The day all parents dread

You know it's coming but for some reason you never actually think it will get here. The dreaded first day of Kindergarten! I was so nervous about sending Porter to school (probably because I though he'd be like me and spend every day in the bathroom crying) but he did amazingly well.

And the first day of school is here. My baby boy started kindergarten today.

Who wouldn't be happy to start school with the coolest backpack around (thanks to Nana)

The proud parents

Filling out the paperwork

Waiting for the school bus, is tougher than waiting for Christmas!

It can be fun for a little bit but mostly it's just down right tedious!

Finally all our waiting paid off and he's home!

He really loved his first day and as he stepped off the bus he told Sarah "I loved everything about it". Later he did tell me that the lunch wasn't big enough so tomorrow he wants to buy school lunch and take a lunch box (he is certain a kid did that today, but I have my doubts). I have really debated weather I should put him in half day or full day and was certain I wanted half day but when I got there for registration I talked to the principal and some other people and decided to try full day with the option to switch if it isn't working, but Porter told me today he LOVES FULL DAY! I honestly don't think he missed me at all. Thank goodness for a great school and a good teacher!

Recruiting

For those of you who have heard me talking about the biggest loser contest Casey and I have been involved in and thought "Wow, that sounds cool. I wish I could find something like that!" Your day has come. The next session starts Friday (yes that is tomorrow, but I believe anytime this week is acceptable) and all you have to do is head over to my Moms site (http://biggestloser-doingitsolo.blogspot.com/) and leave a comment saying YOU WANT IN! Easy peasy. Each contestant is required to purchase a $10 gift card for a favorite place (Barns and Nobles, Dairy Queen, whatever) and I believe the prizes will be split up among the top three place winners. We weigh in each Friday and the percentages are figured and posted by my lovely mother. Each contestant can post encouragement, recipes or simply talk smack to the other contestants (my personal favorite). It's a great way to keep yourself accountable and motivated. Hope to see you in the winner bracket.

Summer time, Summer time, Sum sum summer time

One of Casey's cousins, who I admire, did a week of activities where she let each kid plan a day and the day had to include meals, main event, service project, and quiet activity (unfortunately her blog is private so you can't see all the adorable ideas and pictures she posted). I loved the idea and since my kids are pretty young still I though I'd help them come up with some options. While snooping around on other peoples blogs I came across this list of fun summer activities to keep the munchkins busy and entertained.

Crafts:
Make homemade stickers
Paint with watercolors (I let them use my real watercolor paint)
Use potatoes carved with simple designs as stamps to make our own wrapping paper
Stamp birthday cards for family and friends, file them to send throughout the year
Make Christmas decorations or ornaments
Create scrapbook pages
Make home made pinatas
Break your pinata
Make playdough
'Stained Glass Windows' - Cover the sticky side of contact paper with several colors of tissue paper, make sure to leave about an inch edge all the way around so it will stick to the window
Make your own chalk
Make candles
Make papercrafts. This site has loads of fun printables to make and do!
Write Secret Messages

Cooking:
Bake a cake, decorate it, and sing "Happy Unbirthday to Us!"
Make popsicles
Bake mini loaves of bread, make butter to spread on them
Bake up different batches of muffins to freeze for snacks
Make homemade bagels
Decorate sugar cookies
Bake cupcakes and deliver to friends
Choose different cookies recipes to bake and freeze for snacks
Make Ice cream in a bag
Make tiny treats

Field Trips:
Go swimming
Pick raspberries
Go to the museum
Ride a horse
Go out for ice cream
Trip to the dollar store
Go to the movies
Attend a concert
Visit a nursing home or an elderly neighbor or friend
Go bird watching

Education:
Learn a new Primary Song or Children's Song
Check out a book from the library on paper airplanes. Make all different kinds and have competitions.
Make 'Slime'
Make a list of what you want to learn about this year (Homeschool)
Buy school supplies
Catch butterflies, compare them, learn the life cycle of a butterfly
Plant a garden
Learn about different types of poetry (haiku, limerick, acrostic) and write your own
Design a quilt
Sew your quilt
Read books all day or listen to books on tape
Write a story then illustrate it

