off to the zoo for some fun. The kids needed a reward for surviving their (almost) first full week.

First Week of School

The kids started at their new school, Hackberry Hill, on August 18th. They started on a Thursday, so we had a few days that week to have a last summer "hurrah" before school. Monday we went to Big Time Fun trampoline center, Tuesday we had some playdates, and Wednesday Justin joined us for a day of swimming at the Bay. 

Justin was out of town Monday and Tuesday doing training in Salt Lake. He took an awesome picture of the temple.

 Tuesday night we went to the kids' school to meet their teachers and drop off school supplies. Benjy's kindergarten teacher's name is Mrs. Erwin, and Eli's 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Feely. 

Benjy's classroom has a cool teepee inside.

 On the first day of school, the boys were rarin' to go. 

 I got a picture of Eli outside his classroom waiting to go inside with the other kids.

I didn't get a picture of Benjy outside his classroom because, after dropping Eli off at his class, Benjy was so anxious to get to his class that he ran right into the classroom. I had to go in after him to give him his backpack! The boys both had a good first day and said that they liked their teachers.

Friday was hard for me because I missed the boys so much. It's just not the same during the day without them. :( I loved summer and having us all together. Emme and I went to the zoo to distract us from our sorrows. ;)