See ya Rach!

{Jen, Mari, Rach and Sini}

My good friend Rachel moved away this weekend. I'm very sad about it even though she's not the first and for sure not the last (and definitely not the first one to make me sad.) It's just- she's moving so far! To Pennsylvania to be exact. Her hubby is going to school for two years and then they don't know where they'll end up after that. Good thing there are blogs and facebook I guess. We spent a lot of time together- if you call yw activities, girls camp, planning meetings until the wee hours of the morning, etc. etc. for three straight years a lot of time. I do. Not to mention book club, dinner group, birthday parties, and just talking out in the street...I'm gonna miss her a lot.

{Bryce, Elliott, Ollie and Brady}

But I'm not the only one- her boys were around the same age as mine- and they got along really well. They got to play all day Saturday before they left, so I snapped a few pics.

Ollie, Bryce and Jackson at the primary activity.

Warren, Brady and Elliott

We were walking home and Ollie grabbed Bryce's hand- so sweet.
Adam and Jason (Rach's husband) were good friends too- if you call running over to his house just for a sec at 10:00 at night and not coming home until 1:00 in the morning good friends. (And I do.)

They will be greatly missed on our street! We love you guys! :) Can't wait for the blogging to start back up!

playing at the lake

Our last play group for the summer was at this cool lake in Highland that I've never heard of. It's right behind Lone Peak High School. Anyway- it started out soooo very hot. (Does being super hot and carrying lots of kids and gear make anyone else crabby? :) )We had a little picnic and the kids played. I had never been, so I didn't know to have my kids wear their swimsuits!

Oh yeah, and this isn't the first time Ollie went swimming in his pants this summer. Our discussion before we left home went something like this, "Please Ollie- wear shorts- you'll be wading in a lake! And it's going to be soo hot today!" He just said, "No! When I wear these pants, I can feel the sun through them, so that will keep me cool." (Huh?!) "Okay, well, you'll want to wear your sandals so you can get them wet." He just said, "I don't want to get in- I won't get wet." I usually bring an extra pair of shorts and sandals, because I know he'll need them. But not this time. (He ended up riding home in his dry undies, that I do keep an extra pair of in the car at all times.)

Little Miss Addie

Even Linc got in. So glad they could cool off while I was sweating like mad.

Climbing Babies

Ollie with his new found treasure and Elli, Ben and Elliott. If I remember right, Benny was trying to make quicksand.
He carried this thing around and kept throwing it in the water (and having me throw it in) to see how big of a splash it could make. So funny what they think is fun...

Then Michael (in the red hat) caught a fish with his net. That was pure excitement for the kids. I'm not sure if E was trying to give it some bread?

Cara and the celebrity fish.

Elli

{Addie and Ty}

Then the clouds rolled in and cooled us off. And then it started to rain! It felt so good. It was a good, long storm too.

The rain kept coming so we all gathered under our shade umbrellas (thankfully Linds shared with us since we forgot ours!) I love this classic picture!

Then the kids decided they wanted to get rained on.

Rain on the lake.

{Ann and her kids}

When there was a break in the storm, we made a dash for our cars and then the sun came out again, and I was sweating by the time I had all the wet clothes in a pile and our stuff back in the car. Whew! What a fun summer storm! I will miss playgroup (or sometimes I like to call it Mom's Group) until next summer. Thanks Ann!

coloring

I loved these pictures so much- the boys love to color! (I hope they always do.)

Before this they were counting coins from their piggy banks. Why is Elliott's so much bigger?

1st grader!

It was Elliott's first day of 1st grade today! Adam made him his favorite banana/nutella crepes for breakfast.
He was very excited to wear this shirt today. So funny what boys like.
When E picked this backpack out I asked if it was too scary for first grade. He told me no and that even girls wear things with skulls on them...

Me and my big boy.

{brothers}

We ran into Elli and Benny at school. How lucky to go to the same school as your cousins?

Nervously waiting in line to go in. He said he didn't want to play on the playground before- which is very unlike him.
With his 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. McDaniel. We've heard such great things about her!

His first day went great. He said it didn't feel very long at all. He had pizza, a cookie and chocolate milk for lunch and brought home his apple- "There's never enough time to eat it!" he said. He has a few kids in his class from our neighborhood and from his class last year- so that's a plus. And when we got home he said, "Were you really glad I was gone all day?" I said, "No- we missed you a lot." And he said, "I knew it." :)

when you're helping you're happy

We had our special back to school night on Monday to get Elliott excited for First Grade! He loves this night. He chose soup and bread bowls for dinner, had sparkling fruit juice in goblets and strawberry shakes for dessert. He got to wear the crown during dinner too. :)

Mr. Oliver will be in Miss Jodi's preschool this year. We'll have to get another crown for next year when he starts at the big school!
Our family theme for this year is "When you're helping you're happy." We talked about helping our teachers at school, other kids at school, our parents, our brothers and our church teachers.

We have tiny stickers that the boys can put up when they share something with us about helping someone. We've already put some up since Elliott saw a little boy crying at the school open house today and said, "Look Mommy- he's lost- we need to help him." He happened to live in our neighborhood so we stayed with him while they paged his mom. I was so proud of him. I told him that there were soo many people walking all around that kid and nobody noticed that he was lost and scared (even me :( .)

That's exactly the point of our theme! Love it!



Then Adam gave the boys special blessings to help them be happy, help others and learn a lot this year.
I love these nights too- I'll always treasure them.

(Nie inspired me to do this last year and I'm so thankful!!)

näkemiin (hei hei)

All good things must come to an end and so my uncle and cousin had to go home to Finland. Their two week stay seemed much too short- I wish we could have more time with them!

My Mom with a handful of grandbabies: Will, Melora, Addie and Linc
Jaakko, Seppo, Mike, Michelle, Ollie, Anikka holding Baby Melora, Addie, Ben, Brian, Linds, Elli, Leena holding Baby Will, Adam, Linc, Sini and Elliott
My Mom did a pretty good job of being tour guide- they went to Yellowstone and a few other places.

{Cousins}

Baby Melora- she looks exactly like Michelle's baby pics!
Why do I love this picture so much? I think it is sooo cute- a mommy trying to capture her baby!

Kid refuge in the club house.

Linc and the boys. We will miss you guys! Until next year right? :)

Love these two pictures below of Michelle and Melora and big sister Anikka sharing her book.