First and Fourth

Apparently this is how you entertain yourself waiting for back to school night to start.......

This first day of first grade was a big day for Nora. Her first full day of school, first cold lunch, first lunch recess... She loved lunch recess and was stoked when we told her it was going to happen every day! She has been so excited for school to start and loves her teacher and her classroom. Zeke has been super nice to walk her to class. 

The first day of fourth grade is not quite as momentous for Zeke. This is old hat by now. New teacher, new mix of classmates (although he knows almost all of his class to some extent from years past), new routine. But everything else is the same and he is the big dog of the school this year. He was dreading the start of school but was more excited than I expected on the first day. So far he's liking it which is a relief. 

 Happy first day of school smiles.

Love this one... a true, real smile from Zeke and Nora's super excited face. 

Summer Successes

It's been a busy summer. We accomplished some great things this season!

The kids took several weeks of swimming lessons. They've never done that before and did great starting from zero. Nora especially took to it (she loves water anyway). They both will be rockstars next year.  

Nora also learned to ride her bike without training wheels! 

We took several evening trips to the park for Aaron to fly, the kids to play, and me to sit watch. 

We had our backyard tree taken out. We waited all summer but it finally got done!

Aaron flew and successfully landed this new plane. Whew!

We ran a stop of the Amazing Race for the Loertscher reunion. Aaron was subbing for his dad, but the race ran late and Aaron had to work so I was subbing for him. Thankfully Hayley was around to help me out. Nora and Zeke were great helpers too. 

This daylily bloomed for the first time, and if you look at the tomato plant you'll see a red tomato. Not only did our tomato produce fruit (unlike last year.....) but it actually ripened on the vine. I think that's a first ever for this house! 

It's been a fun and productive summer! They always go by so fast. I love all of the family events, barbecues, holidays, fireworks, warm evenings, pretty flowers, and that we don't have school demands for a while. 

End of School

May was super crazy busy. In addition to the marathon, Fancy Nancy, and the track meet, we had a bunch of school activities. Some in the evening, some during the day. We had quite an active schedule for the whole month!

The school did an arts night, and both kids performed with their classes. After performances we went to stations for music, dance, drama, and drawing. The whole family got to participate and I really enjoyed it.  

Zeke did a presentation on the kookaburra. He did a fantastic job! He and his partner really wrote great dialogue for their interviews.Learning all about birds for the last 6 weeks or so of school was really fun for him. 

Nora's class had a picnic and playtime in the park that Aaron and I joined her for. 

Nora's class also did a performance for parents to show us what they learned in kindergarten.

And everyone got an award. Nora got the 'colorful' award - the only problem was her reward was skittles, which is the one kind of candy she doesn't like! We traded her life savers for skittles and she was happy. 

This school year was a great one for both kids and we are glad to finish strong and head into summer!

Track Meet

We were super excited to find out the high school track team was planning a track meet day for the younger kids again this year. This year Zeke was feelin' fine and got to run his sprint. 

At the starting line

Partway through the race. He got 4th in his heat. 

Zeke rocked the standing long jump. I wondered if he could jump his height, which is 4 feet 5 inches. He blew that away on his first jump! His best jump was 5 feet 7 inches. This kid has little frog legs!

He did javelin too. 

Then it was off to the stands to enjoy snacks and shade while watching the distance runners. 

I am super proud of Zeke for doing his best and not stressing about coming in first in everything. Nora was bummed she couldn't participate but we've promised her we'll go try out the long jump sometime this summer.

Zeke's 9th Birthday

Zeke's party this year was a Star Wars party. 9 candles...which works out to 3 of each color. Perfect for 3rd graders who have been working on their multiplication facts!

We invited a few friends for pizza and a movie. However, given that the kids had already seen the movie, they were much more interested in ping pong. When the grandparent, aunts & uncles, and cousins arrived later, it turned into a multi-player game of extreme ping pong -- hitting off any bounce, including other tables and walls. Zeke had a blast and noticeably improved in his return skills throughout the day.

Presents - he had eagerly been anticipating this! We gave him a bulletin board to hang his treasures on. Plus, pinned to the board was a voucher for family bowling. 

And lots of clothes. Not the most exciting part but definitely needed. This boy is growing like crazy! And he got some Star Wars shirts so he was happy. Not so happy about the tissue paper glitter migrating to his new shirts though. 

Blowing out the candles with a little cousin by his side.

Love this boy and his goofy, loving personality. He tells me jokes and makes me laugh, and he appreciates the silly jokes I bring home from work. He works hard at school and is learning so much all the time. He still loves cuddles and hugs and will sit on my lap. Happy 9th birthday Zeke!

School Projects

The last few months have been full of school projects, particularly for Zeke. 

In January, Zeke's class wrote short biographies on a person of their choice. Then, they dressed up as that person and invited their parents to listen to them read their biographies in the classroom. Zeke is Matthias Baldwin, an inventor specializing in steam locomotives. 

In February we did Valentines and Valentine boxes. Zeke went with vehicles.

And Nora did Frozen. 

Zeke's next project was to make a puppet that represented his career choice. This little guy is an air ambulance pilot. I really enjoyed this project. It was fun to work together to figure out how to make felt clothes and figure out what accessories he needed to look like a pilot. There were a few late nights working on this one!

Again, parents were invited to class to listen to them read the descriptions they wrote about their careers and to see all the puppets. Zeke wants to be an air ambulance pilot because they get to fly planes and helicopters, they help people, and, depending on where he works, we might be close enough to have lunch together. 

And in March we did the science fair. Zeke has wanted to for a few years, but we never committed to it. This year we went for it. He did an experiment about how long different weights will swing on a string. The results weren't very conclusive but he did a great job of identifying the reasons why and how he might do it differently next time. The repeated trials part was not his favorite but he stuck it out and I am super proud of him!

Veteran's Day Program

The third graders put on a wonderful program for Veteran's Day. Here they all are, looking fine. 

We were excited that Nora's kindergarten class got to come to the parent performance, since they weren't there for the performance for the students. We were sitting about 4 rows behind Nora!

Zeke told us where to sit because he was on the stage right end of the line. We got good seats this year thanks to his advice and arriving earlier than for previous years. 

Zeke volunteered for a speaking part and did great! A lot of the kids were hard to understand but I thought he did a great job of speaking slowly and clearly. 

The program was a very stirring patriotic event. The flag was brought in by older veterans and then the students invited all veterans in the audience to stand when the song for their branch of the military was sung. It was so inspiring and touching and I was filled with gratitude for living in the United States and having so many people willing to be our defenders. 

First Day of School x2

We had 'the first day of school' twice around here this year. 

Zeke started third grade. 

He was sort of excited to go back to school. Glad to see his friends, not so glad to have to get up early in the morning and do homework in the evening. We are getting into the school groove pretty quickly, so that's making the less-than-fun parts a little easier. 

He's getting so grown up so fast. I'm so proud of him for being such a great student.

Nora started Kindergarten. 

She was (and still is) so incredibly excited to be in kindergarten. She loves it all! She is so happy to go to the same school as Zeke. 

Zeke's Baptism

On a beautiful spring day, this boy got baptized. 

He was a lot excited, a little nervous, and very ready to take this step. We talked about the fact that he didn't have to do this if he didn't want to, and he surprised me with very mature responses to why he wanted to be baptized. I really felt like he knew the meaning of this and it was important it was to him. (He has had the greatest primary teachers!)

Nora was so excited for him, and she can't wait for her turn in 3 years. 

My handsome 8 year old. 

It was a wonderful service and a wonderful day for our family. I look forward to learning and growing more in the gospel with Zeke in the future.