The first day of school

I don't know what the deal is but I think that all of the kids are ready to head back to school by the end of the summer...at least Heather and I are beyond ready to send them all back and have an actual schedule. I think that Kate and Chloe were the only ones who were truly excited to go to school this year. Chloe was so anxious to jump into Junior High and Kate couldn't wait to go to first grade with Mrs. Ortgiesen who all of our kids have had for first grade. Heather walked Kate to school and Kate kept saying "you don't have to take me in, I can do it." Kate even told Heather that she should probably leave after she tried to help put her backpack in the right place and help her find her desk. Kate was totally fine going to first grade...Heather didn't like it one bit.

Liam and Kate heading off to school. I don't worry much about Kate at school since she's got a very protective brother that could take care of business if needed.

Eli and Chloe actually both look happy about school but don't let Eli's goofy grin fool you.

Harley was pretty bummed out that all of the kids were gone.

Kate doesn't show much mental "wear & tear" in this picture since it's the first day of school but by the time Friday rolled around, she woke up in the morning and just started crying "I don't want to go back...school is soooo long". I'd have to agree somewhat with that statement since it really is quite long for a 6 year old to be in school for 7 hours a day. Kate has definitely been the challenge with the school schedule. I've mentioned it before but she's like a teenager in that she loves to stay up late and sleep in as long as possible. The transition has been a little rough to get her to bed early enough to wake up for school. It's like a circus act at our house every morning getting lunches ready, hair done, getting dressed, bags packed and headed out the door before the bell rings. "C'mon Kate" is a common phrase you hear from Liam as he waits for his slow poke sister so they can walk to school. We're hoping it gets easier for her....we shall see.

Goofin off on a Saturday morning

The kids love Saturday mornings-especially Liam and Kate. Finally...no school until Monday, a chance to sleep in a little bit later than usual and of course,... time to goof off. They love the preschool room on the weekends too-it's one gigantic playroom. Here's Liam as the baker inviting you to come grab something to eat.

Here's a close up of his sign:

Kate is running "Bukoos" store and ...of course she needs to talk on the phone while working.

I love this sign that Liam made for the Bukoos store...especially the slogan: "you've never sopped like this befor"

I love Saturday mornings myself, mostly because it's really the only morning in the week where we can spend more time making breakfast. The kids love it when we throw something like these breakfast tacos together with fresh fruit.

I'm getting hungry just posting these pictures

Chloe turns 12!

Yikes! Chloe turned 12 on her birthday and I'm feeling the pain-pain of my oldest daughter turning into a young woman & the pain of realizing that I must be getting old...well,...at least "older". Heather and I feel as if life is now in fast forward and we're trying so hard to slow it down. When the kids were small it felt like walking in really thick mud-like life would always be like that. Now that the kids are older and much more self-reliant, life is just speeding by. I guess we just need to make the most out of everything while they're all still around. Clayton is foaming at the mouth wanting to be living on his own and he's still miffed at Heather and I because we held him back a year when we put him in 1st grade. Now some of his friends have graduated and he's left behind to attend yet another year of High School. Enough about Clayton, this is about Chloe.

This captures the sheer surprise of the cake topper that Chloe fell in love with.

She's giving it a thorough examination

Here's another close up view of the hand made ballerina "doll" made just for Chloe.

Seriously Eli? He is definitely my kid-Just ask my family because I'm sure that I have about 782 pictures of me as a kid doing this same pose.



Happy Birthday Chloe!

The Reunion

Once every couple of years we have a family reunion in Mount Baldy, California. Everyone looks forward to this time to hang out at Grandma Cottrell's house, play with endless amounts of cousins, eat like crazy and do some really fun things together. Here's a shot of most all of the cousins hangin' out by the pool at the cabins where we stayed in Baldy. They spent a lot of time playing there in the few days we had together.

Ciera and Chloe heading out on Lake Mission Viejo the day we arrived. The kids love this place, it's just down the street from Eric and Jenny's house...how lucky.



The girls had a blast together.



Here's the big rock the kids love to climb on at Grandma Cottrell's house down by the campsite.



Gathering to eat was one of my favorite times for sure. Here we are at Grandma's house just getting started.



Next we headed up the mountain to the trout fishing pond...yeah, kind of cheating on "fishing" but the kids had a blast. The only downside is that they charge by the size of the fish so we were kinda hoping for the smaller sizes to happen...not so much, everyone was pulling out 14" to 18" big boys. It was an expensive day.



Liam was getting prepped to fish.



We just watched the kids have fun.



Eli getting things ready.



Oh, yeah.



Liam's prize

I had to capture a shot of the camera crew that was standing by for all of the action.

