Labor Day

The kids are doing great in school so far.  They are making new friends and finding there way around their new schools just fine.  I even think they are liking riding the bus.

We did have a nice long holiday weekend.  We didn't do much.  Shawn had to work a bit, and we spent time at the pool and playing outside.  It was nice and relaxing.

We have an exciting weekend ahead of us.  Two soccer tournaments and one gymnastic competition.

School Day

We've waited for this day all summer long.  The first day of school.  We set our alarms and everyone woke up early.  Ethan said he wasn't nervous and acted cool all morning, but he probably was a little nervous.  He did admit worrying a little that he might forget his locker combination.  Cole already has several friends from the neighborhood that are in his grade and said he was "mostly excited", but at bedtime he couldn't sleep because he was nervous.  The boys attend the same school and they both have several friends already from their soccer teams.  Liv on the other hand attends a different school, and hasn't met anyone yet.  She didn't even try to pretend she wasn't scared.  The poor girl was scared to death this morning.  The kids all rode the bus for the first time this morning, that too made them a little nervous.    I walked the kids to the bus stop and waited until they got on, then I drove over to the school and made sure everyone got off at the right spot and went inside.  I ended up walking Liv inside to her class, because she was completely lost and on the way out of the school I drove down the "bus only" area...oops!  These next few school days are going to be hard, but pretty soon we will figure out everything.  Just hoping everyone has a good first day of school.  

Ethan requested that I have a basket of muffins on the table every morning, with orange juice and fruit.  I obliged this morning, but I already told him its not happening every morning.

We got lunches packed last night and ready for the morning.

Here are the obligatory first day of school pictures.

Ethan, 6th Grade

 Cole, 4th grade

 Olivia, 2nd grade

And, then I took a quick picture as each of the kids got off the bus and headed off the class.

The Weekend

We started this past weekend with Ethan playing several soccer games, as part of a Tournament his team played in.  He did great, even scored a goal.  But the best part was the team lunch after the games on Saturday.  We pretty much took over Ruby Tuesday with a large group of rowdy 11 year old boys.  It was fun!

We did a little late night swimming at the pool.

We picked up the kids back to school supplies.  This year we ordered them all from a company that takes the kids school supply lists and compiles them for you.  All I had to do was show up and pick up the boxes (and pay, of course).  But it seriously was the best thing ever!

The last thing we did this weekend was have our annual Back-to-school Feast!  The theme we chose this year is from a quote given in a talk by President Monson.  It goes like this:

"Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow."

We chose that quote because there have been lots of changes going on in our kids lives right now. New schools, new home, new friends, new ward in church, etc. The kids are facing lots of challenges, but we wanted them to know that each challenge will help them grow stronger. The rest of the talk by President Monson reminds us that the Lord will never forget us and will always be there. We talked about that also. We talked a lot about trees and how they grow, what they need to grow and how that applies to us growing into what the Lord wants us to be. We watched a video about the Legend of the three trees, which is a great story about three trees who had big plans for what would happen to them when they got big enough. But none of them got what they wanted, because the Lord had different plans for them, and these planes were better than they could have ever imagined. Sometimes the Lord has different plans and takes us on different paths than we ever thought possible. But if we trust in Him, we will be blessed. We shared this with the kids and then we all signed our names on a tree stump piece that we would promise to become "good timber" this year and be strong.

We finished off the night with our annual "Big Carrot" search.

And then Shawn gave the kids each a Priesthood Blessing.  It's always a wonderful part of the back to school preparations.  The spirit was strong as I watched each of my children receive their blessing.  I felt gratitude for their wonderful spirits and that the Lord has allowed me to be part of their journey here on earth.  

More Scout Camp

Ethan's scout leader just emailed me a few pictures from scout camp this past weekend.
It looks like Ethan had fun!

Scout Camp

We sent Ethan off on his first scout camp-out this weekend.  He was really excited.

Cole and Liv are missing him like crazy.  I took them to run errands with me on Friday after gymnastics.  We had to stop for donuts because they were bored :)

Lately...

We've spent the week trying to get a little more settled, organized and moved into the new house.  Our biggest goal has been getting the driveway finished so we can actually drive up to the house.  Carrying groceries in from the street is not fun.  We've made lots of progress on the driveway and the kids have been enjoying the part that is finished.  We still have a little bit left to pour, but we are close.

 We've been trying to soak up as many pool days as possible.

 This last picture makes me laugh.  Shawn and I moved all our exercise stuff down into the basement and set up a little gym space.  Cole and Liv got up early one morning and this is where I found them. Cole often asks, "let's go to the gym for a workout."

Moved In!

We are finally getting settled into the new house.  It's taken a few days, but its great and feels like home.  We are still missing some furniture, but for the most part we are loving it.

Our house is crazy right now with trucks and workers trying to finish everything up.
It looks like this most days,

They will start pouring driveway tomorrow.

My mom and step-dad spent a few days with us to help move in.  It was great to have some help, but mostly just to have company.  We miss spending time with family on a regular basis.

My  mom and I took the kids swimming during all the moving in craziness.  The pool had tons of little frogs swimming in it.  I thought it was pretty gross, but the kids had fun scooping them out.

Earlier that day the construction workers found a snake in our yard outside.  

Too many reptiles in one day!

Liv finally lost her front tooth.  It's been dangling for a while and she finally got the courage to pull it.