More First Day of School Pics

     Somehow I didn't think to put these pictures on the first day of school post, but I decided they should be in the blog since I want them in my blog book.  So here are more pictures of August 24, 2010 first day of school.

Natalee's class started off the year with a long-term substitute named Mrs. Valiton.  She was fabulous and will be missed but it sounds like their new teacher is wonderful as well.  She starts tomorrow.

Mackenzie was very excited to start playing on the playground.

Haylee and Jenna Pennix

Natalee and Haylee.  This is Haylee's first year on the big kid playground.  Normally they don't use this playground until 3rd grade but because she's in a 2/3 combo, she gets to go on it early.  She likes it because they have a wall ball court and she is really enjoying wall ball.

Haylee, Grace, and Cheyenne

Natalee and Katie

Mackenzie and Joey

Mackenzie all lined up after the bell rang.

Mackenzie outside her classroom.

Smiles

     Nathan has been smiling for over a week now, but not often enough or easily enough for me to snap a good picture of him.  Today I finally got some good ones!  Nathan is 9 weeks and 1 day old today.

     Here are some other cute pictures of the girls.  Mackenzie doesn't beg to get her picture taken as much as the others.  I need to do a better job getting her in the pictures.  I don't have one of her this time.

     As you can see, I have no trouble at all getting pictures of Kelsey.  She likes to play with the camera lately and asks me to take pictures of her just for the heck of it sometimes.

First Day of School

School Girls, August 24, 2010

     Natalee is in 4th grade.  She is so excited because her two best friends are both in her class this year.  The school still needs to hire a 4th grade teacher.  The one we were going to have switched to another school at the last minute because we still have construction going on at the school and the construction smells were making her sick.  She's pregnant.  So we had no teacher to start out the school year and they have a long-term substitute instead.  It's too bad she's only a sub though.  The kids LOVE her!

     Haylee is in 2nd grade this year.  Because of the classroom sizes and the number of kids, Inyokern School doesn't have a straight 2nd grade class this year.  There's a 1/2 combo and a 2/3 combo.  Haylee is in the 2/3 combo.  Her teacher is also new to the school this year.  Her name is Amy Auld and she actually grew up here in Ridgecrest and graduated from Burroughs the same year I did.  Haylee really likes her teacher and is also very excited to be in the same class as her friends.

     Mackenzie started Kindergarten this year!  She did great.  She was a little nervous but she was also very excited.  There is only 1 kindergarten class so all of her friends are in her class, and she has a lot of friends her age already: Joey Cannon, Nathaniel Farrell, Vadie Grover, and Jasmine Mayhugh.  She did cry a little bit the first day during lunch.  But when I picked the kids up from school the second day, she said to me with a huge grin on her face, "Mom I had so much fun today, and I didn't even cry one bit!"  I just can't believe what a big girl she is.

     My mom came over the first day of school so that I could take the girls without Kelsey and Nathan.  That way I could stay with Mackenzie and follow her into her classroom and stuff.  And also be able to comfort her if necessary.  As we were getting ready to grab our last things and head out the door, Kelsey seemed to sense that she was getting left behind and started to whine a bit.  I told her, "I'm just taking them to school and I'll be right back."  A few minutes later Kelsey said, "I want to go to school."  She misses her big sisters some, but she sure enjoys getting to do what she wants and watch what she wants.  It's nice to have some one on one time with her when Nathan is sleeping.  Around 12:30 this afternoon, we were driving home from my friend's house and she said, "I want to go get Natalee."  So she definitely misses them and is happy when it's time to go pick them up.  I admit that I enjoy some quiet time too, but I'm always excited to go get them when it's time to pick them up.

     Here are some first day of school pictures:

Natalee with and without her book bag

Haylee

Mackenzie

Twins!

Natalee actually has a blue one just like it and so does Kelsey.  I thought it would be cute if they all matched.  But at the last minute Natalee decided it didn't feel grown up enough.  :(  She's getting too big too!

Mackenzie at her desk

Daren's Last Year in the 30's

Amy and Tim brought Wii Sports Resort when they came to visit and Daren LOVED it.  He decided that was what he wanted for his birthday.

     Daren turned 39 on August 16th and we had such a fun day!  Some years Daren has to work on his birthday.  It all depends when school starts.  But this year, school started late enough that he was still free and we got to spend the whole day with him.  Daren has been wanting to go to the fish hatchery north of Lone Pine so he decided his birthday would be a good time for that trip.  Plus, I had this weird idea in my head of what a fish hatchery was and I had no desire to go.  I couldn't tell him no on his birthday though.  And he was right-it was fantastic!  It is so pretty there and the kids were having such a wonderful time.  I definitely want to go back.  It had a small lake filled with trout.  There were so many that if you put your hand in the water, there was no way you weren't going to touch a fish.  They sold fish food that we bought for the girls to feed them.  It was fun to watch the little feeding frenzies when someone would throw a bunch into one spot.

     The hatchery building was a cute, old, stone building with a little gift shop and a short tour.  Although the tour wasn't long, it was still very enjoyable.  Inside we saw a ton of little baby fish (fry).  The guide let all of the kids take a pinch of crumbled fish food to feed to the fry.

