Waving Goodbye

This morning as the two oldest were driving out to school, Hyrum rolled down his window to wave to the littles. Lily was out on the front porch in the morning sun, wearing her pajamas and shouting, "Bye! Love you! Drive saaaaaaafe!" Cooper stood next to her frantically waving as he does with a big grin stretched across his face. 

The pepper jelly was labeled and brought down to the canning shelf after I admired the morning sunshine pouring through the glass. 

We spent some time in the greenhouse harvesting cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and the ripe paste tomatoes.

The afternoon brought some outside time on the deck while we waited for the kids to get home from school! We are loving this beautiful weather!

 

Prairie Magic

This afternoon the sun finally came out and we headed to the orchard to pick apples! We picked the rest of the rescue crab and a nice little basket of our prairie magic apples. They are a nice sized apple and super tasty! We can't wait for the tree to mature and give us a larger harvest. 

Lily had a lot of fun climbing the ladder and passing me apples!

Our Sunnbrook apples are almost ready to harvest as well. They are so pretty and also very tasty!

Joe finished his school about the same time this boy woke from his nap, so he lugged him up to the orchard to join the fun. He munched a lot of apples!!

Joe was a huge help finishing up and loading boxes into the quad trailer!

 

We are juggling all of the different ages this year! Just tonight I went from changing diapers and tucking in littles to helping a teen fill out a job application in the dimly lit evening kitchen while braiding my girl's hair before bed. I stayed up way too late chatting with the big kids and I know the morning is going to hit hard tomorrow. 

First Day of School

It's back to school time for this crew today! I'm not sure how the Summer always seems to fly by in a blink, but here we are! Half of them started yesterday, but we made sure to do our traditional group picture this morning before they left on the bus. My heart is always torn between being excited for them and feeling a little bit sad as they head out the door on their first day. They are all growing up so fast and it's so fun watching them learn along the way. 

Lily is doing Kindergarten at home with mom this year, and is so excited to "learn like the big kids". Sawyer is looking forward to grade two! Oliver will be in grade four, and is now the oldest Stannix in Elementary school. Finley is over at the middle school now rocking grade six! Joseph is in grade eight this year and has decided to try out homeschooling for the first time. Hyrum is beginning his first year at the high school in grade nine and looking forward to sports and all the fun things. Camilla is in grade eleven this year and will be driving her and Hyrum in to early morning seminary each day before school.

 

 

 

It's going to be a wild year filled with lots of new adventures!  

Back to School

This morning we were up early as half of the Stannix children started school today! The other half accompanied me to Red Deer to finish up some last minute school supplies shopping. We are using Joseph's homeschool funding to get him a chromebook to do his online classes and all of his work this year!

After the kids left on the bus, I had fun sitting and snuggling this sweet guy!

The sandhill cranes came for a visit this morning too. It was fun to watch and listen to them!

Everyone tucked into bed early to prep for school the next day. This was my view before I went to bed. I love the still hours of the evening when the house is quiet. 

 

Ice Cream Lineup

Today we loaded everyone into the car and headed to our favorite corner ice cream store to take a picture of our Summer ice cream lineup. This has been a favorite Summer tradition of mine for quite a few years. Each year it switches between even and odd ages and it's fun to watch them grow!

This years Summer ice cream lineup ages (almost) 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,12, 14 & 16! 

 

Big Boy Bed

This morning we went out to feed and check on the turkeys. They are big enough to buff up and strut their stuff now. I'm equally fascinated and terrified by them! They are so neat to watch though and make the coolest sounds. They've even started to "gobble". We are so excited for Thanksgiving this year!

Tonight I made the last minute decision to try Cooper out in his toddler bed. It had been just leaned up against a wall in the basement rec room, so we found a home for it in his bedroom and decided to give it a shot. He happily tucked in with his new stuffy from Daddy's trip, said "I love you" and that was that. 

I went back in ten minutes later to find that he had rolled over and fallen asleep. It was one of the easiest transitions we've ever had with a toddler!

Just before I tucked into bed for the night, we all heard a big CLUNK. Sure enough, he fell out of bed! After soothing him and tucking him back in, he slept for a little bit longer before falling out again. The rest of the night continued to be rough and had me questioning my decision to switch him around 4am. We will see what tomorrow night brings!

 

Heading Home

 

Today the kids hung out near the airport at a hotel pool for the day while they waited for their late afternoon flight home! We face timed a few times between swims and I enjoyed hearing all about their trip. They didn't get home until after midnight and went right to bed. I am happy we are all under one roof again!

Beach Day

Today we forgot about the never ending yard and garden work and decided to soak up the sun at the beach! The temperatures have been pretty high this week and we needed somewhere to cool down! We met up with some friends for the afternoon and the boys had a blast together on the paddle board and kayak. They are all so independent now that I really just had to keep a close eye on Cooper and Lily, with the odd check on Sawyer as he kayaked around the shallow part of the lake near the shore. It was great to sit and visit and feel the sand between my toes!

Cooper thought it was pretty hilarious to steal my chair when I got up to throw something in the garbage. Love that goober!

 

While I sent pictures of our time at the beach to Mr. Stannix, he sent me back some pictures of rock climbing and flowriding. This is their last full day on the cruise and they are soaking it all in!

I chuckled when he told me he took himself out for dinner at the sushi joint. He was in heaven!

Then he went to second dinner with the kids in the dining room. 

Lucky guy!

 

A Smooth Transition

This morning I was grateful for the sunshine streaming in through the windows. Now that the leaves have started to turn, the yellow pillow covers have come out! The rest of this week will be filled with enjoying the warm weather, getting the house in order, and some back to school prep to help next week go smoothly.