Popcorn and Chats...

 Keeping up with our "simple" theme this year, our after school party consisted of popcorn, m&ms, and lots of talking.  A perfect recipe in my opinion.

I learned lots of things:
Scrambled eggs and an English muffin was a good breakfast to last until lunch because this year it was eaten before the kindergartners.  Joey, Maddox, Brea, and Braden took their reining spot as Champions on the soccer field.  Tomorrows outfit will be picked out tonight and draped over the bunk beds.  Mrs. Pedotto is hilarious, she read The Kissing Hand and passed out homemade cookies with a caramel Kiss on top. Specials is first thing in the mornings.  Music was good and a song was recited. Lots of stories are going to be read this year and even more written. This week will be different than all the rest of the weeks of school because of testing. A play date is in the works with Joey as Nathan has already talked to Mrs. Pelligrini all about it.  There was one other person that had the exact same green water bottle and tomorrow tennis shoes will be worn because it's PE. 

A very good day indeed!

2nd Grade

 I know moms are always saying this but seriously, "Where has the time Gone?"

I'm always a bit sad on the first day of school and may or may not cry when I get home and see I'm down to "one".  I always hope the summer went well and think of all the things I could of done a little better. 

I left the school feeling a little queezy but as I raced Kendall up the hill, I knew he would help me fill up the day.  I'm so thankful I have him.

We got lots done (Kendall did his job and kept me busy), took a nap, ate lunch, and got ready for our after school party.  I always do one because I think that helps ease the pain.  Plus, I'm DYING to know everything that happened!

I love this boy so much.

Shindiggy...

 Just one last Barbecue was in order before the official school year began.  We kicked it off with some football, a sweet munchkin, and coconut cream chocolate fondue:

• 1 15-ounce can sweetened cream of coconut or 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

• Assorted fresh fruit (such as whole strawberries, 1-inch-thick slices banana, 1-inch cubes peeled cored pineapple, and tangerine segments) and rice krispies

Combine sweetened cream of coconut and 12 ounces chocolate in heavy large saucepan. Stir mixture over very low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in whipping cream and extract. (Fondue can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover; store at room temperature. Stir over low heat to rewarm before serving.)

Mrs. Pedotto

 School supplies have been purchased and yummy apple hand soap ready to go to the mystery 2nd grade teacher....

We drove up to school together as a fam listening to Nathan and he chattered excitedly about meeting his new teacher and seeing who was going to be in his class.

He said he was excited to learn and read and get better at writing and MATH!

We saw the list and headed to his new room to meet... Mrs. Pedotto!  We instantly LOVED her!  Her bubbly personality and enthusiasm was exactly what Nathan needed.  He instantly felt comfortable and kept smiling at me.  He choose a seat next to two of his previous classmates, Cade and Alex.

We began with a tour and looked outside where he would be lining up.  I couldn't believe it!  A beautiful flower garden lined a path to the 2nd grade playground.  Yellow and purple flowers wafted a delicious "welcome back to school" smell.

We left the school with a grateful feeling and are excited for Nathan's 2nd grade chapter to begin....

Summer Olympics...Go USA!

What a FUN Summer Olympics! Our family thoroughly enjoyed these games!  We camped out on the living room floor and cheered our hearts out for the US!

There were so many highlights and sports we loved: The Fierce Five, Micheal Phelps, Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte, Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor to name a few.  Gymnastics, Trampoline, Water Polo, Track, Volleyball, Basketball, and Swimming were some our favorites.

Checking the medal status was part of the boys' daily routine:

                                Gold      Silver        Bronze                   Total

USA                         46            29              29                        104

China                       38            27              23                         88

Great Britain          29            17              19                         65

                                  

Favorite sport to watch:
Nathan:       Water Polo
Kendall:      Basketball, Volleyball, running races, and swimming

Favorite Athlete to watch:
Nathan:        Micheal Phelps
Kendall:       Michael Phelps and Gabbie Douglas

Highlight of the Games:
Nathan:       USA is tide with China (for Medals)!
Kendall:      The flipping contest and when USA got the Gold Medals!

What I want to remember:
Nathan:        Is we were having a good time
Kendall:       Watching the Olympics and getting excited for the swimmers

Goals that I want to accomplish:

Nathan:        I want to do Water Polo
Kendall:       Soccer, getting lots of goals

Olympic printables here and here.

Sweet with Chocolates...and Roses

 He makes me happy.

Best 11 years I've ever had.

I fell in love over a decade ago and it's crazy to me how much I adore this guy.  On our anniversary, as soon as I woke up, still in bed in our jammies, he read me a letter he wrote.

 It gave me the flutters.

Answers

 There were a series of inspired events that happened very quickly that led me to a Doctor.  A Doctor in Utah.

I had a series of tests ran here and all the results were faxed to him.

Justin got off work and was able to stay with the boys while my mom and I flew hanging by a thread of hope.

We arrived around the noon hour, and not being totally familiar with the streets of Salt Lake, we could see the temple and continued to go towards it.  It felt good to reach temple square and a feeling of peace and hunger swept over us.

We opted to go to the Lion House and had the best lunch.  It was healthy and gave us energy to continue.

The next morning, I was nervous.  What if the Doctor had no answers?  What if he could find nothing?

What came next was a miracle to me.  I sat in the Doctors office with my mom for nearly 4 hours as he poured out answers.

I feel so, so grateful to start my healing journey.  There are no coincidences in this life.

Encore!

 "I want to go in the tent with everybody again....for my birthday!" -Kendall 4 years old

"It's summertime, the best time of the year.  Cousins are visiting and so is GG.  And little Camryn is so cute. We all love being together.  And Mikey always says what I say." -Nathan age 7

Shirts!

 GG brought up a brilliant surprise in her suitcase this trip.  Shirts.  One for each caramel colored boy to decorate.

It was a hit!  They worked for hours tie dyeing them, creating little master pieces of color.

Water Ballooooooons!

 The summer wouldn't be complete until we had our annual cousin water balloon fight. 

The main objective? To soak Papa!

Mission completed!

 Tanner threw a water balloon at Doug.  To everyone's amazement...He caught it!  After that, everyone wanted to be on Doug's team...except Tanner.