School Supplies!

Saturday we all got together for mom's school supply giveaway! We had it at the cabana and pool in the community that Mom and Walt live in when they are here in the Prescott area. Tobie and fam drove up as did Aunt Shelley. We had a blast! Stetson is proudly showing off his red bag of goodies and Jennie shows how excited she is she doesn't have to buy folders for the boys.

Holy school supplies batman!

The fight over cool pencils.

A buttload of folders!

All the bags of goodness!!!

Stetson is so proud of his pink folder, he thinks he is quit the cool kid and loves to take pics of everything. Including himself, plus he will quickly pose for any camera he sees.

Two thumbs up for all the stuff mom bought, good job Nana!!

This year instead of just buying the supplies she made all the kids earn them. She devised a point system of things they should be doing daily and weekly. Things like, brush your hair, teeth twice a day. Keep your room clean, listen to your parents, no pouting (that one got Kody), no fighting with your bros and sis'. There were bonus things like, pick flowers for mom, shine dad's shoes, read to younger sibs, and read a book. This is where some kids were able to make up for losing points elsewhere.

After mom sorted and handed out everyone's goodies it was time to sit and listen, before we dug in to a delicious sub from Walmart. (By the way if you have a big party coming up, they were GREAT! The bread was awesome and it was packed with meat!)

Mom discussed the importance of working and earning things instead of someone just giving it to you. The kids were hungry and mostly listened. Each one was asked what they learned from this activity and most answered the standard way, listen to your parents. I think they just wanted to eat and get to the pool. Sorry mom, I enjoyed the talk, but I think the kids were more interested in playing. Of course what else do you expect when you get 11 cousins together?

Then we let them hit the pool! We had to share with a few older people, since mom lives in a 55 and over community. hehehehehe But they didn't seem to mind, in fact one couple was very nice and talked with the kids and even gave us a hard time. Too cute.

While the kids swam we got to spend some much needed adult time talking by the pool and enjoying each other's company. It was great to have Aunt Shelley there, even if she is showing her age by walking with a cane...hehehehe Love ya Aunt Shelley.

We even took a little time to visit Danny in lockup. I always told him, if he didn't straighten up he would end up behind bars. lol

By the end of the day we were all ready to go. As we headed to mom's little gingerbread house to pick some of the sub, (I think mom was trying to feed an army) Craig hoped in with us for a fun ride over. Poor Sammy was wiped out! He swam his little heart out and even slipped in the pool while throwing a water ball at one of the kids. Don't worry Lolo the bestest big sis caught him right after he went in and mom didn't have to jump in fully clothed!! Sammy had a great time and didn't even notice that he didn't get as much stuff as the other kids. I love this age where they just don't really know what is going on.

Thanks mom for all the school supplies! IT was a wonderful day with everyone here. It does my heart good, to have all of us together, including Aunt Shelley, that is one thing I miss very much about Phoenix. Impromtu trips to Mom's for swimming and hanging out. Danielle was the overall winner with 1611 points, (mostly impart to the face that the she spent the first 3 weeks of the program away from home and earned the points for listening to parents and not fighting with bro and sis.) Kody ended up with 945 and Lolo held tight with 951. I was very proud of Lolo, at the beginning of this activity she was pretty sure she would not get anything. Go Lolo!!

What a fabulous day!