     We finally needed to leave because we had to get to swim lessons.  We were already going to be late because the hatchery was a little further away than we had planned (about an extra half hour) and we didn't want to leave right after getting there.  While we were driving home, I got a call from Mat Krugman (their swim teacher) on my cell phone and he said we could come a different day so we didn't have to miss part of our lessons.  Since we had the extra time, Daren decided to turn up towards Kennedy Meadows and explore up there a little.  It was nice and we saw a deer, but unfortunately the girls and I were not prepared to be hiking.  Daren was the only one with hiking shoes and all of us girls had on either crocs or sandals.  So we didn't stay too long before we headed back home.

     We ended the day with a family dinner and cake and ice cream.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAREN!

Natalee feeding the fish

Mackenzie feeding the fish

Four cute girls

Haylee feeding the fry

Kelsey feeding the fish

Daddy and his girls

I think it's a rule in our family that we must take a picture by every horse we pass, real or fake.

Mackenzie made a new friend named Ella.  She still talks about her and tells us that she misses her.

Daren holding Nathan in front of the hatchery building.

Daren feeding the fish-not hitch hiking.

Me with the kids (minus Kelsey).

We almost had to go home when we realized that we forgot to bring a dog on a leash, but luckily Natalee realized this sign just meant if you did bring a dog it had to have a leash.  Phew!

Girls in the woods.  I just wish Mackenzie was looking.

Again, not all of them are looking, but I couldn't resist Natalee's pose in this picture.  It had to be posted!

They look higher than they really are.

He's 39, not 1, but I forgot to buy candles.

Girls Day Out

     Around the end of July, Ronelle and I made a plan to have the our older girls read the book 'Beezus and Ramona' and then as a reward, take them to go see the movie 'Ramona and Beezus.'  We each picked up a copy of the book at Wal-mart and got the girls started.  That very weekend, the movie left the Ridgecrest Cinemas.  So we had no choice but to do a super fun girls trip to Lancaster as soon as the movie got to the dollar theater.  We went on Wednesday, August 18.  We left about 9:30 a.m. so that we could make it to the 11:15 showing.  We drove in the Cannon's van.  Katie and Grace had decorated it just for the trip.  We got to Lancaster early so we stopped at the 99cent store for some snacks. 

     When we got to the theater, we had a wonderful surprise.  Megan Hall was there with her three kids.  They saw on facebook that we were going and Megan needed to pick some things up at Costco.  So they decided to hurry out and join us at the movie first.  The movie was very cute and the girls had a wonderful time.

     After the movie, the Hall's headed to Costco and we went to Michaels.  We spent too much time, but there aren't enough craft options in Ridgecrest so it was necessary.  I was looking for flowers and jewels to make flower clips for the girls' hair.  After Michaels we started looking for a place to eat.  The kids couldn't agree on anything.  We were shooting for fast food, but we realized we needed a variety of foods to satisfy everyone.  And as we drove by Chili's, we just couldn't resist.  I will say it is one of my favorite restaurants.  And again, there isn't one in Ridgecrest.  And I really didn't want to eat someplace that we could eat at in Ridgecrest.  We needed to take full advantage of our drive!  So we had a delicious lunch and headed back home.  It was so much fun and I hope we do it again sometime soon.

On our way!

The Ramona and Beezus-mobile (Ronelle told me she keeps forgetting to wash it and is driving it all over and getting lots of interesting comments!)

From left to right: Katie Hall, Katie Cannon, Natalee Hardy, Grace Cannon, Haylee Hardy

Chili's!

My Dream Compliment

     This evening I received the compliment of my life.  I was playing around with my photoshop elements today.  I wanted to make some birth announcements and I also needed an 8x10 picture to hang on the wall so Nathan could be part of the family.  Above are the 3 pictures I made and sent to Wal-mart.com to be printed up.  Around 4:30 p.m. I got a call from Wal-mart.  They asked me if I had a copyright release to bring in when I picked up the pictures.  I was so flattered.  I told them that I had taken the pictures myself.  They seemed surprised (more flattered!) so I explained how I used my mom's fancy Nikon SLR camera and large pieces of black and white cloth for the background.  They believed me.  When we picked up the pictures, I saw that they had written on the envelope that it needed the copyright release, but then they had scratched it out.  I used to always dream of being asked to produce the copyright release when I turned my pictures in.  It finally happened!

The envelope (I might laminate it!)

P.S.  Sadly the side of the color announcement got cut off a bit and the left side of the N is missing in that announcement.  So it looks like we named him 'Vathan.'  We weren't really planning on sending them out to everyone.  I thought I might stick them in thank you cards or something like that.  But those ones are pretty much ruined. :(

Happy 9th Birthday Natalee!

