Preschool

It was my week to teach preschool. We usually have school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Because of Labor Day, I was supposed to teach Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Gavin stayed home from school on Tuesday, so I had to cancelled preschool. I ended up teaching Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was a little rough teaching three days in a row and my house was a disaster after it was all over, but I survived it. I put a lot of effort into my lessons and they went really well. We have a great group of kids; Ainsley, Claire, Camie, Daxton, Cameron, Syndey, and Renée. Carter get to participate on the weeks school is at our house. I am very grateful that I don't have to teach every week this year.

Tiffany in 3-D!

Hi everyone. This is Sam sneaking an entry on Tiffany's blog. As she probably posted, we went on a date to the Botanical Gardens last weekend. She took tons of beautiful pictures, and I tried my hand at it as well. But as usual, I took a more technical, less artistic, slant. So here's what I came up with: Tiff in 3D! Look at the picture cross-eyed so there are three pictures instead of two. The middle one will be in 3D. It takes some practice to "learn" how to look at it, but once you have it down, it's easy. The picture will have realistic depth, sharp detail, and stunning color. Hey, it’s almost like being there.

Labor Day

“It is no fun being sick on Labor Day. I wanted to build things.” – Gavin who is feeling much better today.

NRH2O

The NRH2O season has come to an end. We sure enjoy going there and always feel that we got our moneys worth of fun out of our season passes. On our last day there the weather was overcast so there weren’t very many people there. We got to ride the waterslides, over and over, because there weren’t any slides. I could hardly walk the next day after running up so many stairs, but at least we ended the season with a bang.

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

Sam and I spent our weekly date at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. It was our first time there and we had a great time taking pictures and walking around. Sam is become a pretty good photographer when I sent everything up on the camera for him. We spent most of our time in the Japanese Gardens and they were beautiful. While we were there a couple asked me if I would take their picture. I agreed and when I was about to take the picture, the man turned to the woman, he got down on one knee and proposed. It was really fun to watch and brought back all my memories of when Sam proposed.

Bicycle Built for Two

Sam found this hitchhiker bike for Renée on craigslist. She was riding in the bike trailer with Carter and she was thrilled with the new set up. I especially enjoy the outfit she chose for her new bikes maiden voyage.

First Day of Preschool

I am no longer teaching preschool, so Renée gets to be taught by someone other than me. We are in a preschool co-op. There are seven kids and each of the moms takes turns teaching. We use the Funsteps program so it isn’t too much prep work. Renée already loves it.

Jenne'

My sister Jenné came and visited for a few days on her way back to BYU. We went to IKEA and to the Water Gardens. I also took her to get new running shoes. We spent a lot of time at the pool and played domino train more than I care to admit. Nick was nice enough to watch all the kids so Alycia, Jenné and I could go out for Mexican food together.

Marriage

Gavin told me that his friend Sydney asked him to marry her on the second day of school. They are in the same church class and sit next to each other at school. I asked him what he said and he said, “sure.” He was going to marry our neighbor, Paige, but Gavin explained to me that Paige has brown hair and he wants his kids to have blond hair like him and Sydney. My biology teacher dad is going to be proud that Gavin already know about dominant and recessive traits.

First Day at TCU

Sam started school the same day as Gavin. He wouldn’t let me take his picture in from of the house with his backpack on, but I did coerce him into letting me take this one. Each student is given a name plate to keep on their desks so the professors don’t have to learn their names. I found that amusing.

First Day of 1st Grade

Gavin started school the day after we got home from vacation. He was so excited that he didn’t have any problems getting up even though we got him to bed late. We let Gavin chose any sneakers he wants and this year he chose Sketchers Hot Lights, that light up all over the shoe when he walks. He is very proud of them. He has a Transformers lunch box and a G.I.Joe backpack, which also lights up. Gavin has Mrs. Barkman and he says she is just as nice as Mrs. Logsdon his Kindergarten teacher. This year Blake is at his school, so they see each other at recess.

Sea World

Part Two of our summer vacation was at Sea World. We rented a four bedroom house in San Antonio and we had plenty of room to spread out. We were there from August 19^th to the 24^th and spent every day at Sea World. The part wasn’t very busy on Thursday and Friday. We think it was because school was starting on Monday. We were able to walk right onto rides with little or no wait and we got to feed the dolphins again. We traded off kids with the Collingwoods so we could each go on the roller coasters. The waterpark was open and it was so nice to cool off. We would spend about half our time in the waterpark and the rest in the regular park. Sam took Renée and Gavin into the spash zone at the Shamu show. It only took one splash and they were running back up to our seats. Renée was chosen to participate in the pirate show. Her pirate name is Patches. Two of the evenings we were in San Antonio, we traded off babysitting. Sam and I were able to go to the river walk and eat dinner. This was our first time there without our children, and it was much more relaxing. On our way home we stopped in Austin to visit Sam’s brother’s family. The kids enjoyed seeing there cousins again.