First Day of School

We have started school around here. Roman is in 5th grade (Holy smokes!), Marisa is in 2nd grade.... How did they get so big!?

Marisa's teacher seems to be really good. But most importantly she has several really good friends in her class which is just awesome. She won't get in trouble (and so what if she did) but we have no little girls her age in our neighborhood so it's nice that she can go to school and be with friends.

Roman has a new teacher (new to our school anyway) that so far, he really likes. I'm so glad because he typically doesn't care for school but he always has something good to say about the day when he gets home. YAY!

Ezra started school a week later. This day has been a long time coming. There's one disadvantage to a fall birthday... waiting a whole year for school. Add to that, this kid is too smart for his own good, I hope he can have a good time anyway. 

Ezra picked Wendy's for his first day of school lunch.

Walking to school with dad.

Ezra has Mrs. Gallagher. She was Marisa's teacher and we absolutely loved her. 

See.... she's awesome. And she already knows Ezra because he used to sit on the rug with Marisa's class whenever we would help out at school. He would also give the other kids the answers to their school work. 

A highlight is walking home with the other kids. His best friend is also in kindergarten. They are not in the same class which is a bummer, but probably for the best. They can catch up at recess and on the walk home.

This is like a whole new world for me. Or at least that's what they say. I've only been home for something like 30 minutes without any kids so far. But I'm looking forward to the possibilities.

Crunch!

Following tradition, we all attended the demolition derby this year. 

There were a few fantastic crashes but mostly it was a bit of a dud. Probably due to the two demolition derby deaths that occured recently. Kinda puts a damper on things.

I don't really see the excitement in it anyway, but there are some fun parts to watching a bunch of old cars crashing into each other. 

The kids especially enjoyed their treats.

I think next year we'll try something new but it was a fun activity with the whole family and the kids got to stay up insanely late. 

Last Week of Summer

We did a few little things to squeeze the last bit of fun out of the last week of summer vacation. 

I took the kids to the splash pad and Seven Peaks. Both were fun but the weather wasn't exactly swimming weather. Oh well.

Grandma treated the kids with a ride on the funny electric animals at the mall. They loved it.

I forced my kids to go to the Utah County Fair... They were not interested. But they did enjoy the reptile show. Marisa and Ezra couldn't get enough of the alligator. 

Saturday we did a little art project that I have had the supplies for for three summers now, yikes. We still haven't added the finishing touches but the kids had fun being creative with their color choices.

Ezra also had his follow up exam with the orthopedic surgeon. All is well and his leg is catching up nicely. YAY! 

Roman and Marisa started school this week. I can't believe it. Summer went by so fast! Ezra starts kindergarten Tuesday. We've already started into another soccer/flag football season so we are never home. A lot of changes around here. I can't even wrap my head around it.

Lucy's Pizza

The day of the whole ice cream thing, we went to Lucy's New York Style Pizza in Orem for dinner.

We really just went there for some good pizza... but we had a lot of fun too.

You can watch them make your pizza which is kind of fun, but while Shane and the kids were watching, the guys in the kitchen invited Roman back to throw a crust by himself.

So he washed up and was given a fun tutorial.

Roman had a great time throwing the dough.

 

They then gave Marisa and Ezra a blob of dough to play with too.

What a fun day we had that day. The pizza was yummy too.

HOG 1 and HOG 2

So, the grocery store that we frequent sells these GIGANTIC soft serve ice cream cones called Kong Kones. They are ridiculously huge and rather cheap.

Last year for their "birthday" celebration, they had a contest to see who could eat a Kong Kone the fastest. I had missed it but, it was at that moment that I realized my calling in life was to win that contest.

My whole family knows that I'm a pig of epic proportions. Let's just say, I was blessed with a gift of eating and double blessed with the genetics that allow it. Top that off with the fact that I never get brain freezes.... ever. AND, I love ice cream.

So this year, when we saw that the contest was Saturday at 2:00. I just knew that we had to go.

I was so confident that I actually put makeup on my face... but reserved enough that I didn't do my hair. Who am I kidding. I never do my hair.

On the drive to the store, Roman was giving me tips. "Mom, you just bite and swallow... No licking!" Then a thought crossed his mind..... he asked, "Can I do it?"

They divided the crowd by age groups  5-10, 11-16 and 16+.

Roman went first... how it's fair that he was against a bunch of 5 year olds?.... But he destroyed the competition. His Momma Kong cone was gone in 1.5 minutes. What a conflict of feelings. I was proud of Roman for winning something, but having my son eat like a total pig at a disgusting pace IN PUBLIC wasn't my finest mothering moment.

He won a t-shirt and a free ice cream cone every week for a year.

After the 11-16 year olds went, I was up.  HOLY COW, that's a lot of ice cream!

We had 3 minutes to finish and it was pretty close for a while there.

But me and my un-freezable brain took the lead and won! I got all but the very bottom of the cone finished before 3 minutes was up. I could have crawled under a rock. SO EMBARRASSING!!

I won a shirt and a free cone for a year too.

We have our pictures on the wall of the grocery store until next year. I'm so proud... and horrified.

I ended up giving my free ice cream card to the lady next to me who's son wanted to win so badly but didn't.

The other two, who weren't interested in publicly displaying their piggish genetic links, opted to have dad buy them ice cream which they ate it at a normal pace.