First Day of School - 2011

School started way too early this year. I was not ready to send my kids back to school. Ready or not, school did start and away my kids went.

My baby is in kindergarten. I'm a little sad about that.

The Princess is in 4th grade.

This clown is in 7th grade. Can I just point out how big his hands are? His hands and feet are bigger than his dad's. He's also nearly six inches taller than his mom.

This guy is too cool for my camera, a clear indication that he is a freshman in high school.

All together being crazy.

This photo is the perfect illustration of my two older boys. Tanner is hugging them all and Braxton wants no part of it.

I drove McKay to school and here he is at his table and ready to learn. I shed a few tears on the first day, even though I got to stay with him until the end of his first day (a whopping 40 minutes later). However, You should have seen me on the second day when he rode the bus with his big brothers and sister. I stood at the window and cried.

A lot.

Mother's Proudest Moment

Today our primary had a special guest. Sister Ginny U. Smith from the Primary General Board came to visit. I normally go to Sunday school, but because I had to make a stop in the library, I was late and classes had all started. I paused outside the primary door to check on my youngest and saw Sister Smith speaking to the children. I stayed to listen.

She spoke to the children for a few minutes about missionary work and then the sharing time focused on missionary work. She took a seat in an empty row just behind where I was sitting next to McKay. A member of our bishopric talked about his mission to Japan and then a sister in our ward talked to the children about her conversion at the age of 17. They were both outstanding in a room full of wiggly children. At one point, the sister asked the children who was going to grow up and be a missionary. Most of the children raised their hands with excitement.

That cute little boy who I was sitting next to said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Not me!" Then he turned to me and said, "Mom, I'm going to be a bus driver."

Broken Light Switch

McKay comes into the kitchen tonight and asks, "Dad, can you come turn my light on for me?" Randy says, "You can reach your light switch. Just go turn it on." McKay answers, "No, I can't, Dad. It's broken."

"What?" Randy says. "What do you mean it's broken?"

McKay replies, "Tanner shot it."

Tanner suddenly looks very sheepish, and says, "I shot it with my air soft pistol." I covered my mouth to hide my smile and then I had to try to quit laughing.

"I'm sorry," I said to Randy. "I know it's not funny, but it really is." Then I asked Tanner, "Whatever made you think that it was okay to shoot your pistol in the house?"

"Well," Tanner says, "I was trying to shut off the light without getting out of bed. It worked, but I didn't think it would break it."

I'm really laughing at this while Randy is trying to punish Tanner. "Go get me $10 out of your piggy bank," Randy tells Tanner. When Tanner has left the room, I say to Randy, "You're making him pay for the light switch as punishment, so no more being mean about it."

When Tanner comes back, Randy holds the money in his hand and tells Tanner, "When I was about your age, I kicked a Nerf football (**Randy wants you all to know it was a Nerf Football) in the house. It went right through the window."

(It was the the small one closest to the door. Who knew that I would have a picture of the house?)

Kilee asked, "Did you have to pay for it?" 

"No, I didn't." Randy said. Tanner started to smile. "And neither do you." And Randy gave the money back to Tanner.

The End.