First week of School

The kids and us survived the 1st week of School. Actually it wasn't too hard on the boys. Ken and I are having a hard time with the adjustment to wake-up at 5:30 am. And Rose and Ginger seemed to love the extra attention. That part was kind of a shock to me. Not that they loved extra attention, but that I was able to give them so much more. I've just been thinking that the boys are fairly self-sufficient and I spend most of my time taking care of the girls. We stayed home a little more and it was definitely quieter, and cleaner too!

But it was also quieter (in a sad way) and a little more boring. We really missed the boys. When Ken dropped them off at school, I was there but driving and we got caught in a traffic jam. So he took the boys and Rose and ran for it. You can't be late the 1st day of school! Anyway, Rose screamed and cried and Ken had to throw her over his shoulder and leave the building. She kept saying, "Brother! School! I want Brother's School!" She pouted the whole way home. And then when I picked them up the first day, she just overheard me tell Ken that I needed to pick them up from school soon and she jumped up ran and got her shoes and socks and tried to put them on. Keep in mind she hates wearing shoes! And it was 40 minutes before I needed to even leave the house. Rose has been missing them alot too. Ginger isn't missing them too much, I think she is glad to have it quieter and glad that she doesn't have these giant boys picking her up or stopping her. Or more importantly telling on her when she is getting into something. Ginger is enjoying the freedom of only having 1 sometimes 2 sets of eyes looking out for her instead of 4.

I'm having to adjust to the fact that I need to make dinners again. During the summer our special family meals together were usually breakfast and lunch. Since Ken is at home and the boys were home we were able to take our time at breakfast and lunch and we ate almost every meal together. Dinners weren't as big of a deal and more of what can we pull out and make. So now I am trying to get back into the habit of making dinner before I have lunch.

Here is a Round-up of the Kiddies:


Darin- He is in 4th Grade. I can't believe it! He has a male teacher this year who doesn't really believe in sending them home with homework, other then 30 minutes of reading. Totally Awesome! Seriously, I never got how the district recommends 40 minutes of homework but the teachers give them that plus their reading time, on top of the whole being in school from 7:35-2:55 I won't even get started on that again! He is also super excited that this year his school is doing PFlex for the G/T (gifted and talented) kids. They will get pulled out of their classes 1 1/2 hours twice a week and work in smaller groups doing advanced research in the things they are interested in. For Darin that means something with computers or science.



Nathan- He is in 3rd Grade this year. So far this year has been enjoyable but not as much fun as Mr. Brown from last year. Nathan also started soccer practice this week and is loving that one of his good friends is on his team. Nathan has been flying through piano lessons too. We have been amazed at how quickly he is picking up the piano. He has been doing 2 lessons a week instead of 1. He seems to really love them. And he has been loving legos recently too, on top of his Pokemon fetish. We went to meet the teacher night and when they would ask him what did you do this summer? Nathan said, "I did a Summer Reading Program." Seriously, I was just like are you kidding me, with all the fun trips and places I've taken you, you are telling people you read over the summer as your highlight! He even told his teacher from last year that, and this is the teacher who chats up the kids about all of the video games he has because he is this 25 year old bachelor. So it's not like Nathan needs to impress him with his reading or anything.



Rose- She has been a super girl this week. It has been quite a turnaround for her, like all of a sudden she has grown up. She is sleeping in her bed, and actually happy and laughing as we go up the stairs. Rose totally loves her sister, her sister without fail will make her brighten up and smile no matter what, even if she is crying or hurt. Rose also loves her Daddy. She will lay on the floor in front of his office door when he is on conference calls. It's cute but also sad, I tried to move her to the couch or her bed. And she woke-up screaming and crying "I want Daddy hold you". I couldn't console her, so I let her down, and she ran back to the hallway and threw herself at the floor in front of her Dad's office door and laid there quietly until he was done. It's a good thing Ken doesn't work in his office very much. Which begs the question why are we building another one??? (see post below).

She also likes to hang out in this closet (it's in the hallway by her Dad's office). One day a few weeks ago we just saw her in there peeking out. She got in all by herself and just climbs in about every other day. All my blankets are a mess but I figure she likes it. I guess it just goes to show you that you shouldn't make your kids sleep in a closet:-) That's where her crib was when she was a baby, not this closet, but my huge 12'x12' closet.

Her other favorite things are dancing and her swimsuits, which she lives in 24/7. She wears them under her other clothes out in public, but around the house she just wears her swimsuit. We thought it would be a phase for a day or two. But it's been almost 4 weeks now.

And the biggest news of all is that she went to Nursery this week! And had Fun! She cried for just a minute when I left. I had to leave her, Ken was teaching Gospel Doctrine and I had to be in the Primary Room. We had stressed about it all week and said many prayers full of tears. And it was a huge, huge blessing that she went to Nursery. For the very first time she played with other kids and sat at the snack table. She never did that before. If/when she stayed before she would go off in a corner with her blanket and suck on her finger. And even with us in there she would never sit at the snack table. But this time when we checked it was a huge relief to see her happy. Of course when Ken went to pick her up, he peeked in and she was doing good, but when she saw him she burst into tears like she was so upset the whole time.



Ginger- She is the sweetest baby ever! Like as in ever, ever! She is gentle and smiley. She is pretty independent but will still come and cuddle me. I am her favorite, which totally strokes my ego! But really she has these huge eyes, with long eyelashes and when she looks at you, you just think you are the most amazing person in the whole world. She is teething right now so she is a little uncomfortable, but it's not bad at all. Ginger is walking all over. She probably walks 1/3 of the time. And she has learned how to stand from sitting, so she practices that over and over. She is also practising sliding off the chaise backwards and climbing in and out of these wicker toddler chairs we have. A little over half of the time it goes pretty well. Otherwise she gets a toe stuck or she slides too fast, or gets scared.