Starting School - Spanish Immersion

Brielle started first grade. She was very excited and just a little bit nervous, mostly about learning Spanish. Oh, and about what outfit she would wear. You know how everyone else had pictures of THE outfit their child had chosen for their first day all laid out on the floor? This is how our floor looked that morning.

Brielle was starting at a new school with new friends, new teacher and going to be there all day. Big change. I was a bit nervous too. All the nerves went away when we arrived at school the first day. Her best friend from preschool, also named Brielle, was standing there waiting for her. She put her arm around her and started introducing her to all of her little friends at this new school. Brie never really looked back at me, except for a quick hug. She stood there all huddled up in this little group of girls all chatting away excitedly. Amazingly, at this new school in a new program that is lottery to get in, Brielle has four friends from her preschool class and two from her kindergarten class. What a blessing. She is thrilled to be with them again. I had a hard first day having her gone so long. She's never been gone that long before. I'm happy for her though and now we are all adjusted.

 We changed schools so that Brielle could be in a Spanish Immersion program. We had REALLY hoped she would get in. We applied and then waited for the lottery and were THRILLED when she was accepted. Now she, and all of our children, will go through elementary school with half of their day in English and half completely in Spanish with a native speaking Spanish teacher. They never hear this teacher speak English. Those that we know in dual immersion are fluent in the language by second grade. WAHOO! Love it.

I've had a few mixed responses to us choosing a dual immersion program for our kids. There are so many reasons we really wanted this for them. Some of the most important are:

1. We (Scott and I) both speak Spanish and both served missions in Spanish speaking countries. I love the language and I really love the people of those countries that speak it. It is dear to my heart.

2. We live in an area with no cultural diversity (or any kind of diversity). This has always concerned me. I'm happy living here, but I do want to offer my kids any chance to learn about, appreciate and love other cultures, countries, languages and people. This is one way I can do this. Brielle's teacher this year is from Spain and next year is from Columbia. She gets to learn the language, but also so much of the culture. I want our kids to be adventurous and go out into the world and be happy and comfortable and appreciative of everyone and everything they find there.

3. The United States is one of the only countries (including third world countries) that doesn't teach first graders a second language. And we are really low on the scale when it comes to public education. It will be such an advantage to know a second language, especially one that is so commonly spoken around us.

4. Learning a second language REALLY helps you understand the ins and outs of your own language better. I learned this big time in the MTC.

5. My dream is that one day, when our kids get to about 6th grade and are fluent Spanish speakers, that we can take them to do service or humanitarian work in a Spanish speaking country. I think it is vital that they see how so many people in the rest of the world live compared to our extremely blessed lives. And how cool to be able to speak the language when we go!

Those left at home that first day of elementary school were jealous. They strapped on their own backpacks and pretended to be going off to school just like Brielle all day.

 Well, the day for Ava to start Preschool again finally came. She got to return to Ms. Chris, who she loves, and to a class of friends that were all in her preschool class last year. Easy peesy! She is very happy to be in school again.

 And now, I am left at home in the mornings three days a week with just these two hooligans. Everyone is very happily going about their new schedule.

Child Labor

Yes, we had a lot of good summer days, but it was not all just fun and games all the time. (My dad will be glad to hear that.) Just so my children don't think that their summers were spent playing and more playing, I'd like to document what also went down with these kids this summer. Some real child labor. 

Mondays are our cleaning and laundry day. The kids had jobs to do all morning to help me with cleaning the house. Zachary's job was wiping down kitchen chairs. He became a real pro - at both the wiping and the whining about it.

Brielle had to dust the living room and family room. She also had to make sure the playroom was picked up (a big job) and clean the shutters.

The real truth is that Ava is my best cleaning helper. She is great to have around on Monday mornings. She was in charge of clorox wiping down her bathroom, cleaning the windows on the patio door and wiping down walls and doors to get rid of all the finger prints.

We would also take it outside for some weeding and dead heading of flowers. This was a favorite job. Oh, they also had to water the tomato plants and flowers every day.

