My children are little Amway people again...

If you are family, you may have already gotten an email about this... check your junk folder if you have not. Both Will and Xan have been turned in to little sale people yet again this fall. They get their first prize by emailing 10 people each... which is why you got an email. However, they both need to sell 5 items in order to get the first prize, which, of course, they both want to do. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. And, if you can't that's OK, too. Trust me, we know times are tough!


Be sure to use one of the kids' codes for Hellen Caro Elementary School:


Will: 624969
Xan: 107061


Click on the link below to begin shopping...or cut and paste the following into your browser's address bar if you can't click on it. http://www.charlestonwrap.com/shop_now.php

When you purchase items, you will be allowed to assign 1 point per item purchased to the child whose code you used after you check out. They each need five points (items) to get the first prize. Thank you! 

Jill and Luke are engaged!

Luke popped the question Sunday! No wedding plans yet, but here is a photo of the ring:




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First day of school 2011

The school bus arrived at 6:17 a.m. this morning, and the kids were ready to go. Will said he was excited to go see his friends and meet his teacher, and Xan couldn't wait to ride the bus for the first time. Here are the photos from this morning:

New shoes, new clothes and official sizes...

Well, it's official: my kids did get taller over the summer and are skinnier than ever. But not for a lack of eating! I know some of you family members like to get the kids clothes. This is very much appreciated, but we have a lot of some things and not enough of others. So, if you are inclined to purchase clothing items for Will and Xan this fall and winter, here are the sizes and what they could really use:

Will
Will is in a size 12 slim jean. Old Navy seems to fit him the best and don't shrink up as bad as other brands. Do not by loose-fitting jeans, they just bag up. Will would love some long pants, jeans and cargos. He is a 10/12 in shirts and could really use some nice long sleeve, button-down and polo shirts. He is drowning in long sleeved tees. His shoe size is 6.5 mens. Not the easiest size to find, but he has two pairs of sneakers now (thanks Aunt Jill! See the video below), so he should be good. He's got new underwear, too.

Xan
Xan is in a size 7 SLIM jean. And I mean slim. Old Navy seems to fit him best, also, for the same reason as Will. This are pretty baggy on him already, since he is a twig, but the length is great. He is fine on pants. Actually, he is fine on everything because we have a bunch of Will's hand-me-downs. The only thing he might need in the pants area is one or two pairs of jeans for school. We have some new ones, but the hand-me-downs from Will have holes in the knees - that was Will's sliding-across-the-floor-on-his-knees stage in life. But shirts (he's a size 6), PJs, etc., he is just fine. He is also doing well with size 13 shoes. He has three pairs. And he also got new underwear.

If you would like to see the kids opening their shoes from Aunt Jill, here is the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MxXzolTkok

School begins in T-minus 33 hours...

Will and Xan went to Hellen Caro's orientation Friday morning to meet their teachers (Paul, Peggy and I went, too!). Xan has Ms. Williams, who has been a teacher a Hellen Caro for 19 years. Xan was quick to give her hugs and really seemed to like her. Side note: Peg liked her, too. Here is a photo of Ms. Williams and Xan together. He is thrilled he knows how to spell her name already!

Will is in the self-contained gifted program and Mr. Sublett is his teacher. Mr. Sublett was sick on orientation day, although he did call on Thursday afternoon to say how excited he was to have Will in his class. He had heard good things about Will from last year's teachers. Mr. Sublett has taught at Hellen Caro for 9 years and is a retired Marine Corps helicopter pilot. He was also Hellen Caro's teacher of the year two years ago.

The bus driver also called this evening and will be picking up both boys on Monday morning - between 6:15 and 6:20 - yikes! Xan is excited to be riding the bus with his brother - he's been looking forward to this for years.

I met with my teaching mentor today at UWF and think I am geared up for teaching this semester - at least for the first week! Peggy and the boys went with me and got a short tour of the campus. The kids were very inquisitive about how it all worked. They also got to play with the children of my department chair and teaching mentor's children (the Dr. Kellys are married and have three kids: 11 year old girl, 8 year old and 5 year old boys and I have had both as instructors) in the computer lab in the communications building. Peg talked with the male Dr. Kelly for quite some time while I met with the female Dr. Kelly. Confusing, yes, which is why I usually call the female Dr. Kelly by her first name, since that's how I was first introduced to her.

California so far...

   I left Thursday to fly to California to pick up the kids and the weather has been gorgeous since I got here. Either that, or I have forgotten how nice California is in August, thanks to the hot humidity of Pensacola! Either way, I have been outside a lot and my tan has made an appearance. Meanwhile, I have been spending time with the kids and the rest of my family, especially G.G. Yesterday we headed over to the Starbucks on the Lake at Rancho Santa Margarita. I happened to post to Facebook about it and my oldest friend (as in length of time as friends, not age!), Corrin was there, fishing with her day and two youngest sons. Here are some pictures:

Clockwise from top left: Josiah, Joshua, Will, Xan and Brandon.

Corrin and me

   Today was a trip to Disneyland: The boys and I tagged along with Joseph, Gina and Brandon to the Happiest Place on Earth. We got there at 8 a.m. and managed to get through Autopia, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted House, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones in less than two hours! Also managed to fit in lunch, Star Tours, Toontown and Small World. We were home by 4:30.

Xan was not a fan of the Indiana Jones ride.

Fun on Splash Mountain

The Sorcerer and the Jedi

An altercation with the storm troopers outside Star Tours.

   In Tomorrowland they have the Innovention building. Inside they have the "High School Reunion" computer generation of your image - so you can see what you will look like decades later. All three of our images were pretty freaky:

Me

Will

Xan