Survival of the first day of school

We all have survived our first day of school. Jim was a bit nervous for his master's classes. Meghan has been on cloud nine because she is finally with kids from middle school (or should I say 8th grade which has been her MOST FAVORITE GRADE). Paige is just in her element of being a social bug at Lied Middle School, and Madison is just a bit nervous about forgetting her new teacher's name on the first day of school. Parker woke up early and couldn't wait to get to school. "No first day of school tears for my mom, I am the 4th child and she is excited to send me to school", thought Parker . He wasn't all too excited to take pictures to document the memorible event. He did think I would stay outside the classroom door for two and half hours so he was a bit confused when he had to walk to the playground to be picked up.

MOM!! No more pictures. That is enough!! I want to go learn. On his second day of school he proved to his teacher that counting is easy. He had a TEST to see if he could count to 10 and he went up to 72 when the teacher stopped him for another student. He wanted to see how far he could count but he does have to leave room for improvement.

Madison and Parker were so eager to go to school. I wish there was a special bottle to capture all the excitement and release the excitment back on them in January when school is getting to be just school and just part of the daily routine. We shall see how long this excitement lasts. I survived all my classes as well last week. I started a week before everyone so I had a head start of everyone. I will finish before everyone too. Now that we all are back in school, we get to all have study time and quiet time. YEA!!!!! We shall see how long that lasts.

We have one week of summer left and we have done some exciting things last week as we wrap- up the summer . I took the kids up to Mount Charleston to a hike we took with our neighbors last fall, but never found the real trail head. I was determined to find it and complete the hike for Mary Jane Falls. I almost missed the switchbacks because it is not clearly marked, but we were pointed in the correct direction from a friendly hiker close by. It was a great hike. A little harder than I expected but the kids did great. I owe my THANKS to Meghan and Chad for helping me carry Parker at times when his little legs just hurt with pain. Following are some pictures we took at the top enjoying the waterfalls. Everybody got a little wet from the falls, but Meghan decided to drench herself in the water.

At the top of the falls we climbed up into this little cave so to speak. Meghan didn't like the tight closeness of the cave but she was patient so I could get a picture with everyone.

Last week we also celebrated Madison's 9th birthday. She loved the apron I made her and was so excited to take a couple of friends over to her uncle's home to use his COOL POOL. Thanks uncle Steven for the use of the COOL POOL.

We bought a bunch of noodles to play in the pool and afterwards Madison gave each of her guests a noodle to take home as a reminder of the awesome fun they all had. We shall see how interesting this Fall is with my family. I am enrolled in my second yearof my Master's at UNLV, Jim has decided to start his Masters this fall, and all the kids even Parker will be in school. I have decided that we are an "Education Family" this fall as all of us will be in school learning new things. It should be very interesting how all of it will come together. Stay tuned!! Hopefully, Iwill be more organized to post something about our family each week.

Happy 9th Birthday Madison

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!! I sure have enjoyed the last NINE years with you. Hope you have a wonderful day with all your friends. Love you much.

Our week out of the heat.

Our week out of the heat was very, very fun this year. We started out at Bryce Canyon and camped out for one day then we traveled to Durango, Colorado where we always have a week long of work and fun.

Smores: Yes, our family loves to make smores. We made them all the time while we were at Grandma Sheila's and at Bryce Canyon. Yummy treat.

Our first stop on our week out of the heat was Bryce Canyon. We camped out and then went and explored Bryce Canyon from bottom to the top. We really enjoyed seeing the sights and spending time as a family.

This year on the little farm we were able to make an abundance of applesauce. We ended up with 26 pints of applesauce, 13 quarts of apple juice, 2 batches of apple/apricot fruit leather (fruit roll-ups the old fashion way) and 4 batches of apple/cinnamon.

Mowing the fields and the lawn was another little project we all enjoyed doing. In fact, it was so popular that we had to make sure everyone got a turn.

While we were at Grandma Sheila's we also had many little projects to do. Jim built a flowerbed for my Mom and did all the hard work of leveling the stones and getting them in place. Paige repainted an old milk cabinet from my Great Grandmother, Mama Nartha Priestwich and turned it into a cabinet to hold Mama Nartha's old china that has been in storage for twenty years.

We had a great time at the farm and the time always goes too fast. If you want to see all the photos we took on the "Week out of the heat" go to Meghan, Jim, or mine facebook pages to see the full album.

Way to go Madison

Madison had her all-star swim meet today. She did super great. She qualified in the 25M butterfly and the 25M backstroke. She surprised us in the butterfly by getting 2nd place overall and it was very, very close. Her time and the 1st place time was separated by .10 of a second. Very close. She did so well and we are very proud of her. She was 6th overall in the backstroke. She improved so much this year.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Okay, I haven't posted since Paige's birthday and that was a while. I am trying to figure out why nothing fits anymore. I guess there has been a lot of updates that none of the backgrounds I like fit my blog anymore. I am in the process of figuring it out. Like always I have good intentions to write but have been busy the last little while with school, work, and dealing with Jim's unemployment that now has gone on for almost 5 months. School will be done Aug. 4 and I will have a good 25 days of break from my Master's program. We as a family are planning to visit my mom in Durango for a week and then when we get home we can get serious about school for all of us. YES, all six of us are going back to school. Jim and I will be working on our Master's and then everyone else in their respective grades, and Parker will start Kindergarden. Hopefully, I will figure out everything in the coming months for all to enjoy the updates of the COFFEYBUZZ.

Happy 13th Birthday Paige.

HAPPY 13th Birthday Paige!! I am glad you are my daughter. This is one of my favorite pictures of you when you realized you LOVED italian dressing. You sat down in the kitchen and began drinking right out of the bottle. Paige still loves italian dressing to this day. You have grown into a beautiful young lady. I love you lots. May you have many more wonderful birthdays to share with us.