Spencer Clan!: End of Summer and Start Of School!

So that last week of summer holidays we just stayed home and got things done around here. Plus a few of us were sick. So we were trying to feel better before school started! We had a garden this year. And I'm proud to say we did pretty good. Richard is the one that deserves the credit. He's the one with a green thumb around here! Anyways, we got a real good crop of cucumbers, zucchini, beets and beans. The kids helped me pick everything from the garden and we went to work. We washed and cleaned the beans and then put them in freezer bags. We got a few of those. Then with the beets we would clean and then blanch them in a pot. Then I would take the skins off. Then we chopped them up and put them in freezer containers. So now we have beets ready to eat, all we have to do is warm them up. We also pickled some beets. We got 24 jars of pickled beets. Then with the cucumbers we made those into pickles. We had some HUGE cucumbers so I sliced them and did it that way. We got about 15 jars of pickles. So exciting!

We had so much zucchini, so I decided to shred some of it and then chopped the rest. We did that so we could freeze them. The shredded stuff we can use for baking. Then the chopped we can eat for dinner. We got a lot of freezer bags full! The kids liked helping me do this. It was fun to get it all done and see our results afterwards!

Abbi helping me shred the zucchini!

And it's ready to go in the freezer!

School started a week earlier then usual this year. I wasn't really ready for school to start and neither were the kids. But, it started anyways!! Ha ha! That means I started driving bus again too. So I got up Monday morning for my bus route and the kids were getting ready for school. We had picked out their clothes the night before and made lunches too. It was a full day of school for the 1st day. I was a little sad. I did my bus run and then went straight to the school. The kids came on their bus and I met them in the school to take them to their classes. The girls were too cool for me to walk them into the room. I said bye to them out in the hallway. They didn't want me to take their pictures either! I took DJ to his room and he wanted me to go right in. So I helped him put his stuff away and he met his teacher and then he got to choose a seat. He was being super shy, but I could tell he was excited to be there! I stayed for a bit then gave him a hug and away I went! So weird to have all my kids in full time school!

DJ with his teacher Mrs. Fisher.

Trying to figure out where he's going to sit!

I snuck a picture from the doorway! He's getting so big and grown up!

We usually have a little back to school party at lunch time on the first day of school. But since they had a full day, I planned something for FHE instead. I went to the store and got each of them a stuffy. They all love to play with their stuffed animals. Then I went on line and figured out a theme for our school year. Then I made them each a little card with our theme on it. I found a little "treasure box" and put their stuffies in it with the theme attached. Then I went and hid it outside. I did the clues and hid them around.

Coming home on the bus!

After supper, the kids were super excited to do our FHE lesson. I sat them down and talked about how this is a new year and how we need to try hard to be kind to each other. I told them that it takes courage to always be kind. Sometimes you will be the only one, but you need to have the courage to step up and always be kind. So yup, our theme comes from Cinderella it's "Have Courage and Be Kind". I love it. It's something we all need to work on. I showed a few pictures of different Prophets that had great courage. Then I told them that they get to go on a treasure hunt. Of course they were excited about that. So Richard and I followed them around as they ran everywhere. It was a huge hit. They loved it! They put cards that said, "Have courage and be kind" on their new bulletin boards in their own rooms.

Running to their next clue with the treasure hunt!

They flew down stairs for the next clue!

Ha ha....love this picture of Cadence running through the door!!

Reading the clue by the dog house.

Running to the bus for the next clue.

Cadence's turn to read the clue!

Running to find the treasure!

They found it!

Finding what was inside!

Their cute stuffies, with a kinder surprise and their little card!

Then we came to the kitchen and had a yummy sundae! They thought that it was great that I had all the yummy fixings for a sundae! I think we can call our FHE back to school lesson a success! Yay! I love my kids so much and am so grateful for them in our lives!!

Sundae time!

Whipped cream....yum!

Big bite....and their our theme on the mirror!

And more whipped cream!

The sundae idea was a huge hit!

We had some rainy days on the weekend. It was the long weekend and we were thinking of going camping but then I looked at the forecast and said nope. We weren't going in the rain again! So we stayed home and got some more things done! The kids went out in the rain and had fun in the big mud puddles! Oh and on Friday I babysat Keira and Emmett. They came home with me on the bus. It was rainy out so we had to find things to do inside our house. Sure enjoy having these two kiddos over!!