You have to squint a little bit with this shot to see the plethora of trout-wow.

We headed to Crystal Cove beach on the only day it was overcast and had a high of about 54 degrees...in the middle of July. As soon as we were driving away to come home that day, the sun finally appeared. Go figure.

Well, when the water's a bit too cold to get into you might as well bury someone. Here's Jake taking it like a man.

We spent most the day creating sand creatures. Here's our alligator we were working on.

Here's a sand crab that suddenly appeared when we were burying Shannon.

Million dollar smile

Eli's sea turtle

Eli finishes up the alligator...

Then he starts looking for the weight room...heh, heh.

Brothers

Spencer liked hanging out with Eli quite a bit-they became good buddies.

The Beach Boys

The day we left to come home, Daren busted out the motorcycle and gave rides to all the kids. Kate is still talking about that ride Daren. I love this picture.

I can almost hear what Liam is thinking here: "one day..."

Another priceless photo.

We are looking forward to the next reunion in 2 years-we have so many great memories from this trip. Thanks to Dad, Mom and Grandma Cottrell for making it happen-we love you!

The Cabin

The cabin...a retreat we love to get away to as much as possible as a family. Unfortunately it only happens a few times a year. It is located in Island Park, Idaho which is approximately 5 hours away from home. Remote? Yes. Running water? No. Even though there is an outhouse for the bathroom, we love every minute of it.

Liam loves to bring his "toys" to ride around on. Kate's quickly becoming a big fan too.

Kate loves to roast "smarshmellows"



Here's Eli at the mill pond doing what he does best...catching frogs.

A broader view of the mill pond and there's some of the kids off in the distance beginning their hunt for frogs.

Liam was really determined this trip to catch some fish. Honestly, the mill pond is probably the least likely location to be catching any fish...but it's fun anyway.

I'm not sure how Kate does it but take a look at her feet! Let's zoom in on the next pic to see a close-up.

YIKES!!!

Liam and Sam killing some time stacking cards

The cabin trip is one of the few times of the year that all of the games get broken out-this one became a quick favorite...Ligretto

Time for tye-dye t shirts. Here's the "before" shot.

A little help from Mom

It's kind of a weird process for tye dyeing: Just grab your white t shirt, wrap it up with rubber bands in several spots and spray it with random colors of dye.

Voila! The finished product turns out pretty dang cool.

...even for the newest member of the family. Here's Kirk, Ellie and Andrew and their new baby boy "Will".

Looks like someone's had a little experience.

Like I mentioned, Liam was bound and determined to have this trip be all about the fishing. He spent about 3 weeks prior, arranging and prepping his tackle box. We surprised him with a new pole and fishing vest for a pre-birthday present. He looks like a seasoned fisherman in this pic.

These pictures are the day that just Liam and I went down to the "Coffee Pots" fishing hole. It was so much fun watching Liam enjoy every part of the process. Within about 10 minutes he had his first bite.

I think I'm going to get this picture blown up to be a mural on one of our big walls....he couldn't be happier. This shot is priceless.

He could have stayed all day long.

We fished for about 3 hours that morning. Don't you love the shot here? Nice fishing chair, oh, and gotta love the bright red athletic pants, eh?

Wrapping up the fishing trip

Harley cooling down in the grass.

The Cheney family left a little early but Casey and Emma stayed with us for more fun.

This was a contest to see who could stay in the freezing water the longest....I believe it was a tie between Eli and Casey.

We announced that we would buy a treat for anyone who dunked their head under the water. Liam was the first to do it-he was so excited about the contest that he forgot to take his shirt off first.

Here's a huge toad that the kids found by the water.

They thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen.

Liam wanted to try his hand at some photography for a while so we let him take the camera for a bit.

Playin' around

This was the night before we had to come home. All of the kids had begged to go fishing just one more time, including Kate. Here we are on the path to the "Coffee Pots" again.

A happy fisher girl

Eli was diggin' it too.

Chloe had a good attitude for fishing even though she got a couple of bites but no catches.

Both Liam and Kate got a kick out of removing the hook from the fish and also "cleaning" the fish. Kate would poke the fish's eyeballs out while Liam would slice up it's belly. It was pretty gross to watch but they would just laugh and laugh (along with the "ewwwww sick"! every once in a while).

Here's the kids on the famous "Castle Rock" by the cabin just before we came home. Nothing really famous about it other than it's the biggest rock around the place to hang out on that the kids have played on since they were toddlers.

After dropping the Cheney girls off at their house, Eli wanted to see what it might be like to travel around inside the food cooler. We were all too warn out to care much at that point. It was a great trip with many, many great memories for all of us...can't wait to go back.