Ukulele and Scouts

Ruby learned to play the Ukulele this year! I wish I had a better picture but this is it.

Another not so great picture but here is Sonic doing the announcing at Scout Court of Honor. He has been working hard at getting his merit badges!

Squish turns 6!

Squish gets to have a birthday around Halloween and there is never a shortage of fun things going on! He also shares his birthday with uncle Julio.
 

With the fabulous cake Aunt Lisette made for him. It was just as he requested. Lucky boy!

Birthday breakfast with his biggest present--a huge dog he named Rocky

He had a celebration at his Kindergarten classroom where we talked about things that happened during each year of his life. Then several of his classmates got to give him birthday wishes. One wished him a trip to Disneyland. Another wished him a new car. When the teacher Miss Sherry asked Squish what his birthday wish was guess what he said? "To work for Jetblue like my mom!" Haha, he's a boy after my own heart. :)

After school we went to our usual place--Gardner Village. Squish loves it because it is all decorated for his birthday, we have yummy treats, and he gets to pick out a toy. This year he picked out a big eye stuffed animal named Duke.

New School for the New School Year!

For a while now we have known that some changes needed to be made when it comes to our children's education. We have loved all of the years at Monticello Academy, but our views were changing on how best to educate the whole child and they seemed to be drifting apart from the way they do things there. So we started praying and looking and even thinking about homeschooling, and one day Papa Duck heard on the radio about a new charter school opening up at of all places one of my old hangouts as a kid (were talking 11-14 years old, haha) the 49th St. Galleria! We started looking into it and eventually decided it was going to be a better fit for Sonic. The younger grades were all full so we put Ruby and Squish on the waiting list but didn't expect much.

Then in June I got a call that a spot had opened up for both Squish and Ruby! Amazing! After much pondering and praying, we decided to take them out of enrollment at Monticello and have them all go here. To AISU-which stands for American International School of Utah.

It's a charter school that runs on a Montessori model and believes the child should lead the learning. There is a diverse student body with a high percentage of foreign exchange students and an excellent performing arts program. So far we have been extremely impressed with the staff and the ideas although because it is the first year and there have definitely been some bumps. But I am hopeful that each year it will get better and better and it certainly is nice to have all three kids going to the same school, especially since it goes through 12 grade! Sonic was especially reluctant to switch schools but Ruby and Squish were very excited. 

All three were most excited about NO uniforms!

It's a beautiful school with a blend of changes that they made and also so many things that they kept from the old structure. They do things so differently here-for example there are no desks in sight, only study cubicles, tables, and couch pods.

It is still surreal walking around in this place that was my playground as a kid. We're talking my 13 year old birthday party was held here! Too funny.

We loved that the school year started one week later than everyone else, the day after Memorial Day. It gave us a few more days to play. But soon enough, summer ended and the kids were going to school for the first day. Here they are:

Sonic, grade 8

Ruby, grade 5

Squish, Kindergarten

Here's to a great school year!

Extensions for the first time!

Ruby has always wanted long flowing hair so we decided to get her extensions before the new school year, even though they were SO expensive!! They turned out beautifully but it was a long ordeal. She had them in for about 4 months! Ruby liked having them, but surprised me by saying she doesn't want to do it again, because they take so long to do and they are heavy. 

I think Ruby looks gorgeous in any hairstyle!

Sonic turns 13!

Sonic turned teenager-oh my!!

We threw him a surprise birthday party at the local swimming pool and his friends (both boys and girls) had a fabulous time! Best of all, he was super surprised! We wanted to do something extra special for him since turning 13 is quite a big deal and also because we knew Sonic would be changing schools for next year and wanted him to have a chance to see all of his friends one more time.

Sidney Graduates and CR becomes an Eagle Scout!

Sidney, this gorgeous girl, graduated from High School this year and will be going on to do some serious dancing at the University of Utah! We went to celebrate at the Cheesecake Factory.

And look who became an Eagle Scout!

It's so wonderful to live close enough to family to get to celebrate these milestones with them.

Ruby the Balloon Artist!

Introducing Ruby--fabulous Balloon Artist for My Kids' Entertainment!

She is super dedicated to her craft and is always improving. Here is a penguin that she learned how to make just from studying some else's finished product!

She has done many birthday parties with me and never fails to impress all of the children but also the host/hostess. It has been so fun to see her talent grow and develop through her hard work and perseverance. She is getting a taste of entrepreneurship, working for someone, and having some money of her own.

Nina's 1st Birthday!

Jonas Manuel Photography

Announcing Jonas Manuel Photography!

Jonas launched his business this fall and has done really well. I am so proud of his accomplishments and truly have been blown away by his talent! This is something that he has wanted to do for so many years and it is so wonderful to see him realize one of his dreams like this.

These are some of my favorites:

The Hunt girls

My beautiful Leah

The Browns

Squish's 5th Birthday!

My little Squish is 5! Here he is with his best bud/cousin Gracie! He is the last one in our family to have a birthday so he has been anxiously awaiting this day!

Look at that orange cake made by his aunt!

Happy birthday breakfast on the happy birthday plate and happy birthday headband!

So HAPPY to get what he asked for...Skylanders for the wii!

One of the great things about having an October birthday is the Square Pumpkin kids meals at Artic Circle of course! This year the whole family went!

And I like to have a little day together just me and him and this year we went to Gardner Village and got a "big eye" stuffed animal and did the witch scavenger hunt. Having a birthday around Halloween sure is fun!

Jonas Manuel Photography

Jasmine's closest friends Madison and Ellise

Jonas started his photography business this fall and it kind of exploded which was such a blessing! I have loved watching him get better and better and LOVE what he is doing in the process!

Here are a few gems that he took! This picture of Nina reminds me of Charlie Brown, hee hee.

Back 2 School

Ruby gets a locker this year! She started the 4th grade and it is more like a middle school at their school since she now switches between 8 classes!

Sonic says goodbye to glasses right before school and gets contacts!

Squish starts Joy School preschool with some families in the neighborhood.

7th Grade and 4th Grade!