Me and My Boys: August 2018

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Caleb's 11th Birthday

A big change in our family recently is that Matt is now a seminary teacher and coordinator. So he is at the church every morning at 5:40 am encouraging kids to go to class and filling in for teachers as needed. He usually goes straight to work from seminary but came home on Caleb's birthday after class so that Caleb could open his presents.

Caleb is playing soccer this fall for his sport-of-choice.

This kid is getting quite good at ping pong.

I met Caleb for lunch with some Chick-Fil-A at school and then a friend came over to play after school. I made his birthday request for dinner: beef stroganoff this year. He also surprised me by requesting banana cream pie for his birthday dessert.

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for dessert.

He ended the night by going to scouts, his first time as an eleven-year-old scout. (He was less than thrilled to spend his birthday in this way.)

We love Caleb so much! He is such a great kid and so well-rounded. He is a good example to his younger brothers and very responsible when we leave him in charge.

Caleb's Book 3 Suzuki Recital

On August 12, Caleb had his book 3 Suzuki Recital. I forgot to take a picture the night of with his piano teacher, but here is Caleb a few days later with his certificate. These recitals are a big deal because he plays the entire book of songs memorized and polished with great attention to detail. A huge feat!! Caleb does have a tendency to rush, so his sonatinas got faster on the runs. He also completely blanked in the middle of one of his songs and forgot what came next. But overall he did amazing. He is so talented and works so hard!

First Day of School 2018

Bryson was really excited for his first day of kindergarten until he actually went to school. The day was long and a few little things upset him: the teacher asking him to stop doing something that wasn't actually him doing it and getting in trouble for lining up at the wrong time. There have been a few mornings where he absolutely refused to go to school because he just wanted a break. Going 5 days this past week was tough.

Carter and Caleb have both adjusted well, but they both don't like the number of hours spent at school each day. Carter has been very patient with biking with Bryson to and from school each day.

About 10 days before school started, Bryson finally learned to ride a bike! It wasn't his fault that it took him so long; we didn't do a good job of consistently teaching/practicing with him. Any time we did family walks or outings, he rode his scooter. He has done very well riding to and from school each day. The scary part is that there is a lot of bike traffic each morning/afternoon on a small sidewalk. He has had one accident where he rode into the grass to avoid crashing into someone, but when he tried to get back onto the sidewalk, he fell and skinned his knee badly due to the different level of sidewalk/grass at that one part. It was one of the reasons he refused to go to school the next day.

Austin and I have been adjusting to hanging out just the two of us at home. We do something fun each day (outing or playdate) and then he helps me tackle a cleaning/organizing project in the house. With a year off of teaching preschool, my to-do list is long for things I want to accomplish this school year!

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Family Vacation 2018 Part 2

Wednesday night, Matt arrived with his uncle's wave runners so that was our Thursday activity!

Matt and Austin on a short slow ride.

Matt and Bryson

Waiting for turns on the wave runners!

Friday we went to Inner Space Cavern

Water balloon fight and launch

Relaxing in the outdoor pavilion

Gavin, Benson, Morgan, Carter

Austin and Carter

Benson and Carter

Me and Benson

Family Pictures

While playing on the water mat by the boat dock waiting for a turn on the jet skis, Caleb caught a lip to the elbow so I took him to the Urgent Care on Saturday for some stitches.

Before shots--bite on the inside and outside that we were worried initially was a tooth that cut through the lip.

After stitches

(looks worse than before because of the shots)

He was a champ! This was our first set of stitches in a house full of boys!

The Shurtliff family vacation is something we look forward to every year. We had a great time with cousins and family. :)

Family Vacation 2018 Part 1

The Shurtliff family reunion this year was at a property on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas. Matt wasn't able to join us until mid-week due to work so we spent the first half without him. :(

Camp Sandy

On Monday we celebrated Drew's birthday who is officially a teenager now.

We enjoyed kayaking several days.

The lake was extremely low and this mud was absolutely disgusting.

Despite the heat and humidity, we spend a decent amount of time playing outside. There was a fun obstacle course where we had some "friendly" competitions.