First day of School 2016

7th Grade orientation (the day before school actually started)

The boys

7th Grade this year!

5th Grade!

3rd Grade!

Caleb's 12th Birthday

Opening Presents with cousins

 

 

 

 

 

Spencer loves his Uncle

This was a big birthday for Caleb this year.  He turned 12 and was ordained as a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood.  Grandpa Scholl, Aunt Laura, Uncle Wes, Aunt Becky, and his cousins were all here to celebrate with us. 

Flan for his birthday dessert

 The next Sunday he was able to collect fast offerings and then pass the sacrament in church.  He did a great job his first time, and you never would have know he hadn't done it before. 

Keith had fun with the boys

Friends at his Nerf War Party

 Caleb had his third, annual Nerf War for his birthday this year.  The boys all had fun with lots of space to run around at our Stake Center.  

Dollar bills still hooked together

Caleb enjoyed all the presents that his friends gave him.  He has a great group of friends.  Next year several of his friends will be going to different junior highs, so it was fun for him to have a party with the friends he's been in school with all throughout elementary school. 

Court of Honor

 Caleb had his first Board of Review tonight and went to his first Court of Honor.  He earned his Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and 1st Class.  We are so proud of all his hard work.  We're also grateful for his great leaders who have also worked hard to help him get to this point. 

 I sat next to the Cub master, who happens to also be the wife of Caleb's current scout leader, and she just couldn't stop talking about how great Caleb is, and that he is already showing his leadership. 

She sat in on the Board of Review and said that her husband was getting choked up as he introduced Caleb to the others in the room. 

First day of School 2015-2016

2nd Grade

My boys!

6th Grade

He's Four! 

My other two boys asked if they could skip the first day of school to stay home for their brother's birthday.  I am such a mean mom that I made them go to school. 

4th Grade

Trying to hide

She wouldn't stand on the porch for pictures, but I had to get her anyway. 

Summer sewing

Parker made a quilt and pillow

 We found this Scooby Doo sheet at DI for a dollar or two and I knew we had to get it.  We used some to make Spencer a Scooby Doo pillowcase.  Parker wanted a quilt made out of it.  He did almost all of the sewing, and I tied most of it.  We used an old navy blue sheet we had for the backing.  We almost made it into a quillow, but he decided he would rather have a pillow and quilt.  He sewed the pillow, and even hand-stitched the opening shut while we were at Alyssa's swim lessons. 

Caleb made a Nerf belt to hold his clips

Caleb used some webbing and black elastic to make this belt so that he can carry more ammo.  He added a carabiner on the side to hook it to his bandolier.  I guess sometimes when he has a Nerf war they can pick on accessory, so he wanted the bandolier and belt to count as one accessory.  Smart boy! 

It also holds the holster for his gun.  He has been working on this gun all summer.  He added the blue and orange barrel to the front of it. He attached a small bag to the side, to hold bullets, and a small light under the barrel.  He sure loves Nerf guns!  

Lemonade Stand

 Last week while the kids were playing with friends, they decided they really wanted to have a lemonade stand or bake sale, depending which one was doing the talking.  They got so excited and printed flyers to put up around the neighborhood.  They were a little disappointed when they had to take the flyers down and wait a few days for better weather.  So, this Tuesday they finally got to have their sales.  Most of the kids on the street came by, several times, to support them.  They even had a scout leader and some friends from school stop by.  They sold lemonade, limeade, Koolaid Jammers, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, ice cream bars, and ice cream sandwiches.  They had a great time planning this, and it was a big success! 

 They didn't want to do it together, so we had two different stands set up.  This might have worked in their favor because most people didn't just buy something from one stand, but visited both to be fair to them. 

Parker and Grant even had another friend come and help, and gave him some of the profits. 

Alyssa lost her first tooth

On Wednesday night Caleb was talking about his loose tooth.  On Thursday we were talking at lunch about how many teeth Caleb and Parker had lost.  Up to this point Alyssa had not lost any teeth yet.  Later that afternoon I was upstairs.  While I was there I heard Caleb yelling something, but couldn't tell what.  A minute later Alyssa was right outside my door talking about a lost tooth.  So, I asked if Caleb had lost a tooth.  She said Caleb didn't lose a tooth, she was the one who had lost a tooth.  She had already put it in a bag and had it under her pillow along with a note (because in the book "The Night Before the Tooth Fairy" the child writes a note to the tooth fairy).  She was so excited for the tooth fairy to come visit her, and happy this morning when she discovered the tooth fairy did come!

Later in the day Caleb came home from piano with a caramel and a Laffy Taffy.  While he was chewing them he asked me to grab him a bowl.  His tooth came out with the sticky treats!  So the tooth fairy visited two of my children last night. 

Boy Scouts

Here is Caleb the first night he went to 11 year old scouts.  He had scouts on a Wednesday night, and then on Friday he went on his first campout.  He kept saying he could hardly believe that he had only been to scouts once and then was going on a campout.  He was a little nervous, but mostly excited.  He went to Heber Valley Camp with all the scouts from our ward and had a blast.  They stayed in cabins and went sledding.  He came home exhausted and went straight to his room and slept for a while.  He has also helped to collect food for the Scouting for Food drive. 

