Tophams on Parade: August

Let's just start right off the bat saying that August was a pretty eventful month. Prepare for picture overload. We had Rachel's baptism, swimming lessons, Katie's birthday, school starting, and a double BYU graduation, just to name the major events! Are you ready for this? Do you dare read on?

We got to out to IHOP with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Scott to celebrate Rachel's belated birthday:

Maliya and Rachel took swimming lessons. And loved it!

Katie and Hayden did not love watching. We stayed and watched a few of the days, and these two normally got banished to the wall to prevent them from diving in! Other days we went over to the library or to the park during the swim lessons.

Some days we went to the park after lessons, so that Maliya and Rachel could join in the fun, too!

Can you see this? Katie is too shy to talk to people she doesn't know. She is too shy to talk to people she DOES know, most of the time! But she loves animals. That family way out there had a dog. She went over and stood by them...too shy to ask if she could pet the dog, but hoping they would offer! 😂

Hayden brought his cars to the park and sent them sliding down the slides. Good times!

We happened to be at the park while the sprinklers were on, one day...Katie had a hay day!

Maliya bought herself a recorder at the dollar store. The kids all love it. The adults do not.

Sometimes going out with dad means you get sweet, new shades.

We're working on smiles. Real smiles in pictures...

Baptism Day! Such a special day! I can't believe my little Rachel is eight! She has been so excited and nervous about this day for so long! She put a lot of thought and prayer into whether getting baptized was the right thing to do and I am so proud of her for it! She had the quiet gentle reassurance that it was what Heavenly Father and Jesus wanted her to do. We were lucky enough to share this special day with one of Rachel's best friends, Ellie!

Here's the nervous girl, right before going into the font to get baptized.

And here is the happy baptized girl right after getting out of the font! She said she felt like Heavenly Father and Jesus were watching over her while she got baptized. :)

Sister Spencer asked the girls if they felt like they looked different, now that they were baptized. They said yes. :)

So proud of this girl!

With her Dad, Grandpa Topham and Granddaddy Dalton.

Can you guess whose toes these are? Hint: left foot does not belong to the same kid as right foot does.

Rachel, breaking out her new scriptures for family scripture study. These were a baptism gift from Grandma Topham. I just love Rachel's little fingers.

When it's Fast Sunday. And Dad has the keys. And he's the last one to leave the church.

Hitting up the library during/after swim lessons. Hayden follows his sisters around non stop. The poor kid had no idea what was about to hit him when school started...

Donut party! I bribe my kids to read. They all three pushed themselves and are better readers for it!

Even Hayden does his "reading"!

My kids are master selfie takers...

Hayden is a master shoe-tower builder...

Splash pad/park, enjoying the last bit of summer while we can!

Maliya practiced hair do's on me:

Maliya's teeth. She's definitely NOT a vampire! Either that or she is a very late fanger!

Activity Days fashion show! The girls got to show off their tie-dyed shoes on the red carpet. I took a picture of the blurb that they said about each of them, too.

The pink dress is Maliya and the red shirt is Rachel.

Splash Pad with cousins!

Rachel and Kash: 1 week age difference.

Dax and Hayden: 2 month age difference.

Maliya and Kyla: 4.5 month age difference.

Katie and Makaida: 1.5 month age difference.

Katie got her turn to do swimming lessons!

And these two had their turn to have to watch! Actually I only made them watch a very little bit. Then let them raid the library.

The park with cousins!

More hair dos!

Katie's birthday! Katie said she had no interest in having a party, for her birthday. Instead she just wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo with Mia, and then out to get a treat. Mia knows Katie well, and gave her these most amazing high heels for Katie's birthday!

She was definitely treated like royalty!

Then it was off to Kangaroo Zoo!

And then out for cupcakes!

When the summer days were really coming to an end, we hit up the Thanksgiving Point Farm with neighbors and cousins both in tow.

And managed to pawn most of the kids off while we took just the youngest ones out for ice-cream, afterwards! :)

Back to school night! All three of the girls had new teachers, this year. So there was a lot of apprehension at our house. Maliya was excited to have a couple of her best friends in her class, and Katie was excited to have a couple of her best friends in her class. Rachel was beyond distraught to find that NONE of her best friends were going to be in her class with her AND that she didn't get the teacher she was hoping for AND we didn't know anything about her new teacher...not even her name! The list just said "NEW" instead of the teachers name! She was so anxious and nervous and sad. But, we talked about how it might be a good opportunity to make new friends, and meeting her teacher really helped alleviate some of her concerns. Here is Katie checking out her new classroom: Nervous, shy and excited!

As school approached, Maliya and Rachel desperately wanted to make gifts for their new teachers. They decided to make miniature emoji pillows. These girls really stretch my crafting skills.

August 18th. Katie is 6 years old! Driving home from swimming lessons, she showed me a really pouty face and told me to take a picture. Then, when I did, she switched to a big smile. She was so pleased with the trick she played on me! Love this birthday girl!!!

August 18th. BYU Graduation Day. Both my baby brother and Brian's baby sister graduated and the same time and place. I didn't want to make Katie sit through a boring graduation ceremony for her birthday, so I found some friends for her and Rachel to play with and just took Hayden and Maliya. Congratulations Jake and Sherlynn!!!

Then, it was back home to make the requested birthday dinner: scones.

And after dinner? We celebrated Katie's birthday with a back to school pool party!

And FINALLY, the day of presents arrived!

Twinner girls with twinner dresses and mermaid tails!

Birthday cake!

Katie got an Elsa bank that she was supposed to paint herself. We worked on it together.

Brian was working on his guns/sights. Hayden wanted to get a good look through one of the sights.

And then??? SCHOOL STARTED!!!

TOO BRIGHT! 1st day of school picture fail.

In her classroom!

Found her friend!

And they get to sit together! Yay!

Maliya's classroom!

Rachel's classroom! Here they all go!

Normally, the first day of school is a day that brings tears...and this year should have been no different, considering my baby girl was moving to all day school...but honestly, I was too busy and stressed out to cry.
After dropping the kids off, I rushed down to Orem, at my dad's house. I cleaned his kitchen, painted his table, and then took Lisa and dropped her off at her day program and then rushed to the park to catch the solar eclipse. By the time I got to the park, there was an ominous brown shadow everywhere. Even though the majority of the sun was covered by the moon, you couldn't tell when I took a picture with my phone!

This kid kept looking without the glasses. Busted boy.

We got to join the Myler/Hansen crowd for this occasion. It was a cool experience.

I'm pretty sure there was something else I had to do between that and picking up the kids, but, honestly, I don't remember what it was.
Once we picked the girls up, we celebrated the end of summer and a successful first day of school with some snow cones! The girls were all excited and relieved to tell me how "amazing" their first day was and how much they loved their new teachers! Best news all day.