Eden's first day of 7th grade!

Asher's first day of school

This boy has had such a great summer, but unfortunately it has to end.  

First day of 3rd grade.  Mrs. Sherman/Ren Chinese immersion

Journals

I have spent the last month or so typing up some of my Grandmother's journals.  I have loved living her life with her through her words.  I just finished a journal that she kept while traveling all over Europe: Greece, Italy, Pompeii (wherever Pompeii is), Germany, Scotland, England, France.  They spent about 30 days on this tour..WOW!! During the hours and hours of typing I have been overwhelmed with the thoughts that I need to be better at record keeping and journaling.  Someday I may have a grand-daughter reading through my words and hopefully they will be words of encouragement and inspiration that my Grandma Lucille's words have been for me.  I have to remind myself that every entry does not need to be elaborate and full of detail.  One entry of my grandmother's was :

"I went shopping & bought me a new dress at Ross's.  Also hose & groceries" - Wednesday May 13, 1987

hahaha, I love it!  So I am off today to buy a small pocket calendar so I can start my journaling (which is what my Grandma used), and I truly want to record my journal entries each week here on my blog, because every time I open up my blog my heart swells with love and pride.  I love seeing everything in the past that has happened to my family :)

Eden is 12

Easiest Birthday party ever!!

 Trip to the Pie Pizzeria. Write on the walls (it's tradition). Be silly (of course, they are 12)

 Mall Scavenger hunt.  Be silly again.  Eat cake and open presents in the food court.  Done. 

So Easy!!

Presents for Eden: Her party :) and clothes, make-up, shoes, and decorated her room.

School's Out Scream and Shout

It has already started. This morning the smell of sunscreen was in the air and the endless chatter of Disney channel shows echoed through the house. Bikes were being washed, tires were being inflated, and the day was being planned.  All of this was done by 8:20 and they still had 4 more hours of school to attend before calling it quits for 2 months.  It's a bitter sweet day for me.  No more sack lunches to prepare, no more planners to sign, class websites can be un-bookmarked off of our computer, no more alarm clocks, no more book reports or Chinese flashcards and no more harassing about daily homework.  At the end of all that comes questioning that chores are done, endless bickering, constant messes, constant choas, incessant pleas to go to the pool, "I'm hungry", "none of my friends are home" and let's not forget those dreaded words "I'm bored" (like nails on a chalk board I tell ya).  But despite all this, my goal is to enjoy it.  I watched several kids from our neighborhood graduate this week. These are kids that when we moved into this neighborhood were the same age as my Asher right now. Now they are graduating and preparing to leave home for college and missions.  That time went so fast, and my kids will grow and be leaving just as fast.  So this summer I want to hug them a little tighter and enjoy their noise a little more because it will all end a little (a lot) too soon. And this post is for me to read when the days are a little too long and little too tiring. I love my kids!!

buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

Asher had his first season of baseball and absolutely loved it.  He rocked it too.  The first half of the season was machine pitch and he had several double hitters and of course became the rockstar of his team. second half of the season was kid pitch and that became a little more difficult, but he didn't give up even though he didn't hit one ball :( It is so hard to know if the ball is in the strike zone or not! But because it's kid pitch he was able to make it to base many times he just had to suffer being hit with the ball.  His team, the Giants, were 3rd in their league and will get a trophy so Asher is all smiles about that. Who doesn't want a trophy?

(2nd base)

But something other than the trophy gave him an even bigger smile......His coach asked him if he could put his name in to play on the AllStars team!! We aren't sure what that means or entails, but Asher thinks that it's pretty exciting.

(coach asking him to play allstars)

The coach told us that Asher was his favorite player on the team "the kid has heart".  ahhh just what a mom wants to hear.  We love our boy.

You see that he is number 1?? it's not because he was the best player, it's because he was the absolute smallest on the team :) the smallest jersey is number 1, he was also the youngest. Go ASHER!

Someone had a birthday........

.....Shout Hooray!  Little Miss Ainsley turned 4 on Sunday.  Can I just say that I love that this little girl came to our family.  She is so full of energy, which on somedays is a little exhausting and frustrating, but I wouldn't want her any other way. She is so kind to everyone and loves to do nice things for people, she says she "loves to make people's hearts feel happy".

Ainsley loves her friends!  She asks everyday to have a friend over.  Some of her friends right now are Sicily, Kai, Isabella, Rachel, Annie, Kika, and Aubrey. Her friends also include some of my friends and their teenage daughters.  She adores Miss Barbie and Miss Alyson and it is common to find her giving them hugs and asking if she can come play at their house.  Miss Barbie's daughter Elsa is also one of Ainsley's favorite buddies.  

  I love her smile and she is generous in sharing it.  She is so sweet to her Brother and Sister, just yesterday at Asher's baseball she yelled out to 2nd base from the bleachers and said "just do your best Asher".  It was so cute to hear her little voice call out and for him to glance over at her and give her a tender smile.  Eden and Ainsley are perfect sister together, they do nails and play, Ainsley is always telling Eden she is pretty and Eden is always asking for hugs and kisses.  

When we asked Ainsley what she wanted for her birthday she would always respond "everything! everything that's good and girlie". I loved it! And little Ainsley, WE LOVE YOU! Happy Birthday!!