Pinewood Derby

One of the necessary evils of being a cub scout is having to participate in the Pinewood Derby.  Seriously, I wonder what the benefits of such a competition are...

In August, Alan and Jared put together Jared's car.  They didn't do anything super fancy, but it still took a lot of time.  Well, Jared's car got 10th place out of 21 total cars.  We were pretty happy to be in the middle somewhere and not come in dead last or anything. :)  The guy who was in charge of the track said at the beginning of the race that it was pretty good to have your car come in under 3 seconds, so we were proud of our 2.94 average time!  

Jared got the "Greased Lightning" award

And....a random picture of Maggie and Evy before church one day

1st Day of School!

We actually had two first days of school around here, since Jared started 3rd grade a week before Maggie started PM Kindergarten.  

I did not have ANY apprehension for the beginning of the year this year.  Both of my kids were assigned great teachers, and both were really excited for the school year to start.  

Jared's first day of 3rd grade

Lining up after the bell rang

Maggie's first day of Kindergarten--still working on eye contact for pictures.  Ha ha.

Maggie and the school mascot.  Many Kindergarteners and younger siblings were scared of the eagle, but Evelyn loved it!  She still often talks about the eagle we saw.  

Maggie and her principal, Miss K.

Maggie and her cousin are in the same class!

Maggie is sitting right by two friends from our ward

PM Kindergarten is the best.  I love that Maggie still gets to be my buddy all morning long this year. I love having her around to help me and to play with Evelyn.  Lately they have learned to play better together.  She has grown up so much lately!

Zoo

The zoo is so expensive, and we live too far away to make good use of an annual pass, so usually we only go to the zoo on the free days in the winter.  This last year we went on December 31st, and the temperature was in the single digits when we arrived in the morning!  

This summer Alan's sister Alana told me she had a pass where she could get a couple guests in free, so she was so awesome to meet us there the day before school started for the kids.  It was such a great ending to our summer break.  

 They had their Zoorassic Park exhibits up with the robotic dinosaurs.  They looked very real and kind of scared Evy.  She even started trembling sometimes when we got too close!

Maggie on the lighthouse slids

 The kids loved the carousel!  Maggie rode on a polar bear, Evy rode on a rhino, and Jared picked a snake (of course.)

 Of course, we have to get the classic pictures in the lion's mouth.  I have pictures of me doing the exact same thing when I was little.

This robotic dinosaur spit water at Jared and Maggie.  

We got to pet a snake on our way out of the zoo

End of Summer

I barely remembered before summer was over to get some pictures of my kids swimming with their cousins at Grandma C.'s pool.  Seriously, we are so lucky that she has a pool for us to use all the time!  We seriously went swimming 2-3 times a week on average, and both Jared and Maggie have gotten so good!  I can't wait to see how well they do next time in swimming lessons.  

Maggie and Summer in the hot tub.  You have to be 5 years old in order to be allowed in the hot tub, so this was a big summer for both of them.  

Jared and Charity

Evy liked to dip her feet in the hot tub, since she wasn't allowed

Evy and Grandma

Maggie showing me her moves!

We also obtained some free passes to Seven Peaks at the end of the summer, so we went there one day, too.  I didn't take any pictures, but it was super fun!

 Aunt Emma and Angela came and spent a night with us recently.  Here is Emma cuddling with Evy.