     I can hardly believe it's been 9 years since Natalee came to our family.  I remember so well how impatient we were to get her here and how those last two weeks felt like they dragged on forever.  We tried every suggestion people gave us to promote labor.  Well, not the castor oil one. Blech!  Finally she came two days after her due date: August 9, 2001; 6 lbs. 11 oz., 19.5 inches long.  Natalee has grown into such a beautiful, smart, talented girl.  She still LOVES horses.  I really enjoy attending activity days with her as part of my primary president responsibilities.  She has a very sensitive spirit and is developing her own testimony of the gospel.  We are so proud of her!

     For Natalee's birthday we did a family breakfast instead of dinner.  My mom and dad were taking Amy and Tim to Mike and Cindy's that afternoon since their flight to Virginia was very early the next mroning.  Natalee wanted scones for breakfast and boy were they yummy!  Good choice Natalee!  Age 9 is not a birthday party year for us, but Natalee wanted to do something fun so she chose swimming at Pinney Pool.  We let her invite her two best friends along but only Katie Cannon was able to make it.  We all had a great time swimming (except me, I sat with Nathan).  Natalee, Haylee, and Katie all passed the diving board test (swimming from one side of the pool to the other side) and so they were allowed to jump off the diving board, which they did many times.  The water there was 10 feet deep but they were brave and they did a great job swimming.

     After we finished at the pool, we went home for Natalee's birthday dinner.  Even though my mom had just made it for dinner the night before, Natalee wanted orange chicken for her birthday dinner.  It's her favorite.  Her cake was a little crazy.  I just do not have cake decorating skills but I can't bring myself to pay what it costs to buy a cutely decorated cake.  The girls seem to like animal cookies on their cakes and have picked that several times the last couple of years.  Throw in the blue frosting (blue is her favorite color) and some pink sprinkles, and she thought it was so beautiful.  I was just glad that she was happy.

     This reminds me of a funny thing Haylee said the night before Natalee's birthday.  Haylee has been very against orange chicken since the time we went to Knott's Berry Farm during Christmas break in 2008.  After we left we stopped at Panda Express for dinner.  Then on the way home, Haylee barfed.  So now she refuses to eat orange chicken even though the thing she ate that night was sweet and sour chicken.  She associates chinese food in general with throwing up.

     At my mom's house the night before Natalee's dinner, she was sulking because my mom made orange chicken and she knew that Natalee had chosen it for her birthday dinner the next night as well.  Also my mom had made a fruit salad with chopped apples, bananas, and oranges.  Haylee at the apples and bananas but was refusing to finish the oranges.  So I told her she had to sit there until the oranges were finished.  While she was sitting there picking at her food, Tim came over and talked to her.  He told me that Haylee said to him while she picked at her oranges, "If Natalee picks anything orange flavored for her birthday next year, I'm going to give her vomit for her birthday present."  It's really not a great attitude to have but it was pretty funny that she thought of it.  And she did manage to choke down her oranges and leave the table. :)

Playing some Guitar Hero.  She's getting very good.

Buttermilk scones with buttermilk honey butter for breakfast.  Yum!

Amy and Tim gave her a cute backpack and some money.  Natalee likes money!

Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt

Animal Ark book-Pony on the Porch

DS accesories that came with the DS when we ordered it.  She also got the game 'Style Savvy'

My parents were getting rid of this raquetball raquet.  It even came with a case.  I decided to regift it to Natalee since we didn't have much for her since her birthday budget was spent on the DS.  She likes going to play raquetball with Daren at the Kerr McGee Center.  We also gave her another Animal Ark book and a blue watch and she got $5 from Grandma Poetschlag.  While they were visiting, Grandma Bobbi took her to Wal-Mart and let her pick out a gift.  She picked a DVD of Hannah Montana episodes.

Kelsey and Mackenzie all ready to go to the pool

All the girls and Katie in the wading pool during adult swim

Natalee and Katie

Happy Birthday Natalee!

     Natalee really wanted Guitar Hero for her Nintendo DS for her birthday.  But since we spent her whole birthday budget getting her the DS (she also had to chip in $100 of her own money that she had saved), that wasn't going to happen.  She was starting to save her money for it.  It was $25 at Wal-Mart.  Sister Dutcher recently asked her to take care of her dog Raggles while she was gone and she stopped by the evening before she left, which happened to be Natalee's birthday.  She asked Natalee if she would like to be paid that day or when she got back.  Of course Natalee said that day.  Sister Dutcher paid her well-$35!  Natalee paid her tithing and asked to be taken to Wal-Mart immediately.  We went and she bought Guitar Hero for her DS with her own money.  The sweetest thing though, was that Thomas, Ronelle's brother, had heard her say earlier that day when they picked up Katie that her birthday was good but she was disappointed that she didn't get Guitar Hero for her DS.  So he ordered it for her online!  Now, Thomas is a 19 year old boy.  How many 19 year old boys even think of getting a birthday gift for a 9 year old kid.  He was disappointed when he heard she had bought if for herself and told her that it was already in the mail.  But it turned out that it was a different version of Guitar Hero so it worked out after all.  Ever since he brought it by after it came in the mail, it's the only one I've seen her play.  It has some really good songs on it.  Anyway, I was just really touched by Thomas' kindness to her and had to share that.