Back to School!

We started back to school yesterday and it was wonderful! Our morning began with a yummy breakfast of monkey bread, fresh strawberries, and some delicious hot cocoa. We had hoped to make it to Mass at 8:15 (the children at our parish school have Mass every Wednesday morning), but unfortunately, Darren's truck had a flat tire so he ended up taking the van to work. To be honest, though, some of my children overslept and we actually weren't even sitting down to eat until after 8:15! So, obviously that plan never would have worked even if we HAD the van, but Wednesday morning Mass is definitely a goal I want to strive for in the future!

I couldn't wait to get them all dressed and ready for school! We're trying something a little different this year with the implementation of school uniforms. They are something Darren and I had been considering for a while, thinking that they might help put us in more of a mind set to "do school", and I had even browsed around online at a few retailers. I found one site that had some darling little jumpers, but decided to wait for just a bit more while we thought about if for just a little longer. The very next day, though, I had to make a quick stop in Goodwill and happened to find two of the exact jumpers--in Caitlyn's size!--that I had been looking at online! And a shirt to match, too! I tend to view finds like these as a sign, and snatched them right up for $3.75 a piece. :) I had been thinking of any combination of navy and dark green, so these work perfectly! Dylan already had a brand new pair of khaki pants that were still a little too big last year but which fit him perfectly this year, as well as polo shirts in both navy blue and forest green, so he was set. And Caitlyn's new jumpers, combined with two navy/green plaid skirts and white tops she already had, complete her school wardrobe! I'm not really worrying too much about the two littlest girls, although I have to say that I was just giddy to find the most darling little dress for Meghan during that same trip to Goodwill...green, navy, and white plaid, with little apples adorning the collar and smocked top! Too, too cute!

Dylan, a big second grader!

Caitlyn, our sweet Kindergartner!

Meggie, ready for preschool!

Kristen, our merry mischief maker :)

Everybody was excited to start lessons after morning prayers! I had them start with another "Book About Me" with the same questions as last year so we could compare how their answers change from year to year. They really loved these! They also loved their boxes of brand new school supplies. :) Meghan was so happy to be doing school with us this year, and we all really loved working on the state-by-state scrapbook we'll be making this year.

We're looking forward to another fun day today, with homeschool gymnastics this afternoon and Caitlyn's second meeting of American Heritage Girls this evening! Another exciting school year is off to a great start!

Here's where we spent our weekend

It was spectacular, and I hope to share more about it later, but for now I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and cleaning and errands and last minute lesson planning. (School starts again tomorrow! We're so excited!) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too!

This made me cry last year, too.

From the introduction to "September" in Mrs. Sharp's Traditions:

"This month, as Mrs. Sharp takes a walk outside and the dry leaves rustle pleasantly beneath her feet, she pauses to reflect on how quickly the time has flown and how quickly her children have grown up. As you take your walks this month, dear Reader, imagine each gold and brown leaf lying on the ground as a day from your children's lives that's already past. Can you really afford to wait even one more day to begin sowing the seeds of loving memories into their young lives?"

I love my kids.

I worked last night until one, stayed late charting until a little after two, had a small snack when I got home and was in bed at about a quarter to three, and then got up with Kristen at six thirty. I changed her diaper and set her up with some Little People play sets on the living room floor, then got cozy on the couch with a pillow and blanket and dozed happily while she played. The rest of my kids joined us a short while later, raiding the sack of snack cookies my dad dropped by last night, watching cartoons, drawing, and playing while I continued to rest. I must have been sleeping better than I realized, though, because shortly before nine, I was awakened by Kristen asking to climb up in my lap. As I reached for her, I noticed a sheet of paper lying across my chest. It was a message from my sweet Caitlyn:

Stop sleeping! LOL, didn't I feel like a horrible mother! I called Caitlyn to me and playfully asked, "Did you leave this message for Mommy?"

"I wanted you to fix me some breakfast," she sheepishly replied.

"But baby, why didn't you just ask me?"

"I didn't want to wake you up!"

Oh, my sweet, sweet girl. :)

Our girls' (finally!) finished room

We started rearranging the children's rooms months ago! They had decided they didn't want to share anymore, after all, but the only way we could fit all the girls together was to put them in Dylan's old room, and move Dylan into the formerly pink and green girls' room. (It's now a darling blue and green...I'll try to have pictures of that soon, too!) But I was lazy and never really did much beyond the basic moving and rearranging of all their furniture, and then early pregnancy exhaustion set in, followed by illness that I never thought would end (we're all finally better!). So, at long last, I've finally finished their room! I really love the pale blue of their walls and didn't really want to change it, so we just touched up a few places and accented with bright, girlie colors! I changed out the bright pink monkey bedding they had been using in the room they shared with Dylan for the softer, pastel comforter from their old room. I like it much more! Of course, we might change it all over again once the baby's born (I'm already planning possible designs in my mind!) but for now we're really loving it!

Dancing Dragon

My children astound me. Dylan recently discovered that he can create super cute movies by using our Paint program to draw characters, which he then uploads into Microsoft Movie Maker. He arranges them in the storyboard, alters the speed of each clip, chooses music, adds titles and credits, and the end results are just amazing! Here is one of my absolute favorites, based on Dav Pilkey's Dragon books, which he and Caitlyn have really been enjoying lately. So cute!