Patriotic:
Make patriotic bracelets
Paint T-shirts for the 4th of July (search FamilyFun)
Make patriotic hats
Attend a parade
Do patriotic activity pages (wordsearches, crossword puzzles, coloring pages) Do an internet search to find more than you can ever do!
Sing the other verses to the Star Spangled Banner
Ring the "Liberty Bell" by throwing rolled up socks at a bell hanging up on the ceiling

Boutique Week:
Make soap
Make chapstick and lip balm
Have a make-up makeover. Don't forget to take glam shots!
Paint toenails and fingernails.
Make charm bracelets
Make seed bead rings
Sew some cool new PJ pants
Make hair accesories - tie lots of ribbons around hair elastics or make ribbon headbands

Outdoor Activities:
Build a campfire, roast hot dogs and marshmallows
Camp out on the lawn
Blow bubbles. Use different wands. Be creative!
Go for a walk
Try geocaching or letterboxing. These are SO MUCH FUN!!!!
Play water games
Try some new outdoor games (search FamilyFun)
Have a nature scavenger hunt. Write a list for older children. For younger children paint different colors on the bottom of egg cartons (different shades of green, brown, other colors of nature) and see if you can find objects matching those colors. You'd be surprised at what they can find!!
Bike riding
Hiking
Squirt gun fights
Water Balloon fights
Have different races: wheelbarrow, crab walk, crawling, etc.
Relax on the lawn watching for shapes in the clouds

Indoor activities (Sabbath appropriate):
Draw pictures and send to the Friend Magazine
Write down everything you are thankful for. Be very specific.
Read pioneer or ancestor stories. Act out your favorite ones.
Try writing your own song
Choose a cousin to write a letter to. Make sure to tell them all the things you admire and like about them!
Make your Christmas wish list (I like to get my Christmas shopping done by November)
Write real letters (not e-mail!) - to grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, or friends
Make your own envelopes out of wrapping paper to send your letters in (Look here for templates)
List 5 nice things about each member of your family
Play board games all day
Think of a good service project to do. Plan it out and carry through with the plan
Make a list of what to give everyone for ChristmasMusic Mix CD

We miss our DAD!

Casey went to Utah this week to spend some quality time with his brother (and sister, I didn't forget you Mal). They were going caving and I'm sure he'll post about it when he gets back, but he sure sounds like he's having fun. So in an effort to keep up here are some of the fun things we've been up to while he's been gone.

• Porter and Maya are on round two of swim lessons and are loving it this time. Our lessons are at 11:30 so it's much warmer out (Maya is especially happy about that) and Maya and Landon are in the same class so that is exciting for them (not so exciting for their poor teachers).
• We went to tropicanoe cove and swam for half price on Family Day. The kids really had a good time there even they are all too small to go on any of the cool slides.
  
• Nana and Hanny came to stay with us for a few days so we had lots of fun having them here. We played a big game of kickball in the back yard last night which was real fun except for uncle Steve made both of my children cry by beaming them with the ball (agressive).
• Porter picked out a seeded watermellon (spoiled kids have never had one) and we ate that in the back yard and spit seeds at each other. They thought that was the coolest thing ever!
  
• Aunt Sarah taught Bennett how to say Uh-Oh. It's cute (sorry about the blurry pic. it didn't look so blurry in the preview stage).
  
• And I went to see The Dark Night (without Casey. I think he was kind of bummed). It was sufficiently creepy, and I'm dreading sleeping alone the next few nights. Hopefully I won't have nightmares of the joker coming to get me.

Portraits

I'm taking a photography class (a wonderful lady from the ward is teaching for R.S.) and I'm really loving it. I haven't had quite as much time as I'd like to take pictures, but we are on the last segment of the class which is portraits and of course it's my favorite. Here are some of the pics I'm loving so far. I'm sure they are not the best as far as design goes, but I can't help but love the subject matter. Let me know what you think. I have to start choosing picture to submit for the CD she's putting together and for the gallery we'll do in a few weeks, so I may be asking for more input.

Summer money making venture

Setting up shopThe wares
Who could resist this little beauty?

