First Band Concert of the Year

At the beginning of the school year, the band does a concert as a fundraiser.  Ciera is in the Wind Ensemble this year... the top band!  The concert combined all of the band students from all levels.  They played over 20 songs that they had been working on.  It was supposed to be outside, but it was pouring rain!  They moved it into the gym, and had a full house!  It was fun!  Ciera is getting so good at her horn.  I look forward to hearing more from her this year!

New School Year, New Germs

After the first couple of weeks of school, all of my sweet girls were feeling poorly.  I took Chloe in to the doctor and it was strep throat.  Of course!  That afternoon, I brought all my other girls in too, and all of them had strep.  Autumn had a rattling sound in her lungs too, so they did another test and found out she also had RSV.  They did a breathing treatment in the office, and sent us home with a nebulizer and medicine.  After a round of antibiotics and breathing treatments for Autumn, all of the girls were feeling better!  Back to school and learning!  Yay!

First Day of School- August 26, 2013

My girls are so darn cute.  They were up super early and so excited about starting back to school (Ciera and Chloe were up at 4:45... and Brooke and Autumn were sooo excited).  Autumn is starting 1st grade, Brooke is in 3rd.  Chloe is in 6th and Ciera is in 8th.  (I can't believe how quickly they are growing up!!)  I dropped them all off at school and walked Autumn, Brooke and Chloe all in.  I guess Ciera is too big for that now (tear, sniff, sniff), because she wanted to go in by herself.  It is always hard to send my girls out to school knowing that things can be really difficult out there, but I am glad to know that they are strong girls who always try their best to do what is right.  I am so very proud of how capable, smart and kind they all are and I know that this year will be a great one!

Little Fishies

My girls really wanted to fish with Grandpa.  This is something they have talked about for years, and so while we were up at the lake, they got their chance.  We went out one day with a couple of poles from the resort, some worms, and some time.  Ciera, Chloe, Brooke and Autumn each took a turn holding the pole (Brooke and Autumn lost interest really quick!) after Grandpa put the worm on.  (Autumn was the only one who wanted to touch the worm... and she wanted to keep it as a pet, I am sure!)  After a little while Brooke and Autumn wanted to go back to the room, so I took them back and left Ciera and Chloe fishing.  Of course, not ten minutes after we left, Ciera caught a fish!  She was pretty excited! We also got to feed some turtles and fish outside of the marina store.  The girls liked that because the fish and turtles were all right there swimming around close.  We had such a great time all week!

HORSES!

One of the highlights of our vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Elvester was the day we went horseback riding.  It was an overcast morning, and not too hot... which was perfect!  When we arrived, we were told that Chloe, Brooke and Autumn all had to ride with someone else (because they were under 12) which disappointed Chloe a little.  However, once we all got in the saddle and started on the trails, I think she forgot all about her disappointment.  The girls were all having a great time.  The horses names were Dolly (Brooke and I), Ginger (Grandma), Cola (Grandpa and Autumn), and Maverick (Ciera and Chloe).  After we got back, the owner cowboy let the girls each ride by themselves on either Maverick or another horse named Candy.  It was so much fun to see how the girls were just loving it!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Lake Texoma with Grandma and Grandpa

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa Elvester for a vacation at the Tanglewood Resort up at Lake Texoma for a week mid-August.  (Dave was only able to come up during the weekend since he was working during the week.  I took time off though!)  I was pretty worried that the girls would get bored, or that they wouldn't think the lake was fun... but, I am glad to report that I was wrong!  We did so much all week and they had a lot of fun.  The resort was a little outdated, but it had pools to swim in, craft times to go to, and cable TV (which is always a winner for my girls!) so it turned out okay.  We did some fishing with Grandpa (Ciera caught her first fish!), fed turtles and fish, played at the beach and swam in the lake, hiked around a bit, and went horseback riding (the girls LOVED it!).  It was so great to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, and we are so glad they were able to arrange everything!  Can't wait to see them next time!

Random Bits of Fun

As I said in my Utah post, Grandpa made all the grandkids bows or swords.  They were unfinished, and we were going to have the kids decorate them while we were there, but we ran out of time.  I let them paint and glitterize them when we got home.  They were all creative.  Ciera and Chloe painted designs on their bows.  Brooke put lots of colors and glitter on her sword.  Autumn put lots of glitter and painted hers mostly black with a red tip.  When I asked her about it, she said it was blood.  Nice.

Autumn was playing with my phone one day and took this picture of me.  It was pretty good... my head was not cut off or anything!  So, I decided to add it in this post because there are not very many pictures with me in them.  I am really here...

Autumn was playing with blocks while we were waiting for her sisters at the dentist one day and asked me to take a picture of her.  She can be really sweet!  She can also be a stinker.  The other day at the grocery store she was getting in and out of the cart, jumping on and off the end of it, and making it really hard to push.  I said, "You know, you make this really difficult."  She replied, "I know.  That is my middle name."  Funny girl!