Where has the time gone?

And I'm not just talking about summer. I'm talking about how in the world do Kirk and I have a 3rd grader and kindergartner?! It seems like only last year that Justin started kindergarten. I missed that day because I was on bedrest with Devin. Kirk got the honor of taking our oldest to his first day of school that year. Just look at how cute he is in this picture taken 3 years ago. Again...where does the time go? I remember being so sad that I didn't get to participate in that exciting (and to him...traumatizing) time in his little life. Luckily he had a good daddy to help him through that.
And here he is - a proud 3rd grader and not so excited to be starting up school again so soon.Avery, on the other hand, couldn't get there soon enough. She's been asking all summer...no, make that since she turned 5 in February, when she gets to go to school at Justin's school. Now I got my turn to take our child to their first day of school. We got there a little early to take a few pictures first. Aren't they sweet?After dropping Justin at his class Avery and I headed over to Avery's class. We got lucky and got Mrs. Oakes. Justin had about an hour with her when he was in kindergarten and his class and her class overlapped. Those were the good ol' days when they went for 3.5 hours. Now they go from 8:58 (I know...what?!) to 3:22! At age 5! Such a long day for those young kids. Oh, don't even get me started on that soap box. It's a very sore subject with me. ANYWAY, the parents come the first day and then it's an early release just so they can get a feel for it before staying so long.She was very excited to have a couple of church friends (Jake Draeger and Dallin Waldron) in her class.
And so we're off for another exciting school year. I just can't believe it's here already and that we now have TWO kids in elementary school.

Last hurrah of summer

As a last event for the summer we headed over to my parents house in Huntington Beach on Monday to spend a few days. It was a fun-filled few days and a great way to end the summer, which I'm just not ready to do yet. I still can't believe school starts on Monday. Where did the time go?! Anyway, Monday Kirk took the kids to the beach while I went to a photography class with my friend Allyson. We met them there at 6:00 and enjoyed a bonfire with our friend Colleen and her family. Of course I don't have any pictures because I had my camera for the class and then after the class my head was going to explode from the info I received and I couldn't bring myself to take my camera out of the car. But it was a fabulous time!

Tuesday we headed back to the beach for a few more hours. Devin had such a good time! It was so nice to have him happy and enjoying what he was doing for more than 5 minutes. Please just indulge me while I put a few pictures of him on here. It's very rare I can catch him long enough for a smile, so I am very excited to have gotten these pictures of him...

When we first got there he ran to the water only to be knocked down by a wave and then it scared him enough that he just wanted to stay up on the blanket or next to it for the rest of the time and play in the sand and eat Doritos. Justin and Avery had fun playing with the boogie boards and playing in the surf. It was a lot of fun.


That night Kirk went home so he could work the rest of the week and I went out to dinner with Allyson and Colleen and then went to their book club to discuss the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. Since it is the ward I grew up in I knew most people and it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and talking up the book to death. After, we went to get a little dessert. Yum! Wednesday my mom treated us to a boat ride from one part of Long Beach over to the area by the Aquarium of the Pacific and by the Queen Mary (about a 40 minute ride 1 way). It's only $3 a person each way. Such a deal and the kids loved it!

Here is what our catamaran looked like. At the half-way mark we got off and walked around a little bit and my mom bought us drinks.


We decided to make our day a day of boats, so we then went over to the ferry in Newport Beach and took that over to Balboa Island and back. Such a thrill!

Thursday I took the kids to the park for a bit and then Target to look at toys (one of their favorite things to do). I didn't bring my camera on purpose. I thought they deserved a little break from my madness. Ha. Then later my mom took Justin and Avery for ice cream while my dad stayed behind with Devin while he napped and I headed over to some model homes in the area with Allyson to gawk and dream. For a mere 3 million dollars we could have a home with 4,000 sq ft, an ocean view, no front yard, but a decent backyard. That's just criminal! We headed home at traffic time, but didn't hit too much and made it home in great time. Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful 4 fun-filled days! We love you!

Fishing

Yesterday we rented a pontoon boat with our friends, the Benedicts, at Diamond Valley Lake only about a half hour from here and went fishing. We woke up at a much too early 4:30 am to eat a little breakfast and get ready. Natalie and her family arrived with the babysitter that would stay with their baby, Audrey, and Devin at 5:30 and off we went. We got out on the water by about 6:30 and got across the lake to our fishing spot only for Kirk to remember he forgot to get a fishing license back at the office. So, back we went and he got a little exercise running up the STEEP hill back to the office. We finally got set up to fish. Avery had the fortunate opportunity to catch the one and only fish of the day. It was her first fish ever and although she didn't want to touch it, she was very proud! Some of the day we spent just driving the boat around and Josh and Natalie both got the thrill of driving a boat for the first time. They loved it! It was a really fun day and we made a lot of good memories. After such an early morning, it's not surprising the some of us could barely keep our eyes open. Thanks, Benedict family, for spending a full filled day with us on the lake! Let's do it again soon.

The Sumida's recording studio

This is what I walked in on after being out of the room for a while. Don't you just love kids imaginations?

Ain't he handsome?!

I just got back from taking Justin to get his picture taken at Sear's. I'm always so pleased with the job they do. Today was no exception. Justin gave us his true smile and the photographer did exactly what I wanted. She took them a bit further back, so we had room to zoom in to what I really wanted when we sat down to do the ordering, which is what I did. For his 8x10 that we hang over the fireplace I chose the first picture, but zoomed in further than it shows here. Sorry to brag, but this boy should be a model in my book!

Yum!

Just wanted to share this simple and obvious idea. Obvious to most people, but if you're me...not so obvious. Yesterday, on the last day of Safety Town, the parents were invited to come for a nutrition mini-seminar while the kids learned self defense. During this short presentation the woman gave a great idea called the nibbler tray. The idea is to have this out all day and let them graze when they want with lots of good, nutritious things. The above tray is what I put together this morning. It was a hit right away, but I'll have to be sure to switch the choices up a lot to keep them from being bored. Thought I'd pass along this good idea. By the way, in case you're wondering, that bottom right slot is peanut butter for dipping the apples and carrots.

Safety Town

Earlier this month I enrolled the kids into an interactive safety course that was offered through the city. My good friend, Natalie took the kids for me most of the week since it's harder for me to leave during the day. Thank you Natalie!!! If it weren't for you they couldn't have gone. It was every day from 9:30-11:30 and they learned about fire, gun, water, animal and bike safety, nutrition, 'my body is mine' and what do do when someone abuses that and self defense. It was all done in a fun way and they really enjoyed themselves. They even had a little graduation today to celebrate all they learned. It also included a kit with their fingerprints and ID cards and a disk all about them so if they ever went missing (heaven forbid!) we have something right at our fingertips to give to the police. Above is a picture of them with Sam Benedict. Our city certainly has some neat things offered to families. I still need to catch the free movies in the park that's each Friday night. Yeah, maybe next week. :-)

Justin's 8!

Justin is officially 8. Today he started the day at Safety Town (there will be an entry about that at the end of the week) and then had his friend over for a few hours. After Kirk got home we all went to Mimi's for dinner (he already had his party back in June remember) and then came home for some cake. Justin, we love you so much! You are such a sweet boy with such a kind heart. We are proud of the boy you have become and the young man you are growing into. We are blessed to have you as our son. Happy birthday, sweetie!!!