Awesome Aunt Sherri

My sister Sherri is a very caring and loving Aunt. She does the cutest things for her nieces and nephews. She thinks of really cute things to do for holidays or big occasions. Starting school was no exception. I forgot to add this to the back to school post so I am doing it now. Last Saturday Sherri brought over some treats for the kids with some really cute sayings like:

Have fun playing at recess (Recess peant butter cups)
Good luck on pop quizzes (A 2 liter of Root Beer)
Have a Whopper of a year (Whoppers)
Say here when roll is called. (Tootsie Rolls)
Remember to dot your i's and cross your t's (package of dots)
Enjoy learning about animals (Circus animal cookies)

We all thought it was cute and we have enjoyed the treats. THANKS AUNT SHERRI!!!

Schooool's Back from Summer

Nathan started 2nd Grade today. I can hardly believe he is old enough and it is more hard to believe that I am old enough to have a son in 2nd grade. His teacher is Ms Beveridge and it is her 4th year teaching.Nathan picked cowboy eggs for breakfast and of course he got the special red plate to use.

Traditional 1st day of school picture.

Nathan looked mighty handsome if I do say so myself. He was so excited to wear his new Pokemon shirt. He is into Pokemon and Transformers the most these days. He had a good first day, but he did say it was a really long day.

Taylor and Natalie having some girl time while their brother was gone at school.

Our last 2 weeks of summer.

My internet has been down for the past few days so I haven't been able to post pictures of what we have been up to lately. Taylor started a Wee Play Gymsters class for preschoolers a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures of the classes. She does enjoy it.

This was a little bounce house with ball hoops in it.

Her Teacher is Miss Allison in the orange striped shirt. This part she was jumping off the mats and then they would do a somersault.

A cool little mini roller coaster. Nathan is the one pushing her.

Parachute time. Most of the kids had their parents with them to do the activities but since Nathan was there with us he wanted to do things with her. I think he really enjoyed being the big helper.
Brother and sister love playing on the big hot dog in the gymster class. What Natalie does during the class. She really does enjoy watching all the kids and listening to the music.

Every year our stake does a service project called Helping Hands Caring Hearts. It is where we purchase an outfit and socks and underwear for a needy child in the Chandler School District to wear the first day of school. This year I went to the work day where we take all the tags off the clothes so the parents can't return the items for money and also make sure everything is in the bag and that the sizes match what is on the label for that child. This year I decided to bring Nathan along to help see the big picture of the service that is being done. The kids get to help pick out the clothes every year but this year I decided to take it to the next step with Nathan. He was surprised at how many bags of clothes there were.

Random picture of Natalie asleep in the high chair. I think I have a picture of all 3 kids asleep in this same high chair.

Last Wednesday I decided to take the kids to Peter Piper Pizza since we hadn't been in months and Nathan starts school on Monday the 27th. This is Taylor's FAVORITE thing to do there, I think she would use all her tokens on this one ride if I would let her.

Nathan playing one of the games at Peter Piper.
Friday we had Meet the Teacher. Nathan will be in the 2nd grade and this is his teacher Ms Beveridge. She seemed really nice, it is her 4th year teaching. I can't believe I have a 2nd grader.

Last night we went to Chuck E Cheese. Not my first choice since we were just at PPP on Wednesday but Preston's cousin Dave was in town from Minnesota and all the cousins were going there and Preston wanted to visit with Dave so we went. This is PReston Nathan Jackson (Dave's son that is a month older than Nathan) and Dave (2 days younger than Preston and also the guy I was on a blind date with when I met Preston almost 12 years ago)Taylor playing at CEC.Natalie driving the forklift. She was loving it and she really got into it.The kids in the carpool lane at CEC.

I have also taken the kids to the summer movies at Harkins and swimming at the city pools quite often. We have had a great summer. It went by really fast because time flies when you are having fun. Honestly I think we are all ready to get back in the school mode though.

California Wrap Up

On Saturday of our stay we headed to the Sea Life Aquarium. It is right next door to Legoland and admission is included with our admission to Legoland. My parents came with us to the Aquarium, but unfortunately I do not have a single picture with them in it from the trip. They were so nice to come and they took care of Natalie in the Hotel while we went to Legoland so we could all do the rides together instead of tag teaming the whole day. It made it soo much easier. Thanks Mom and Dad. :-)

Nathan posing at the aquarium.

Nathan swimming with the fishes. There was a little tube like window they could go into and they would be in the tank.

Touching a star fish. Nathan really enjoyed the aquarium. Taylor was in a mood that day and wanted to sit in the stroller the whole time. I don't have many pictures here since it was dark and they really didn't turn out.
Hanging out at the pool at the hotel. We did this a few times.
I guess I like myself in a swimsuit so I had to post the picture twice. Yeah right. Really somehow it got copied when I was arranging the pictures and I don't know how to delete one.

Before we drove home on Sunday we visited the San Diego Temple. Preston and I did a session there on our first anniversary almost 10 years ago. THis was our first time back. It is such a beautiful temple. The kids liked it too.