Itty Bitty Witte Family: August 2012

End of Summer Picnic

We met at the Peter Pan Park for water fun and hot dogs!

Which for Juliet meant...WATER!!!!!

and boy did she love it!

Mason was SHOCKED by the temperature, but then he was cool with it!

He is tiny, but oh so cute!

The other kids had a fun time running wild while we waited for everyone else.

I look at this picture and was reminded about something that happened this morning.

Scarlett said to her teacher "I am not Bridget, I am Scarlett. I am different"

Her teacher laughed but there are some true words there...

They are different. Scarlett is so sweet and so gentle.

The type of girl who pets bunnies in a field.

Bridget is so wild and fast moving.

She is the type of girl who catches bunnies, for fun...by the ears.

This is okay. Together we are a great little family.

Then the rest of the Witte's came and we had dinner.

Elijah belongs with me.

I always joke about this, but he kills me when we are together. What a great little personality.

We dealt with the wind, talked about how much we miss Uncle Chris, and school.

The kids love being together, and now that the year has begun we will only be spending MORE time together. Which is great because I love my nephews and niece so much!

Even though it makes me miss Little Phil in California.

He was channeling us though, he was grilling!

FIRST GRADE!!!

Lucas was ready to go at 6:30am. When I mean ready, I mean...fully dressed, minus his shoes.

He waited patiently at the kitchen table and was reading a Ready Freddy book.

Just seeing that made me tear up a little.

He then saw me and said, "Can we take pictures now? I just want to get it over with"

So, that's what I did. Silly Boy.

I just can't get over how much older he looks to me. But to anyone else, he looks the same from Last Year except he grew about 4 inches.

We had donuts outside for breakfast.

Krispy Kreme was closed when I remembered to get there last night!
So these worked - not as good, but they worked.

Then we waved to all the kids going to school.

There were even some "Have a great days" shouted!

Then we went to school. Lucas was eager to hand out the treats.

The girls were being a little ridiculous as Lucas left.

Juliet took this opportunity to steal a few more donuts.

Lucas ran back to get a hug from Mason, and then we were off!

This is Mr. H, the PE teacher. Lucas really loves Mr. H and PE.

This is Lucas's teacher. She is going to be great, I can tell. She already proved to me that she is going to keep Lucas on track since he is ahead of grade level in a few subjects, when at the assessment yesterday she kept him an extra 15 minutes to continue testing him to really figure out how to give him the best year possible. Yay!

Lucas and Robert are not in the same class.

Actually, we (the moms) wished they had each other's teachers instead, but it will be okay.

They will see each other plenty, and at least have Sundays!

This is Lonna. She was in Lucas's class last year and they first thing she said to him was "Lucas! I missed you so much! I saved you a place in line next to me." He blushed and giggled, it was so cute.

Lucas was DYING to get in there! He really couldn't WAIT for lunch. Haha.

He memorized his number to quickly, it was hilarious to me.

"1 0 3 1, its so easy mom 1 boy 3 girls 1 boy. 5 just like us!"

Yes, Lucas, yes.

After School Lucas was so excited to see us (and every other kid too) that the door slammed on his face by a girl in the class and he was FUMING mad on the walk home. "She didn't even see me, I have bright orange hair, you can't miss me!" He was so serious about it too.

We had Broccoli with dinner and that cheered him right up.

What a fun day!

The Night Before 1st Grade...

and all though the house, mommy was making Teacher Treats (again) while the kids ran about.

This year we made these:

This is what it said:

An Apple for the teacher…

It’s really nothing new.

Except this year I’m returning,

With more treats for you!

Cinnamon Almonds for Brain Power,

Mint Gum for Fresh Starts,

Chocolate for Sweet Children/Teachers,

Star Stickers for Super Star Learners,

Paper Clip for Organizing,

Personalized Paper Cube to write notes on! Artwork by Me!

Thanks for being here!

Lucas Witte – 1^st Grade Rock Star!

While I assembled, Nathan took the kids on a bike ride.

I had these cubes made and the kids decorated them. I wrote silly things throughout the pad.

I found these on sale, and each teacher got a pack.

Nathan and the kids spray painted the bags, the kids helped me put everything inside.

Here they are...Ta-Da!

Lucas is so excited for tomorrow!

He did a great job on his assessments and Lucas's Lexile is higher than I thought! yay!

I am sad summer is over, but that isn't the end of our fun! :D

Here's to not sleeping tonight...you know, cause we are so excited!

Tasty Surprises

If you have ever seen a brussel sprout plant in action ( I never had) you would know that you need to plant them far apart. We didn't, and so this is what our yard looked like:

image from week seed company

Except ours were horribly over grown and out of control.

But - they were GOOOD!

If it came from our yard, my kids will eat it.
I never had Brussels Sprouts growing up, but I have loved them as an adult,
and so I am glad to give them to my offspring.

They didn't even need bacon! I roasted them with shallots and garlic and my oh my!

We had them with Grilled Pork Chops and Applesauce for dinner.

We will be having them again this week because we have like 200! I can't wait to freeze them, and next year I will probably plant 2. Haha.

Now, we picked up some Kale at Sunflower.
I love Kale, I have been trying to incorporate it more into the kids meals.

It is a weird plant.

First Up, Kale Chips!

I swear to you, my kids LOVED them. I mean, even after dinner they asked if they could have more for dessert! Seriously! Nathan liked them too!

I have been teased at park day for liking Kale so much, but really it can go in anything...

Like popcorn!

Crush it up, add Parmesan and a bit of butter for binding and you have Parmesan Kale Popcorn!

This was so good! I am making it again for our Sunday movie night next week!

If you have a chance, try these two veggies!

You will surprise yourself, on how good they are, I promise.

Berry Fun Day!

We woke up and got going. We do not mess around on Saturdays!

We drove over to Berry Patch Farms. It is so close to our house, we might ride bikes next time.

Chickens and a Turkey(not pictured) greeted us and we were on our way.

Bacon Bits is HUGE!

The strawberry truck had just pulled up so we piled in and drove over. It was beautiful this morning. I think it was around 55-60.

Juju was a little nervous about the absence of doors.

We really love this place. Nathan was so glad he was home to join us.

The girls knew just what to do.

So did Juliet - EAT them!

Lucas went right to the back and found some delicious red ones.

It was so peaceful and quiet and hardly anyone around. The kids were free to roam and take their time.

They were SO sweet! I have never had a strawberry that sweet in my life. It was like eating candy!

Which was why it was hard to keep Jules from eating them!

We took the truck back to the raspberries and went to the side fields.

Again, there was no one there and they were big full bushes.

I tried to show Juliet how to do it, but she was not interested in the how-to's.

Mace was so exited to be with everyone else. He just laughed and laughed and made bubbles.

While we were weighing, we could smell something so amazing. They were roasting chilies (first time of the season) on site. It was a glorious smell, so we picked some up. The farm has a bunch of organic things ready to buy too!