Then these poor, hard working, young children also had daily jobs like unloading the dishwasher, cleaning their room and making their beds. Their mother must be sooooooooooooo mean.

And every afternoon they needed to work on their school workbooks to keep up with letters, numbers and coloring. Once we got started this was really fun. 

Please, just don't haul me away for running this child sweat shop because the jobs will just get tougher next summer. Ha.

Summer Days

Summer days are over. We've moved on. Here are some of the highlights of how we finished strong to the end. 

Meeting new baby cousin, Liz Allred. Landon and Sarah had a new baby girl that we got to go meet when she was just days old. Beautiful.

Growing tomatoes in the garden. Ava was in charge of the potted tomato plants this summer. She watered them every day. Now she picks her red, ripe tomatoes and brings them into me. We all get to enjoy "the fruits of her labor". Delicious!

Bees Baseball Game with Playgroup Friends. We had a family night at a Bees Baseball game for Playgroup. It was so fun to be there with some of our favorite friends. 

Zachary getting brave enough to hug the Bee . . . right in the crotch.

One of the players threw Ava his baseball cap as soon as the game was over. Lucky girl.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens - Two Buck Tuesdays. We always hit up Thanksgiving Point in August when they offer "Two Buck Tuesdays". We love following the map and walking through the gardens. It is beautiful. We took Tawna and Brielle's friend Natalie (who's mom just had surgery) with us.

Exhausted after being let loose to run.

Feeding the fish.

Picnic lunch with rolls and homemade strawberry jam. 

Seven Peaks. We all had a "Pass of All Passes" for the summer, which meant we got to go to Seven Peaks Water Park all we wanted . . . for free. 

Scott spent the day there with us (and every mother and child in the Salt Lake Valley) and said, "So, all the moms just go do fun things with the kids all day and spend all the money while the dads are at work." About right.

This was Brie's favorite thing to tackle. Scott and I were the only ones to do the water slides.

Kate lounged the day away pool side.

A Baby Blessing for Elizabeth Colleen. Ok. Hands down. Sarah Allred is the smartest new mom I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. She and Landon hosted a brunch before baby Liz's blessing at their house (three weeks after she was born) and they served Eggo waffles. Seriously. They are both excellent cooks, but for this, they plugged in a bunch of toasters and threw in some frozen waffles. Loved it. I mean, why do we ask a woman who has just been through nine months of pregnancy, delivered a baby and is exhausted to host a baby blessing get together? Thank you Sarah for taking it easy on yourself. It really was yummy too.

Date Night to the Sandy Amphitheater. Our favorite summer date nights are to the close by Sandy Amphitheater. It is outside, has a beautiful view and they always put on some good shows.

With Greg and Cindy to see The Piano Guys. (Seriously, look them up. Awesome.) We had a picnic dinner of sushi and edamame and then a snack of cherries, smoked gouda and crackers. 

 Jessica and a friend joined us for the musical "Aida". I had always wanted to see it and it was actually REALLY good.

Willow Lake Hike. A lovely hike to one of our new favorite, quite secret, spots up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Jessica joined us for the march up the mountain.

Picking Peaches. Our good neighbors shared their peach and pear trees with us this summer. We went and picked . . . 

. . . . . . and then turned all those peaches into these .  . . 

. . . . and 24 of these.

And now I have all of these bad boys to contend with. A lot more canning will happen . . . tomorrow.

Hike Up Ensign Peak. Our good friend, Jeni, and her family moved to Utah. We are so excited to have her close and especially to get to know her husband and cute kids. Our first adventure being together again was a hike up Ensign Peak to overlook Salt Lake City.

Check out those crazy eyes!

Cheese!

This girl honestly cracks me up.

Posers.

Me and Jeni - reunited and it feels so good.

We finished the evening at Temple Square and then City Creek watching the fire and water show.

It really was a great summer. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting to do whatever we wanted. I'm thrilled though to be back at a schedule and routine of school and dance and piano and chores. Good-bye summer days. You were good to us.