And Away They Go

Once again, it is that time of year when we load up on school supplies and the kids are off to school. The days are much quieter. Luke and Ben are no match for their older siblings when it comes to noise level and mess-making. They're good, but they're not that good!

The house stays cleaner, we are all more organized, meals become more of a regular occurrence....

BUT....

gone are the lazy mornings of sleeping in and getting a late start on things. Mornings come early around here now! The kids got their first taste of "the routine" this past week, waking at 5:50 and beginning practice at 6:00 am.

Let me just say that mornings are CRAZY! Out of necessity, my kids are quite independent, and even Maddy gets up and makes her own lunch. (Sometimes the older boys help.) Scott and Josh help get breakfast for everyone. With all the practicing, hair-doing, traffic-directing craziness, I feel like I might possibly rival Brek, the ultimate multi-tasker, during those early morning hours!

Once school lets out, the craziness resumes. Between football, dance, gymnastics, piano, violin, and soccer, we do a lot of running! And then there are the usuals....dinner, homework, scripture study, etc.

As crazy as life gets, we are all ready for the change. I am definitely ready for a little more structure, and the kids were excited to see all their friends again. It is so great when the kids get out of school, but, I must admit, it is also great when they go back!

Here are a few pictures of the kids on the first day of school. Not the best turn-out, but with four nervous kids, it was the best I could do. They were SO worried about being late on their first day. Especially Scott! We would have had plenty of time for pictures were it not for the bottle of fingernail polish that crashed on the tile floor and shattered! Yep....pink fingernail polish and tiny pieces of glass everywhere! I have to admit, I was less than thrilled. But the mess was cleaned up, the pictures were taken, and the kids were all delivered....on time I might add!


Scott was complete ready by about 7:30 and spent the next half hour harassing everybody else about hurrying!

If you're wondering what's going on with Josh's hair, well....let me just say, Josh has his own sense of style! He wanted to do something "different" on the first day of school. What a kid!


The boys
and the girls
I love these kiddos!