Back to School

First day at Lakeview Academy.

A few weeks before school was to start, we got a call from the local charter school saying that a spot had opened up for Carson (we had applied back in January, but we were wait listed).  Jeff and I were excited for him to go and eagerly accepted the spot.  As it came time for school to start I kept feeling very uneasy about our decision.  It didn't make sense because it is a great school.  He started school and my uneasiness only grew.  I didn't know why, but I just didn't feel good about it.  The Saturday morning after school started, I found myself in the temple seeking an answer.  After much prayer we decided to pull Carson out of the charter and put him back in the local elementary.  It was a hard decision to make because we wanted what was best for Carson, and we thought that the charter was the best decision. But after feeling strongly to pull him, we knew we had to do it. So after only two days of school we pulled him and waited for the local elementary school to start the next week.

First day at Thunder Ridge Elementary.

It worked out well that the elementary school started a week later because Carson didn't miss out on anything.  I still wonder if we made the right choice, but Carson has been thriving this year.  In spite of being in a class with lots of older kids (most of them are already 8) he is still testing at the top for reading and is excelling in math. He comes home from school so happy and loves his teacher.

On his first day of school at Thunder Ridge, we had our Back to School Breakfast.

A few weeks ago Jonas started into Preschool.  He has been so excited to be a 'big-boy' and go to school like Carson.  He is attending a preschool in our subdivision. I've been a little nervous with it because its not the program I trained with in college, but we're making it work for us. He likes his teacher and has fun at school. He's learning lots and has been writing his letters so much better.

Writing his name by himself.

My Little Man is Seven

I can't believe that my little man is another year older! For this little boy, it was a day that started out early.  To accommodate Daddy working the night shift, we celebrated when he arrived home in the morning.  He surprised us all and showed up with a dozen doughnuts and a gallon of chocolate milk. We then opened a few presents and sent Daddy off to bed.

Carson spent a few hours doing his favorite thing: building Legos!  Then it was off to watch a 3-D movie at the Museum of Ancient Life...my first attempt at taking all four little ones to a movie by myself...and we survived! 

We got home from the movie in time to have some birthday cupcakes with Daddy and open the rest of Carson's presents before Daddy had to rush off to work again.

Later in the week we had Carson's real birthday party with family and friends.  We chose to show a movie in the back yard and have a 'Night at the Movies' theme.

Grandpa Larry paid for Carson to take archery lessons as a birthday present.  Carson loved it! 

Grandma Butler

On June 29th, my Grandmother, Ida Maria Koski Butler, passed away.  She was my last living grandparent.

We traveled to Idaho for her funeral.  I was asked to give the family prayer and felt honored to be able to do so.  Grandma was the ninth of twelve children born to Finnish immigrants.  She grew up on a farm just outside of Newport, New Hampshire.  My Grandma and Grandpa Butler were married during World War II.  In 1944 Grandma took a train from New York City to Waycross, Georgia to visit her brother, Orvo, who was stationed there.  It was here that she was introduced to my Grandfather, and after a whirlwind courtship of eleven days, they were married. After the war, Grandpa brought her home with him to Idaho.  They were married 60 years, until my Grandpa's passing in 2004.  My dad is one of their eight children.

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled back to Idaho and were able to see Grandma and Grandpa's headstone that had just been set. 



This poem was written by my Grandfather while he was a soldeir during World War II.



Grandma and Jonas in 2008

August in iPhone Pics

Here's another monthly update from us!  Life is super crazy right now and I have a dinosaur of a computer, so blogging has taken a back seat for now.  Anyways,we started out August by showing our support for Chick-Fil-A. We couldn't believe how long the lines were and the cars in the drive through line were backed up more than a block. I wish I would have snapped a picture of it.

I got a new rug for the living room.  I know, not big news, but I sure love it.

There was another fire by our subdivision, this one caused by lightning. No evacuations, just a lot of smoke.

We went to Jeff's mission reunion up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The boys had fun rolling down hills and we discovered that Jonas has a talent for basketball. 

We spent a lot of time outside playing with friends, riding bikes, and doing yard work. (I like to mow the yard and weed the flower beds because, for me, its relaxing.) We had a few BBQ's with friends and neighbors and spent many nights out chatting with good friends.  I seriously love our neighborhood.  I'm sure I've said that before, but we are truly blessed to have such good people around us and so many kids for our boys to play with.

Aren't big brothers so awesome?

Perfect summer evening in the back yard.

We harvested carrots, green onions, and tomatoes from our garden.  I did a lot of vacuum packing to preserve the onions and carrots.  I also shredded and froze a ton of zucchini.

We even grew a yellow carrot.  Jonas was super excited since yellow is his favorite color.  In fact, when we pulled it up, he exclaimed, "A yellow carrot! Just for me!!"

In mid August we went to a screening of The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure and were able to meet with the producer (who also did Thomas and Friends and Teletubbies) and the writer.  I did a guest review of the movie for Babes and Kids Review.  You can check it out here.

I took the boys in for their six month dental check ups.  We were lucky to find an awesome pediatric dentist a year or so ago and the boys love going to him.  It was Mason's first check-up and he did fabulous! They were able to get x-rays from him, something Jonas still won't let them do.



Waiting for x-rays



 One day I was working on a sewing project when Carson came up to me and asked, "Mom, since you used to teach kids sewing, do you think I could maybe learn to make something?" (He's a lot like me and has a hard time being direct!) It melted my heart and I put my project away and helped him make a little pillow.  He was so proud of it and I was happy we had that time together.  He wants to sew more and I'm thinking we're going to attempt pajama pants next.

The husband went dumpster diving for me to find 2x4's for craft projects.  Love that man.

Carson and Jeff had push-up competitions.  That kid can do a mean push-up!

It was back to school time all too soon.  I'm hoping to do a longer post on this later, but Carson ended up not attending the charter school.  He is very happy back at Thunder Ridge with all his friends.

 The boys love waiting for Carson to get off the bus and often run out to greet him!