First Day of School, Tractor and Others

I have bad eyesight as it is, but these photos make me wonder if it is worse than I imagine... can anyone take blurrier photos!?

Anyway, it seemed liked school would never start... here are a few more photos of things the kids did around the house in the weeks before school finally began:

Dress Elsie up in ALL the dress-up dresses. Wow, she is a good sport.

They made up some weird costumes. The ones they've done lately that I've failed to capture on camera are ALL black outfits with head scarves or hats and dark sunglasses... then they walk around like they are disguised movie stars.

They also sat around and ate A LOT of food. This is Cam's version of posing for a photo.

Ana had some photo shoots with Elsie. She gets Elsie dressed up in her old outfits and gets Elsie to do the cutest little poses... did I already mention that Elsie is a very good sport?

We did quite a number of house fix-ups. The scariest one for me was when Ana and Jonah had to climb up on the roof to replace the rain cap on the chimney... it blew off in a storm and we've had quite a few birds fly fall down the chimney and need to be rescued out of the wood burning stove...

Anyway, it was scary because the roof doesn't look like the type that could withstand the weight of a child, never mind Jonah and a fairly heavy child. Well, it surprised us and despite its droopiness, the roof help them fine.

We also painted the exterior of the house, painted a bunch more of the interior, etc. etc... I'm waiting to finish the last 5 big projects before I do a BIG "before and after" blog post... so get excited.

Ana loved it up there so much she kept begging to climb up there and hang out. It makes me dizzy just looking at the picture, and our roof isn't even that high.

One morning Jonah looked out to see our most naughty sheep caught int he act of stealing the pig's food.

She ran around and around in circles until Jonah and Ana stopped laughing hard enough to go out and remove the bucket.

The day before school they have an open house and Elsie was quite jealous that Cam and Ana get to go to such a great school.

This is NOT the first day of school because I would never let my son wear pants with such big holes in them to the FIRST day of school. Sheesh. What kind of mother do you think I am?

This is the first day of school... so, I won't let me kids wear holey clothes to the first day, but I will let me daughter wear her hair in scary pigtails. It's all about priorities.

Anyway, aren't they cute waiting for the bus!?

I have been working REALLY hard this year to get up for scripture study with Jonah and the kids and to do Ana's hair before they go out the door at 7:15. But, sometimes I wonder if my efforts are worth it because even though I did her hair before school, this is how she came home.

Luckily, once she realized I was taking photos, she fixed her own hair, so maybe she only wore it like that on the bus. Ana's hair is a true battle. It is SO gorgeous, but so difficult... like most beautiful things in life, right?... and neither she nor I know what to do with it. We just take it one day at a time.

After the kids went back to school, Jonah celebrated by finally buying a tractor!! He got a great deal and loves this tractor so much. Sadly, two days after he got it, he had to leave on a 10 day trip to Utah to visit his grandma and pick up our baby clothes and a new boat, so he had to wait 10 extra days to do his land leveling.... but he's been making up for lost time since he got back a couple days ago.

We missed him SO MUCH while he was gone. It made me realize even more how much he does around here. I'd collapse in bed every night at 9:30 and fall instantly asleep. Elsie asked about 8 days into it: "When is dad coming home?! It is taking him a loooooong time. Is he driving a tractor home or something?"

Also, did I mention that Jonah can fix ANYTHING?! I think I take it for granted... I don't think we've ever had a motor or engine or anything else mechanical that he hasn't been able to mend or improve. The new boat he got wouldn't start and had some problems and instead of buying the $250 worth of parts it needed to get fixed, he tinkered with it until he got it to where it needed only a $2 part to be good as new. It's really quite remarkable. What a great talent to have, especially around here. Love you!