1st Day(s) of School

Can you believe it?? We already started school, and a whole week is OVER! However... as you'll see later in this post... we skipped a couple of days. I know, it's the first week, but what better time? When they're not yet settled, going over not much but rules, etc. AND... I don't care! Well, I do, but not too much. We had planned to do this before the final school calendar came out anyway, and our passes for Diseyland just came out of the blocked days! Yay!

With that said... here we go!

Lexi started on Monday, the 17th, after only 9 weeks of summer!

This the new outfit she picked out to wear! I have to say that I got a steal on all of their school clothes! Yay!

We had to park all the way up the street and around the corner! The first day is a very busy one. So here we are walking to meet her class inside the gates!

Lexi and Phillip. He was in her class last year. She also has Nadia and Kaleb from last year's class with her this year! Yay!

Her teacher this year is Mrs. Galbraith. She is standing at the front of the line outside the classroom!

Wow. Doesn't she look THRILLED??

And Braeden started preschool with Miss Tammy the very next day! He was soooo excited to wear his Bumblebee shirt!

And he has a cool light-up Spiderman backpack.

Here is his class! There are really only 5 students, but the little guy in the front is Miss Tammy's son, and he participates in most of the activities. Her daughter is on the back left! This will be a fun group! They are all roaring at me like dinosaurs! That's what they learned about the first day!

The three dinosaurs they picked out went to a COLD place, with snow (aka. shaving cream)!

Then they had to dig them out! But Braeden was rather hesitant to dig in the snow! :)
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Then later than I wanted, we left after Lexi got out of school on Tuesday, and headed for Disneyland. We had been planning a short trip with Josh and Leslie for a while. And it was the first week that our passes weren't blocked out anymore! (We left 2 hours later than expected because of a MAJOR sprinkler problem. I had just replaced three in the backyard, hoping that it would help my pressure problems with the last one in the line, when Braeden decided it would be fun to ride his bike over one. It totally broke off and then we had real problems. As it turned out, there was a rock that had travelled all the way through the line, and I had to go get my neighbor to help me. Thank goodness he knows what he's doing, and was so nice and willing to help. So... covered in mud, with water and dirt all over... I had to take another shower, get things back in order... etc. Sigh.)

We got there and spent some time on rides and then watched the Electrical Light Parade. I had planned to leave right after that, knowing that I would spend a long, full day the next day, but since we got there late, Lexi still wanted to ride the ferris wheel. And then, Jody and Chris met us there, and they went on the Tower of Terror. I was sure that Braeden wouldn't go... but he did! And he was okay this time! So, with the lack of only 1 Fast Pass, Josh stayed out and hung with me and Ella! Ella did a lot of climbing on the stroller, pushing the stroller around, and hanging on the stroller!

Oh... and chasing Josh around and around... the stroller!

Even though he hid his head in Chris's shoulder, he is still smiling after the TERROR of a ride!

And you might NEVER see this again... Auntie Jody, pushing a stroller with two kids in it! ;)

The next day we devoted solely to Disneyland... since there were a gazillion people there! I haven't ever waited in a line for Pirates as long as the one that day was. Yikes! Ella fell asleep right before they got back on Thunder Mountain. With Fast Passes and Switch Passes, they were able to catch it 4 times within the hour! Fun stuff!

Can you pick them out?

I got Josh and Leslie, but I clicked a little too late to get the kids...

Rise and shine! She heard the train coming in!

And what's that in her mouth, you ask? She started liking them in July. ???????????????

This is Braeden with his Indy hat. He was heartbroken that he was only a little too short to go on Indiana Jones. And since it was a special trip, I told them they could get something if they would pay half. So he got this in a pack with some other fun stuff! And Lexi... you might guess that she got ANOTHER silly stuffed animal! For which she not only had to pay half, but also give away 3 of her own here at home. She agreed... silly girl. She's got an obsession! (Or... should I say, she has obsessionS??)

They are not the gifted, chosen ones! But if Braeden pulled any harder... he might have popped a vein!

In all fairness... it's HARDER than you might think to take a self-portrait picture while Dumbo is flying!

We stayed for the fireworkd and they had confetti at the end! In Mickey shapes! Fun stuff!

They scooped it up and threw it over and over again... until the blowers and vacuums came to get rid of it! Disneyland is a WELL OILED MACHINE!
And we were going to head back on Thursday morning, but none of us had it in us! So Colleen took the kids shopping for my birthday, and we just had fun! Thanks to Colleen, Josh, and Leslie... for a great time! And a great birthday! A couple of days early!

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Then Friday while Lexi was at school, I had more sprinkler problems... MORE! So my neighbor came to my rescue again. And his daughter, Kenzie, came over to play. And this is what I found them doing. Filling Braeden's inside-out socks with SAND!

Then she stayed for a tea party. Braeden still loves tea parties! They had an array of food, including pretzels, chopped turkey, apple chunks, marshmallows, chocolate chips, cheetos, and mozzerella cheese slices!


This is what happens when Ella does her own hair with the water from the hose. Lovely!
And I am caught up again! Yay for me! I'm on a roll!