The first customer

They are offically obsessed. Everyday they ask me "can we go sell today?" When people actually buy stuff they get so excited. I love watching them, and I love that they play so well for so long even if they do end up eating all their suckers (they are supposed to sell them for 10 cents a pop) and drinking all their juice (also 10 cents). Yesterday Porter came running downstairs with his wallet and when Casey told him not to take his money outside he said "but I want to buy some juice, it's real hot out there". I guess they havent learned one of the perks of store ownership is skimming some off the top.

Grandparents Camp

So we went down to the Porter's for the 4th and left our kids there for the following week for the first annual Grandparents Camp. From a parents perspective it was wonderful. Although we had Bennett with us, we slept in to the furthest extent of the law and our house stayed reasonably clean (aside from the places where I frequented most, Computer Desk, Fridge, Recliner...) Amanda was in the middle of helping a friend move and that took a few days, but by Wednesday, we were planning all sorts of trips we could take without kids with the Harwards.

Our Pie-in-the-Sky first pick was driving to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant 11 hours away. However, after a 3 hour drive back from Louisville with Addie and Bennett tag team Screaming for 3 hours, that plan was quickly nixed.

So we pared back to just going to Kirtland only 6 hours away, but when we found out that Steve had a late meeting on Thursday night, that plan got scrapped as we wouldn't have enough time to pick up the kids early Saturday morning.

So we searched for something fun to do in the state of Indiana, and we quickly considered going to the Dunes up on Lake Michigan or driving down to Indianapolis and getting hotel rooms and haning out and doing stuff down there.

However, we then learned that Sarah remembered that she had to attend a relief society birthday party on Friday afternoon so those ideas got thrown out and we ended up using this summer's buzzword and had ourselves a little "Staycation" where we played Monopoly on Thursday Night, woke up early friday and went golfing, and then got a babysitter for the remaining two monkeys and were completely and totally free for 3 hours as we tubed down Wildcat Creek. It was a lot of fun. We ran some pretty serious rapids that knocked Steve off his tube and he cracked his skull in 1' of water.

Yeah, we live the exciting life.

This morning we drove through apocalyptical torrents of rain to pick the kids up south of Indianapolis and we were actually thrilled to see them...until about 3 hours after we got them home and Amanda and I locked ourselves in our bedroom where were hastily drew up the negotions for the next Grandparents camp that can't come soon enough.

Swimming Lessons

I really love being in West Lafayette. There are so many things offered for families and they are usually priced so families with multiple children can afford to do them. There are tons of great parks and columbian park has a free zoo (with an amazing petting zoo-there is a llama and horses and goats oh my!). Porter and Maya started swimming lessons Monday at Happy Hollow Swimming Pool (only $15.00 per kid). This morning we had thunder storms so we didn't get to go but we're looking forward to getting wet tomorrow.

DC Panhandler

This is the inspiration behind Porter's street drumming obsession. When we were in DC in Early May, we ran across this dude just off the main mall and Porter and Maya thought he was awesome. Little did we know, it would spawn a deep desire to live on the streets and perform for a living. We're now grooming him by teaching him to clean car windows with a dirty rag, spinning on his head and breakdancing in the middle of the street, and by stomping around with trash cans tied to the bottom of his shoes. The latter 2 have been harder for him to master, but we assure you he will be ready for STOMP in 3 years or our name isn't the Magnificient Elmer's!

Losing weight and losing my mind...

Lately Porter has been pretty interested in money. The other day he came into the kitchen asking for a jar. I was thinking he wanted one to catch bugs so I asked "what do you need it for?" He said he just needed it, and I said "well I need to know what it's for because if it is for bugs I need to get you a jar with a lid, so I need to know what you need the jar for so I can know what kind of jar to give you." He then proceeded to tell me he had set up a drum set in the front yard using a little tykes table and chairs, and a little tykes car, and he needed a jar for his drums then if people liked his drumming they could give him money. I gave him a big plastic bowl thinking he wanted to drum on the jar. After a few minutes I look outside and he has the bowl turned right side up and has loose change in it. HELP MY CHILD WANTS TO GROW UP TO BE A PANHANDLER! Anyway our neighborhood usually does a yard sale each summer so I told Porter we would learn how to make lollipops and candy and we could have a lemonade stand with goodies to sell at the yard sale. We were all pretty excited about that idea until our lollipops turned out ugly and our saltwater taffy turned into a huge disaster! It tasted pretty good and I'm thinking of just charging the neighborhood kids to lick our hands.

