First Day of School

First day of school--Savannah is in 5th grade, Josh is in 4th, Sara 2nd, and Aaron 1st. They were all so excited. Savannah, Josh and Aaron wanted to ride the bus, so I took them to the bus stop and saw them off (and totally cried as they drove away). Sara wanted Scott to drive her to school, because she didn't know where her classroom was. When Scott got to school with Sara, one of the moms who used to help out in Aaron's kindergarten class told Scott a story about Aaron. She said she found Aaron at the top of the stairs (where the kids come up from the bus), just standing with his head down. She said hello to him, and he said, "I'm Aaron. I'm in Mrs. Tate's class, but I don't know where it is!". She said, "Well, let's go find it". By the time Scott got there with Sara, Aaron had found his class and was happily playing out on the playground till school started.

Meanwhile, back at home, things were so terribly quiet. I tried to busy myself with cleaning, but without the other 4 kids here to mess it up, I had the entire house clean in a matter of hours. Owen and Nate rode bikes in the driveway, played in the sandbox together, and built a tower with blocks. Owen tried extra hard to be big and play well with Nate. And then Owen went down for a nap, and Nate and I counted down the minutes till he woke up. Then we all walked down to the bus stop to meet the kids.

All four kids had a great first day of school and were really excited to tell me all about it.

Wednesday morning Owen and Nate both started gymnastics again.  Owen and I do a Mommy and me class while Nate colors in the lobby, then Owen and I go out and watch while Nate does his class.  This helped Wednesday to be not quite so lonely as Tuesday was.  And on Thursday I had Lincoln, so Thursday wasn't so bad either.  But today we were back to being on our own all day.  The boys and I are so happy when we hear the front door open and a voice call out, "Mom, I'm home!" at the end of the school day.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Monday was the last day of summer vacation.  I am really going to miss having kids everywhere. I kind of sort of love the chaos of having all my kids at home with me.

Sunday Night at the River

Sunday night we took the kids to the Boise River--kind of a last bit of fun before school started. The kids loved wading into the water and throwing rocks. It was just a nice relaxing evening together as a family.

And then, Owen lost his balance and sat down in the water. He sat there for a bit before he decided he was not loving having a wet bottom.

But despite the soggy bum, we all had a great time together.

Back-to-School Haircuts

With school starting back up, I'm down to just Owen and Nate at home.  Instead of enjoying the calm, what do I do?  I take on another kid.  Lincoln is a sweet little almost-1-year-old, whose Grandma is in our ward.  Her daughter is a single mom and lives with her, and needed someone who was willing to watch her son.  Lincoln comes over here two afternoons a week (Monday and Thursday) from noon to 3.  She offered to pay me, but I told her I was happy to do it for free.  So in exchange, she offered to cut hair for us anytime we need it (she is a hair stylist).  I decided to take her up on it.  So last Friday we went over to her house (it was her day off).  She pulled out her barber chair in the garage and gave all 4 boys back-to-school haircuts.

Josh went first. Sara had fun pushing Lincoln around in the stroller while his mom was busy.

Aaron went next. At first he wasn't quite sure about things, but then he decided it wasn't so bad.

Nate couldn't wait for his turn.

Owen did surprisingly well. At first he laughed because it tickled, but then he cried because he didn't like it. But, even though he was crying, he held pretty still for the haircut and let her do it.

And the funnest part was after the haircuts, getting to go see all the animals (they live on a mini farm).

More than once, Lincoln's grandma has told me (with tears in her eyes) how much it means to her that I'm babysitting him. I told her that I've had so many people give me service at different times in my life when I've needed it. It's hard for me to provide service to others because I've got my hands so full with all my kids. But this is something that I CAN do. This is service that is easy for me to give.

Pool Time

Last week Scott had to go to Alaska for four days.  The kids and I tried to do some last minute playing before school started.  I took the kids to the pool and let them swim (two nights in a row).  We have spent so much time at the pool this summer, my kids have turned into little fish.