First Day of School

We squeezed in haircuts at Super Cuts before school started. All three girls got trims. Tiny had never had hers cut before and wasn't very cooperative. Once she was able to sit on my lap and have a sucker, she was OK.

The stylist may have been too preoccupied by her upcoming wedding because she did a terrible job. I had to take Wren back to get her hair fixed. Tiny's hair is crooked but is not bad enough that I did anything about it.

Ever started first grade on August 20. We really had to scramble to get there on time. Wrenzy went in a flower-girl dress (an Amelie hand-me-down from David's Bridal), and Tiny went in jammie pants. This is the only pic I got:

For her first day of Little Bugs Preschool that Wednesday, Wrenzy selected a lovely business-casual outfit.

Tiny hopped in the frame, and getting a decent photo was impossible.

I tried again at Miss Paula's and was pleased with the results. Jim and I can't agree on which of these adorable photos is better.

A bunch of kids from the ward are in Wrenzy's class, including three other kids who live in Henie Hills. We paired up for carpooling, so that's handy. Miss Paula took this of the class:

Ever wasn't a big fan of her teacher, Mrs. Christian, although I'd heard she was decent. A week or two into school, we were notified that Ever was being moved into a new first-grade class that was being created due to over-enrollment. The teacher, Mr. Quarrie, came over from another Oceanside school. When I told her the news, Ever claimed suddenly to really like Mrs. Christian. She was upset about leaving her friend Gracie in Mrs. Christian's class, wary of a male teacher, and just generally traumatized about the change. She broke down crying after her first day with Mr. Quarrie but quickly became a big fan and is doing great. I think the change was definitely for the best.

JoAnn's Kids Reunited

JoAnn got the old gang together for a Chuck E. Cheese outing in August. Ever, Cash and Saylor (twins), and Drew were all babysat by JoAnn as babies. It had been a long time since they'd all been together, and they had a good time.

JoAnn texted an old picture of them as babies: 

It's crazy how big they've gotten!

Raising Nerds and Mess-Makers

Ever finished second-grade Jiji math (the computer program they use at school) before first grade started. She didn't do much over the summer but got in the last little bit shortly before school began.

Ella came over to play, and Ever suggested that they play Scrabble. (We'd recently introduced Ever to the game.) We taught Ella how it works, and they did their best. The words were short, which made them hard to build on, but I loved that that was what Ever wanted to do.

The littles went through a phase when they were constantly taking Jim and my books off the shelf in the living room, "reading" them, and leaving them about.

The Saturday after school started (first-day pictures to be posted separately), Ever read an entire Kitty Magic book. She brought it into our room in the morning and looked like a teenager as she read.

The littles decided to join in the fun.

Within a few hours, Ever had finished the whole book. I didn't feel as if we really read that much over the summer, but man, has Goosey become a great reader.

In mess news, the littles like to put as much as they can into bags and backpacks and carry them around the house. This day, Wrenzy stuffed her clothes in a backpack, which she then brought downstairs and unloaded.

The littles often play so nicely together, but oh, the messes!

In other news, I was going to finally toss the tent Coco gave us some Christmases ago because the lean had gotten out of control.

Then later that same day, I found the girls playing in it.

I did eventually toss it, so that's opened up some more room in which the girls can make messes.

Nudity, YW, & Fashionable Shopping

Sometimes when she's being thorough, Wren sings "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star" while she washes her hands. (She's just not good at the "tw" sound.) I looked in one day and got a kick out of her singing and washing with bare buns.

In other nudity news, Tiny opted one Sunday to sit strapped into a stationary stroller in the garage for a while. 

Partially dressed girls played outside.

I can't remember if I already recorded how I got called as the second counselor in Young Women this summer. Maggie Long was called as the president. I worked with her and her husband, Al, for a long time in nursery and immediately loved them. Amber Sorenson is the first counselor, and she's one of my favorite people. Anyway, one night the girls came over and decorated cakes to depict scenes from the Book of Mormon. The girls did a great job. Jim and Derrick Karner were independently able to identify the scenes quickly. 

The following week, the Beehives decorated cupcakes to deliver to Jane Thompson to wish her a happy birthday and welcome her to Young Women. 

While shopping with the girls for a birthday present for one of their friends, I was struck by how poorly dressed the littles were. Clearly I let my kids pick their own outfits. Tiny adamantly refuses to wear shoes that fit her. It's gigantic slippers all the way.

Tiny found a new way to ride on the cart.

Family Date Day

Ever came up with the idea of a family date day. Every member of the family would pick an activity, and we'd all spend the day together doing all the activities. Ever got the littles to pick activities that she wanted, so it was a real win of a day for her.

Jim and I chose to go on a family run in the morning. Then we went to Dave & Busters. I think that was supposedly Wren's idea (but really Ever's).

Tiny refused to wear her shoes and threw a fit when I tried to insist on it. I took her, in the midst of a tantrum, off to the side and let her work it out. 

This was one of the only games Wren was even remotely big enough to play.

Tiny was really too small to do anything, but she pretended to play a driving game:

Ever's activity was bowling. Thanks to bumpers and a slide for the bowling ball, everybody could do that one.

Jim fed the baby birds Dipping Dots for the fun tims.

For Tiny's activity, we went swimming next door at Cikaneks'. It was late by then, so it was a pretty short swim. 

It was a fun, somewhat pricey family day. Jim told Ever we could do a family date day once a season. She's been asking when we're going to do the fall one.