First Day of School

Not much has happened since the last time I blogged.  Only...

the most incredible Scandinavia trip with my parents and siblings,

a last trip to the beach with the Evans and Harris's,

moving across the country (leaving a huge piece of my heart in Virginia),

the girls having incredible experiences at girls camp and EFY,

Lake Tahoe,

Bear Lake,

the start of construction on our new home,

small space living,

McKenna playing in two soccer tournament championship games (that were NOT held on a Sunday!), and

having a high school athlete (which is turning out to be way more fun then I anticipated).

Nope, not much at all!  I've already started the process of once again playing catch up, but in the mean time I need to document the big first day of school last week.

Abby: 9th grade at North Cache

How is it possible that I have a daughter in 9th grade?  It's crazy!  I'm grateful she'll still humor me with first day of school pictures!  :)   

McKenna: 7th grade at Cedar Ridge

This girl on the other hand is always up for a little photo shoot!  

Zach: 5th grade at Greenville

So grateful these boys have each other!  They will be riding their bikes to and from school together until we are able to move into our new house.  They're pretty excited about that and feel pretty grown up and responsible.  

Gavin: 2nd grade at Greenville

If I think this year will be crazy with kids in three different schools,

 next year will be even worse...they will all be in different schools!  So including preschool that's 5 kiddos in 5 different schools!  

The neighborhood we are building our house in has a very fun first day of school tradition.  There is a neighborhood potluck breakfast for the elementary school kiddos and then they all get on the bus together.  It was so fun and we were so glad to be included.  

 I brought a few varieties of muffins, but other then those it was donuts, donuts, donuts galore!  My boys were in donut heaven.  Next year I'll definitely be bringing some fruit!

It was quit the line up for the bus.

 I even got a turn around wave goodbye!

Man alive is starting a new school is hard and oh so scary.  I was on my knees much of the day praying that they were having good experiences, and most importantly that they had someone to eat lunch with!  They handled it so well.  Most everyone had a good first day.  It helped so much that girls both were already on sport teams so they already knew and had a connection teammates.  And for those that struggled the first few days, things seem to be getting better little by little.  This whole starting over thing takes time, and there is no easy way around that.   I'm so proud of each and every one of them.  They are learning that they can do hard things (again!)  They are being pushed outside of their comfort level.  They are discovering who they are and who they want to become.  The are seeking comfort and strength from their Savior in a very personal and meaningful way.

Meanwhile, Grayson's world was suddenly turned upside down!!!  By 9:00 in the morning he had asked 12 times when the kids were going to be home from school, and 15 times when his preschool started.   I had to get him out of the townhouse so we went to lunch to have our own little celebration.  He's never short of conversation or funny expressions.  

Grateful the first day is behind us!

A few funny first day observations:  

The girls say most people have blond hair, and it it's not naturally blond they bleach it...even boys.

They also say just about every girl uses a curling want to curl their hair every single day.

In Zach's own words, "I've never seen so many white boys with perfectly styled hair!"

Welcome to Utah guys, welcome to Utah.