School DaysYep! August was officially busy! With school in session, preschool in full swing, camping, blackberry picking, beginning of school sniffles, Scott's birthday, it was one busy month.

We went camping with Trevor and Becky and their adorable little ones the second weekend in August. It was so much fun! Becky cooked the most delectable campfire meals! We felt very spoiled. Then we visited the cabin in Pine and picked and ate our fill of blackberries.

On August 18th, Scott turned 9 and really wanted a party with our family. Since Brad had an HOA meeting and I had to help out with our Relief Society meeting on Scott's birthday, Scott graciously agreed to celebrate his birthday the following day. We had Brad's delicious crepes for dinner and a yummy lemon cake. Scott received a Lego Atlantis set from Grandma Judy and us. Trevor and Becky gave him the coolest children's cookbook. He also received money from Grandma and Grandpa Ray and his best friend Colby. He had a great birthday. The next day Aunt Meagan took him out to lunch and shopping with his birthday money. Of course, he bought another Lego set!

Preschool began this month. Let me tell you, I am having a blast. Sure, staying up into the wee hours of the morning to prepare and worrying if the children are getting the intellectual stimulation that they need does infringe on my sleep, but I am blessed by the fruits of my labor with happy preschool kids and a sense of accomplishment when they know where Asia is on the map! Pure joy!

Brian, Lizzie, and Scott are doing great in school. Elizabeth had a smiley face taken away two times. One time she decided to color on her spelling paper because she was bored and the other time she made a poor choice and talked to her friend while Mrs. Watson was teaching. She is a social little gal, but she is also a perfectionist when it comes to keeping all her smiley faces. She won the pattern contest project in her classroom. She saw the ice cream cone scoops I made from different colors to teach the preschool children color words, so she thought it would be neat to make an ABC pattern from ice cream cone scoops. It turned out cute but very tall, so I added velcro dots to make it easy to transport and put together. The kids all voted in the class that hers was the best. She received a Hershey bar and enjoyed every bite.

Brian loves his school. BASIS is actually challenging him! He is teaching me Latin by having me drill him with vocabulary note cards. His homework is really fun and challenging. He let me help him with his science crossword puzzle. Science and crossword puzzles to me is like melted dark chocolate over rasberries! A perfect combination!

Scott continues to do well in school. We are working on his reading comprehension this year. I am constantly researching strategies to help him become an engaged reader. Reading is not fun to him.

Katie is hilarious! She loves to be the teachers helper at preschool. During clean up time, she decided to help me by getting all the snacks ready for snack time. I got up from helping the children sort the toys to see that she had put down the plates, added pretzels and raisins, and was ready with the hand sanitizer to clean every childs hands. That girl is wise beyond her years! I cannot wait to see what she will be like every day. I enjoy my moments with her on Mondays and Fridays when we get to hang out all alone and play.

Have a great last week of August! I cannot wait for cooler weather and to get all my Fall decorations out! Yeah for the greatest time of the year which is only around the corner!

Side note: Sorry about the horrible quality of my collage. Katie's head is cut off in one of the pictures. I am trying to keep my preschool pictures more private to protect the children. That is why the pictures are small and some are taken without showing thier faces.