First Week of School Aug. 13-19

We have FHE evening on Sundays usually.  Damon and Tyler are doing better at preparing their own lessons.  It was Damon's turn this week.  He did a nice lesson on Scripture study and prayer.

 School started on Wednesday so we tried to pack in our last fun activities on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday we went to Splashtown and we picked up our free souvenir cups.  The kids were pretty excited about this.  We don't drink pop a lot and getting their own big cup was pretty cool.   It has been a fun summer to go swimmin. The kids said they wanted season passes again, so we'll have to see if we can do it again.

The other fun summer activity that we like to do is get a group of kids together to play Poison Ball.  Sometime we get too many kids, too loud and crazy.  This time it was more manageable and the kids had a fun time playing that in the afternoon.

Monday evening we went to meet Chris and Tyler's teachers.  Chris has Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Pastor.  They seemed nice and Chris was excited to meet them.  

I ran home and picked up Tyler to go to his school.  He is now in the intermediate school.  They didn't have things very organized there.  We got there too early, but it ended up being a good thing so we could get in line early and got to his teachers quickly.  They put the students in a group of 4 teachers and they rotate through their classes in their hallway.  They also have a fine arts class and PE.  Tyler chose to be in choir.  Tyler happened to be put in the same group as Damon was - so it was good that I knew the teachers already and I think they were good teachers.  They all remembered Damon and could see how Tyler was his brother.  Tyler was excited to be at the new school and to be growing up a bit. 

Tuesday I hosted a last day of summer swim party at our pool.  I didn't start in the greatest moods because the kids had been whining and complaining in the morning.  But by the end everyone was having and fun time.  We had a couple of families join us.  We ordered pizza and I brought some watermelon and carrots.  It was nice to swim and then come out during the breaks to eat some more food.  

We got our backpacks ready and had baths in the evening.  The girls were especially excited Tuesday evening in anticipation of the first day of school.  

Wednesday: First day of School!  We got up at 6:20 to get everyone ready.  I was grateful that Doug was around to help.  I have to be more ready now that I have to do hair in the morning.  The morning went smoothly and we even had time for some pictures.  

We drove and parked at the school so we could walk the kids to their classes.  Jenna and Kaylee went right in.  They sat right down and started playing with their play-doh.  It was so busy that I didn't even have time to get emotional.  My baby girls are in school - crazy!  Chris went to class just fine too.  I hope that this year is better for him.  He does fine at school, but getting him off in the morning was pretty rough last year.  

 

We started the older boys right off on their bikes.  Doug and I rode with them the first day, mostly so we could take a picture.  Tyler with the Chandler brothers, off to 5th grade at Tom Cox. 

Drew and Damon nervous and excited for 7th grade at York Jr. High!  

 

Well, the kids did great the first day.  The girls were excited to tell me all the things they did.  Kaylee was a bit sad when I meet her at the sidewalk at dismissal.  She was nervous that Jenna or Chris wasn't there to walk with her, but we got that all sorted out now.  It is so hot after school, and they haven't been letting them have recess because I guess they have a rule when it is over 95 degrees.  I hope it starts to cool down soon so they can go outside.

Thursday and Friday went ok with school.  Chris had a hard morning on Thursday.  We bought him lace up shoes and he needs a bit more time to get those on in the morning.  And no one can help him or touch his shoes or he blows up.  He had one shoe on already then got upset and threw that one off too, sigh.  I hope he grows out of this stage soon.

I was busy during school, Wednesday a friend held a back to school brunch for the moms.  It was fun to socialize and enjoy being kidless!  Friday Doug and I went to Splashtown together.  It was great to be there early - it wasn't too crowded.  Again there are benefits to being unemployed, however we are starting to be ready for Doug to move on.  He has some final interviews next week, so hopefully we will have some more information/answers soon.

To celebrate the first days of school we took the kids to Wendy's to get some frostys.  Then we watched part of a movie.  Jenna however was not following directions and missed the movie and all of her screen time on Saturday.  I hope she realizes that good things happen when we make good choices.  I love being a parent, sigh.

So, instead of screen time Jenna helped me make pies on Saturday.  We invited a family over for dinner and we made banana cream and key lime pie.  They were yummy and gone too quickly.