Nani Goes to School

On August 19th, 2009 Nani started her loooong journey of education. She is in the first grade at Springcreek Elementary School, and loving it! Nani loves to learn, and is very bright and creative, (if I do say so myself!) So school is a great place for her! She was lucky enough to attend 2 years of a district sponsered preschool, so this is not all new for her. In Utah the cut-off day for attending Kindergarten is September 1st, and Nani's birthday is September 6th, so she needed to wait until now to start Kindergarten. Well we decided that 2 years of preschool was prep enough, so we had her tested to skip Kindergarten and she passed with flying colors! We did not know if she was going to go into Kindergarten (starting on the 31st) or first grade (starting on the 19th) until 2pm on the 18th! Luckily she was so excited about school, there was no time for being nervous. :)

Here she is, new clothes, new backpack and all! She was so excited, she was up dressed and ready a whole hour before it was time to go to school! She seemed so big all of a sudden, even helping her little sisters do their hair! It is fun to have a big girl!

We had met Nani's new Teacher Miss Pothier the day before, and loved her right away. She is everything a first grade teacher should be...So bubbly, kind, and sweet. She made Nani feel SOO special. (Excuse the picture...the flash was half covered and I didn't want to take any more time up to snap another!)

This is Nani's new classroom. She is right in the middle with her friend from dance, Pisila. That was a nice scene to watch, when they saw each other there was an excited shout of "Nani" and a big hug , I am glad Nani has a friend right from the start.

Here's to a good year!

Having Nani on a 'big kid school bus' is what makes me nervous. It is hard to not be able to protect your little girl all the time. Luckily she has a little neighborhood girl friend that she can buddy up with. A sweet story on that little girl is she has been very kind to Nani when she does feel sad. Nani told me that they 'made a deal to help each other out'. So cute!

Waiting for Nani has been a tradition for us for 2 years...but last week she informed us she wants to walk home alone with her friends. :( Maybe I am NOT ready for a big girl! Actually, once winter comes, I will be so happy I do not have to wait out on the corner with my other 2 girls...freezing!

Happy Independence Day!

July 4th is always a fun day for us. Usually we attend the free breakfast at Maceys, see the hot air balloons in the morning, watch the parade with the Crippens, and then throw our own little fireworks and watch the big fireworks show in Provo...this year we decided to do things a bit differently.

Louis, Tino's younger brother surprised all the Hopoate family with jet skis to play at Utah Lake with. We had a BLAST! Here he is taking out Kea, Nani, and our nephew Drason.

Cousins, water to play in, and food to eat...Samara's perfect day.

Sondra's youngest boy Dexton, just being silly.

Tino and I headed out into the water...It was so fun to just hang on and let him try out tricks with the other boys. I was like his little biker chick...but on water. :) I did drive too, but was a bit too cautious to have too much fun. We were SO sore the next day!

The girls just playing...and modeling.

Tino always seems to be the BBQ man when we get together. He is good at it, so will just keep it that way.

It is no hawaiian beach, but everyone still had a lot of fun. We swam, went on the jet skis, and took the kayak out.

When the lake fun was over, the day had just begun...

We were given free tickets to see the 'Stadium of Fire' here in Provo, Utah. It featured the Jonas Brothers...and sounded like a lot of fun for our little Disney fans. When our nephew Dallin heard where we are going, he told us "I am their biggest fan!" So we decided to let Samara sit this one out, and bring Dallin along. Here he and Nani walk into the stadium together.

Look close and you'll see the Jo-Bros. It was fun when I knew the song they were playing.

Kea was excited with all of the dancing, fire, and music...can you tell?

Dallin...the 'biggest fan' was the best air guitarist I have ever seen!

Nani, all smiles...and Dallin still wailing away on his guitar. :)

The night ended with a big bang, or actually A LOT of big bangs. It was a great show, and at the end of it we were just covered in ash...too funny. When we went to pick up Samara we were VERY happy that we had left her with Sondra and brought Dallin because even the little pop-its had scared her!