My mom and dad went to the great state of TEXAS last week and fulfilled one of Porters dreams. They got him a really great pair of cowboy boots. He loves those things and wears them everywhere (for added proof check out my sisters blog of us picking strawberries).

Last note...My family did a biggest loser competition two months before we left Philadelphia and Casey and I won!!! There was so much interest we have now started a new competition that is open to the public, and this week I ranked first in that competition. I'm pretty much the MAN! For more information on this competition you can click on Biggest Loser Doing it Solo on my side bar under Fun Blogs (or click here http://biggestloser-doingitsolo.blogspot.com/)

Leigh, this is for you

This was a little experiment we tried out two summers ago called "Landscaping for Less" or "Mow What You Wish You Could Afford." Basically, we just let the lawn grow long where we thought we'd like to have beds and it looked pretty cool for a while and mowing time was cut in half. The kids loved it and would run around in the tall grass and play hide and seek, but eventually, we cut it all down at the end of the season.

This is the fence we ended up building around our yard, It's more of a good neighbor fence than a privacy fence, but since we were the only ones on the block to put a fence up, we felt we had to go that way. We designed it and built it ourselves, but it didn't turn out too bad for our first fence. The fence has the horizontal runners on both sides of the fence so it has a great finished look on either side and we liked the vertical boards extending below the bottom runner, but not all the way to the ground.

Kites, Turtles and Hot Tamales

Yes, so that was the theme of last night's Family Home Evening. We got together with the Harwards (which we seem to be doing a lot of lately) and we went to a nearby park to fly kites for FHE. The weather was beautiful and there was enough wind to really get our dragon kite which Grammy and Poppy gave us so long ago that I'm certain Grammy has forgotten that she gave us a kite and is saying to her self, "I never gave them a kite." Well Grammy, you did, and it was a hit. It's maiden voyage was superb and all the kids wanted turns flying it but as you can see by the above picture, it was hogged mostly by the dads.

Why not a little family impromptu photo shoot, good thing all the kids cooperated on this one.



Maya loved flying the kite, that is whenever she could wrest it away from her father, who probably enjoyed it more than she did. While we were running with the kite, we almost tripped over this huge turtle that was lying in the middle of this field. Maya immedeatley drops the kite handle and runs to the turtle as she loves all things Animal. Luckily we saved the kite from blowing away, and the kids' attention was diverted now to this massive turtle laying in the lawn (see below photo.
No, that's Landon, i'm talking about the photo below him.)



So with the turtle around to distract the kids, I was able to fly the kite to my heart's content and leave Amanda, the other animal lover in our family, the chance to stand guard around the turtle as she really wanted to see it crawl. Yes Elaine, she still does these things even though your not around anymore.

Maya, upon discovering a living creature in her vicinity.


Another staged Elmer family photo, again, 4 out of 5 cooperating ain't bad.

Our little strawberry blonde.

Sibling rivalry has always been encouraged during family home evenings, else, how could we dare call it by it's pseudonym, 'Family Fight Night'. Addie is just happy to be held.


Aunt Hannie joined us and though she tried to take her turn, Porter quickly jumped in to save her crashing kite.


Lastly, I know there has been no mention of Hot Tamales up until this point, I wanted to keep you in suspense, but it's pretty anticlimatic since they were the dessert for last night.

Long time no see...

It has taken us a while to get our computer up and running but we've been having a blast in the meantime. Here are some pictures of the kids from the past two weeks we've spent in Indiana.

We went to my parents house for 6 days last week and spent a wonderful amount of time in the swimming pool. Bennett loved it, and so did Porter and Maya. Casey, (my brother in law) Steven, and my Dad built the kids a really awesome tree house (unfortunantly I didn't get any pictures of it, but I think my sister did). We also got to go to the temple which is always great.

Here's a picture of Maya with a birds nest she discovered while climbing the trees in the back yard. She is quite the little monkey!