First Day of School

The typical first day of school post. Although I wasn't ready to send them back, they seemed ready to go. Both Abbie and Avery had a great first day of school yesterday. They were so excited to see friends and get to know their new teachers.

Abbie has her first experience with a male teacher this year. Mr. Giacomino seems like a good fit for Abbie. From what we have heard he has a great mix of fun and learning (what she needs). I still can't believe that she is in 4th grade. When I dropped her off her little group of friends were so excited to see each other. So cute!

Avery has a great teacher this year named Mrs. Jones. We kind of already knew her because Abbie is friends with her daughter. We were able to meet her even before school got out last year, which I think has helped with Avery's anxiety. She even mentioned to me yesterday that she just felt comfortable in her class. I can't believe that she is in second grade already.

Aliza had to get in on the picture taking too. She will start a one day a week preschool next week with six of her friends from church. Although it is only one day a week for only a few hours I won't know what to do with myself with everyone in school. Crazy! So cute that she even did the same pose.

Did I ever mention how great school uniforms are. They are FANTASTIC!!!

The Volcano

Abbie loves science. At the library a few weeks back she checked out a bunch of science books and even started taking notes in a new "science journal."

I figured that before school starts back into full swing next week we should do an official science project. She wanted to make an erupting volcano.

Voila!!! I love the surprised look on her face. I'm just glad it really worked.

Phillips Family Cookoff

My kids love looking through kids cookbooks. We rarely really make anything out of the kid cookbooks so I thought it would be fun to let them each pick one item to cook before school starts next week. It was interesting to see what they each picked. Originally I thought that maybe one of them would pick a main course or silly snack so we could do all of them in one day, but not my kids. They all picked dessert. Either we have a real sweet tooth at our house or there mom doesn't make actual dessert often enough. We gave each of them a night to make a dessert all by themselves.

Aliza went first with these cookie pizza's. She had a great time squishing the dough onto the pan into a pizza shape, then topping it with melted chocolate chips, marshmallow, nuts and m&m's.

Voila! The marshmallows were toasted on the cookies which made them extra yummy.

Avery went second and originally picked pumpkin pie which is one of her favorites. When we were at the store buying all the ingredients she spotted an oreo cookie pie mix that she just couldn't pass up. So we made that instead. Look at that cute toothless grin.

It wouldn't be baking without licking a few beaters with batter on them.

The finished product was really yummy!

Abbie graciously went last and picked a cherry turnover recipe which was really fun and easy to make. I never thought to actually make them before. She had a great time squishing the edges together.

Very gooey and messy, but a fun treat!

Cute Lizzie

Three is such a fun age. It makes me sad to even think that my youngest is growing up so fast. A few days ago Aliza was painting and I had to take a picture of her creativity. If you look closely you can see a rainbow, spider, and snakes. Too cute!

While the girls were practicing their jump roping she decided to join in and give it a try. We were all shocked when she could really do it. We couldn't stop laughing because it caught us all so off guard. I thought maybe it was a fluke and she wouldn't be able to do it again, but I grabbed my camera and she could keep doing it.

Check it out:

Swimming Lessons

We finished swimming lessons today. It was so fun to watch each of them progress over the past few weeks. All three of them passed off their level and can't wait to work on the next level.

At home I have Aliza in a life jacket in the pool so that I don't have to worry about her. She loved the freedom of no jacket at lessons. She has turned into a little fish.

I did learn that taking lessons in the middle of the Summer here in Vegas is not fun for the mom waiting outside of the water. It had to have been at least 120 degrees some days with the humidity of the indoor pool. Next time will either be at an outside pool or during the Fall through Spring sessions. It was too hot for my liking.

Cousins

The same day that Avery had her dental surgery we were lucky enough to have my nieces Taylor and Tessa stay with us for a whole week. We had so much fun playing with them and spending quality time together. I didn't take a lot of pictures because we spent a lot of the week just hanging out at our pool. We did take a trip to the strip to see the lights, we played at the Rec Center, made it to the M&M and Coke store, Hoover Dam, and Lake Las Vegas. I hope they had as much fun as we did.

At the Coke store we tried a sample tray of Coke products sold all over the world. We had a great time discovering new tastes (16 to be exact). Some were really good and some were REALLY nasty.

It was fun to taste them and try to guess what country they were from. Very interesting!

While Taylor and Tessa were here we also had a visit from Micah's brother Daniel, his wife Mikaela and son Shad. Of course I didn't get any great pictures of them either, but we had a great time. It was fun to watch little Shad play in the pool. Hopefully we can have them stay with us again. We love having house guests!!!

She did it!

Avery has been dreading this day for years, but she made it through. A few years back it was discovered that she had an extra tooth growing up in her gums in between her front permanent teeth. It was the strangest looking tooth growing up towards her nose rather than down like it should have been. We waited a few years for her to be old enough to have the anesthesia in the doctors office. The dreaded day came and she was very brave. Micah and I have said for the longest time that it was too bad it was Avery only because she is terrified of needles and/or doctors of any kind. I think this has to do with having two sets of tubes in her ears and her nervous personality. In fact when Abbie had to have four teeth pulled a few years back she just giggled through the whole procedure (she loves doctors or dentists). I was even starting to wonder if Avery would walk into the surgeons office or if I would have to take her kicking and screaming. To my surprise she was very brave. She had a lot of tears, but was only really panicked at the very last 30 seconds before she fell asleep.

I feel so blessed to have listened to the spirit in picking a doctor that would work so well with Avery. Having only lived in Nevada for a short time we did go to a pediatric dentist that I knew nothing about. I figured we would just give him a try, and as he was explaining the procedure for Avery I just had a feeling that he would not be a great pick for her. I felt really uncomfortable with his office and decided to research other options. When I found Dr. Moxley I just had that feeling after talking to them over the phone that it was the right place for us. I made the appointment and all of my worry about the surgery disappeared. I was comforted in knowing that we were in the right place. On the day of the surgery I couldn't have asked for his nurses to be any kinder. They walked Avery through every step so that she would not have any surprises or "scary things" as they put it. They let me be with her until she was completely asleep. In fact in our first meeting of the Doctor it was apparent to me that he was indeed LDS. Found out that he lives in our stake and his kids attend the same school. Not that you have to be LDS to be a good doctor, but it was apparent by the feeling that I had that we were in good hands.

Avery did really well and got the surprise of losing her two front baby teeth that day also in the procedure. She only had a few stitches and by the night of her surgery she was doing really well. It really helped that two of her cousins were flying in to spend time with us that very same day. She was so excited to see them that I think she forgot about most of the pain. Even more exciting that the tooth fairy paid her a visit for three teeth at the same time. :)