First Day of School

Last night the kids were nervous, scared, happy, and excited.  School started tomorrow!

We have had a wonderful summer, but we are officially ready for schedules and alarm clocks again.  We went out to dinner for one last celebration at the Machine Shed in Pewaukee.  The Machine Shed is a chain of restaurants in the Midwest dedicated to the American Farmer.  They serve real farm fresh meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit, handmade rolls and everything else.  Very traditional cooking and they have even been featured on the Travel Chanel.  Following this we returned home for a FHE lesson on confidence and then my favorite back to school tradition, Priesthood Blessings.

It was a beautiful thing watching my husband, and priesthood leader of our home, give each of our children a father's blessing.  Ethan was first, as the oldest, and it was a beautiful blessing.  The spirit was so strong that my husband actually cried.  I can count the times Shawn has cried in our 12 years of being married on one hand.  This was one of those very special moments.  Lots of beautiful promises and direction was given.  Cole was next and he suffers from can't-hold-still-for-one-second syndrome.  But he too had a beautiful blessing and sat quietly and still the WHOLE time...miracle if you ask me.  Liv was last and man was she so excited.  She had a grin on her face the entire time.  So proud to be a big girl.

After the blessings the Spirit was still very present in our small living room.  I asked the kids how they felt and then helped them recognized the feeling they felt was the Spirit.  It was a powerful teaching moment.  I am so grateful for these opportunities to teach my kids about the Spirit and the importance of the power of the Priesthood in our home.

The we packed lunches, got backpacks ready, read scriptures, said and prayers and tucked everyone in bed.  It was only 8:30.  It felt good!

Morning came and everyone was up by 7:00.  Cole was dressed and had his room cleaned within 5 minutes.  Ethan was next and Liv dragged her feet a little, but made it ready to go and out the door by 8:10.  The kids all reported having butterflies in their stomach.  Shawn and I helped each kid to their lines and watched as the walked in to their classes.

We secretly hi-fived each other and walked home in silence.

I think this year is going to bring about good things.

Starting with a lunch date with my hot husband!

Here are the kids in their traditional first day of school outfits and pictures.

Ethan is in 4th Grade and his teacher is Mrs. Stab

Cole is in 2nd Grade and his teacher is Mrs. Wells

Olivia is in Kindergarten and her teacher is Mrs. Chebowski

Back To School Party Night

Last night we had our traditional Back To School Party!  We started out with a new tradition called the "schultue".  The kids called it the Big Carrot, because that is what it looked like.  This is a German tradition and the night before school starts parents fill these large cones with back to school treats and surprises and then the kids find the cone hidden in their yard.

They kids loved the Big Red Carrot. I'll we definitely be doing this again next year.

After that we had our dinner and introduced the school year theme.  The theme Shawn and I chose is "I can do hard things."

We ended up having a simple dinner of pancakes, sausage, fruit and chocolate and strawberry milk.

After dinner we had a lesson on doing hard things and to remember that Jesus is our Rock and if we put our trust in him we can do ALL things, even hard things.  We came back out when it was dark for special back to school ice cream sundaes to finish off the night.

I guess now we are officially ready for another year of school!

Milwaukee Riverwalk

Saturday morning we got up early to go and see the Discovery World's Ship, The Dennis Sullivan.  This ship is the worlds' only recreation of a 19th century three-masted cargo schooner.  It looks very similar to a pirate ship so I thought the kids would love it.  When it is out at sea and the sails are open it looks like this.

We were able to tour the ship and learn all about it.

After that we went to Milwaukee's Riverwalk.  Our first stop was to see the Bronze Fonz.  There is a life-size statue of the actor Arthur Fonzarelli from the iconic show "Happy Days", which took place in Milwaukee.

After this we walked around the Riverwalk enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning and toured the Historic Third ward, which is known as Milwaukee's Art and Fashion Disctrict.  It is beautiful and also contains the Milwaukee Public Market, with amazing restaurants and shops.

For lunch we walked to the Pizzaria Bar and Grill, right on the river.  Amazing pizza and views.  We had a great morning.

Hot Rocks

In preparation for our back to school celebration we went on a hike.  Our goal was to look for the perfect rock (I am hoping to use these rocks to teach a lesson about doing hard things).  I wanted the kids to have a more personal connection with their chosen rock, so I decided to try a craft that I've been wanting to for a while.  Hot Rocks!  Basically you cook the rocks in the oven and then rub crayons over the top and it melts in beautiful colors and patterns.  The kids loved this project and would have melted crayons over rocks all night if I let them.

Miss Independent

I have one independent little girl on my hands.  Every morning Liv INSISTS on choosing her own clothes, doing her own hair, getting her own breakfast and everything else in between.  I've been meaning to start documenting her outfits and hairdo's, but have forgotten until today.

This was her creation today.  I've tried to explain to her about patterns/prints and which colors go together, but she's 5 and thinks everything is great.  And she spent a long time on her hair this morning. She called it "the twisties".

32 foot slide

We found a new park this afternoon.  It had a 32 foot slide.  It was lots of fun!

The kids got going pretty fast and the end would shoot them out really far.

I even took a turn :)

We finished off the afternoon with a little picnic and enjoyed a few other toys at the park.  Cole loved this spiny one.  I have no idea how he didn't puke because it just spun in circles really fast.