1st day of Kindergarten

Parker getting ready to go to his first day of Kindergarten. He has been waiting for this day for a year now. He has afternoon school, so he keeps asking me if it is time to go. He has probably asked about 25 times now. We are leaving early and walking just so we can say" it is time." Lining up to go into school. The lady with her hand out is his teacher, Mrs Belnap.



Parker playing on the school playground. Waiting for his teacher to come out and get them.

Ready to go to school!

Parker said that the walk home from school was a killer! It was HOT out there.

He said that his favorite thing about school was the cubby for his pack pack.

They read the book" The kissing hand" and "Playground manners". He said that they didn't learn very much. He thinks kindergarten is going to be easy. We will give him a few weeks to see if he changes his mind.

I was so impressed with him. When I dropped him off he gave me a hug and said see you later. I was excitted for him to finally make it to kindergarten. There where other children clinging to their mothers and crying, some mothers crying as they had to leave their children. It was bitter sweet for me. No tears, this is my 5th child sending to school so I guess I am use to it now. I have to admit that the 2 hours of a quiet house sounds good, also.

School, do we have too?

The children have started school. Some of them aren't to happy about it though. They had too much fun during the summer. All of them like their teachers and they have all had homework, already. Except for Parker. He had his kindergarten pre test today and kindergarten starts tomorrow. He is so excited, he can hardly wait. He is also counting down the days for his 6th birthday on September the 2ND. I can't believe how much cleaner my house is with the children in school. And I can actually get things done with out hearing "MOM". It is sort of nice. Loren is in Ireland for one week, for business. He calls everyday to see how we are. He says he is tired of all day meetings. And that the time change is hard on him. He will probably be use to it by the time he heads home. Oh well, that's life-crazy. Susan our birth mother is about 36 weeks a long and says she is ready to have this baby. We would love for it to be born early, but not too early. I think that we are prepared for the arrivial of this baby. We will see what we have forgotten when we bring her home, I guess. The adoption is semi-open, so we only know a little about the birth mother and we will not get to meet her. But we are so grateful to her for choosing us as the adoptive family to raise her child. We know that she is making one of the most selfless acts that a mother can make. And by doing so, answering our prayers. We think of Susan as a part of our family. Parker is always pointing to things at the store and saying,"mom, we should buy this for Susan". It warms my heart to know that he thinks about her and understands what is happening at the young age of 5. Paige is beside herself at the idea of having a sister. She talks about it all of the time. I know that she will be a great big sister and a big help with the baby. She told me the other day that she isn't excited about all of the people that will come over to see the baby when we bring her home. Because that means she won't be able to hold her. I laughed at that. I told her that the baby isn't going to be held 24/7 anyways. That babies need their space and quiet time too. I don't know how Paige felt about that. But I'm sure she'll figure it out. Well, I need to finish laundry before all of the noise and chaos begins...children getting home from school.

Wow, one more day of Summer

The last week has been a busy one. Last minute school shopping for the kids and hopefully we are finished until teacher send home their supply lists. The kids have had their last slumber parties and late nights for quit a while. We started having the kids go to bed earlier to get ready for getting up on time for school. Some of us have to be early risers. Braden has to be at the bus stop at 7:00 for High School and then Paige catches the bus at 7:50. I had the Elementary kids moved from the 8:00 schedule to the 9:00. Parker is in Kindergarten this year and they are only on the 9:00 schedule. I didn't want to have to make four trips to the school during cold weather, so we switched. Parker was in an A.M. class but I had him switched to an afternoon one. I am teaching Preschool in our home in the afternoon and didn't think he'd enjoy coming home from kindergarten and having to do preschool.

We all have been cleaning house and throwing out broken or worn out items. Also a few items made it to a thrift shop. Braden's room was the cleanest I have seen it in a long time. In fact, Paige thought it might just be cleaner than hers. So she cleaned her room. I went to take a picture of Braden's room the next day and guess what? Clothes all over. He needs to clean it again so I can get a picture for proof. I* started washing carpets again. I can't believe how fast the can get dirty. I trying to get all of the big cleaning jobs done before we get our baby in September. We are so excited! We have started counting down the weeks.

Summer is coming to a close

How can you tell summer is coming to a close? Canning begins! Today, Braden and Parker helped me make home made spaghetti sauce. We got 4 quarts worth. It smells so good...I want to eat it now. How bad is that?

This is an ultra sound picture which we received from Susan.

Pictures from the boys fishing trip to Strawberry Reservoir.