Caleb's 11th Birthday Party

Enjoying Pizza

 Caleb had a Capture the Flag Nerf War Birthday Party this year.  He made headbands out of duct tape to divide the teams  (black or camouflage).

Guarding their base

 One team focused more on defending their flags, while the other team was more aggressive in trying to steal the flag.

On the run

 They ended up not only taking each other's flags, but shields and guns as well. 

 They had a great time running around and playing. 

Yummy!

 Alyssa just sat back and watched all these boys.  

The camo team convinced him to collect Nerf darts for them

 Spencer probably picked up the most darts of all the kids. 

Presents!

Caleb has a nice group of friends.  They sang Happy Birthday to him twice, once in French and once in English. 

Blue and Gold Banquet and Arrow of Light

 Last month at Pack Meeting Caleb earned his Arrow of Light!  We were so proud of him for all of his hard work to earn it.  The cub master had arranged for a special ceremony to present it to him.  This man asked Caleb a lot of questions, and Caleb did a great job.  He also built the bridge to pass from Cub Scouts onto Boy Scouts.  He had to know the Scout law because the planks on the bridge had the values of the scout law on them, and only fit the bridge if they are in the correct order.  It was a very special night for Caleb! 

With the new cub master Debby

Practicing knots

Parker earned his Wolf Badge!

First day of school for 2014-2015

 Alyssa is starting First Grade!
Her teacher called about 8 pm the first day just to tell me how great Alyssa did in class that day.  I was thrilled to know she did so well, and that her teacher would take the time to call us.  She is the most excited of all my kids to start school.  

 Parker is in Third Grade!

 Caleb is in Fifth Grade!

 Three kids in school all day!

Spencer and I went to the park for lunch since the kids were all gone.  He was excited to show me that he could climb on the playground. 

Piano mini-recital

Caleb started taking piano lessons from me in June 2013.  I taught him using the Piano Adventures books by Faber.  He completed the Primer level in March of this year.  We want him to continue with piano.   I gave him the choice if he wanted to keep taking from me, or have a real piano teacher.  He chose to go with the new teacher.  She lives at the top of our street so it is very convenient for him to just run up the street.  Most months his teacher has a mini-recital at an assisted living facility.  Here he is playing a grand piano.  He has great rhythm and is progressing very well.  Last year though he said he would only play until he was 14.  I think it would be great if he could stick with it at least that long.  Later in the year he said he wanted to stop at 10, but we are having him continue.  He says that he doesn't like to play the piano, but the other night when my brother was visiting he just kept finding songs to play for him.  One day we were riding in the car listening to a song by The Piano Guys, and he commented that the song was in 4/4 time.  Quite a few of his songs have duets, so he will ask me to play a duet with him.  It is things like that that keep me going when he is fighting me about practicing. 

End of the Year Programs - from May

 I was looking at photos tonight and realized I never blogged these photos from programs the kids had at the end of the school year.  For the Kindergarten program, Alyssa got to dress up however she wanted.  She told me she wanted to be a fairy, and a few days later we found this ladybug costume at a yard sale.  It was close enough for her.  Her teacher announced Alyssa, then she got to walk down the red carpet! 

 She did really well in kindergarten this year, and learned so much.  I was worried that she would not talk to the parent volunteers that came in to help, but she did great.  She is going to miss her teacher. 

 Parker did a great job performing in his program.  I always get kind of sentimental watching these programs because I am reminded that time marches on and my children just keep growing.  Parker has matured a lot this year, and has worked hard in school.  He has taken off with reading, and has read many chapter books this year. 

Caleb has been learning Utah history this year, which has been fun for me, too.  Since I went to 4th grade in a different state I never learned Utah history.  One of his projects was about Promontory Point, which he sings about in the video.  His French skills are improving tremendously.  It is amazing to go into the classroom, and observe him communicating in French.  He is a hard worker, and his teachers always compliment his ability to stay on task and do his work. 

Pinewood Derby 2014

Caleb with his Pinewood Skateboard

 Keith helped the boys with their pinewood derby vehicles again this year.  Caleb wanted a skateboard, which is funny because this is his 3rd, and probably last pinewood derby, but he never made a traditional car.  The first year he made a truck, then last year he had a big jeep. 

Parker showing off his 2nd place medal with his BYU car

 I wasn't able to go this year because Alyssa was sick that day, but Keith took all the boys.  Keith said that most of the cars were very fast this year.  Caleb didn't place as high as he has in previous years, but he showed great maturity and good sportsmanship.  We are proud of them and glad for the chance they had to work on them with Keith.  Parker was especially excited to get to make a car after watching Caleb the past two years. 

 

Caleb's skateboard was so light that they had to add a lot of weight to it to get it closer to the weight limit.  In this picture you can see all the weights on the bottom of it.  He still didn't have enough weight, so Caleb suggested they add screws to the top which made it look even more realistic as a skateboard.  Smart boy!