First day of school.....

The kids are off to start their first day of school!  I just can't believe that summer is over already!  :(  Yesterday we had our annual picnic at Falls Park!  This is the 3rd year of doing that!  We packed a lunch and headed to the park, where Jason met us to eat and talk!  It was a beautiful day to be eating outside!  Then we headed to Walmart to get lunch box "supplies", then home to chill for the rest of the day!  We are back into a routine of early bedtimes, prayers and early mornings again!  This year we will once again start each morning with Ephesians 6:10-18 and a short prayer for a good day at school and traveling mercies on the bus.  The kids put on their full armour of God so that they can stand against whatever may come their way during the day!  The house is quiet and it is gloomy outside, so I am not sure what I am going to do to occupy myself today.  Perhaps today will be a day where I just curl up with a book and read until the kids get home.  It is an early out today, so they will be home around 2pm this afternoon.  For now I am going to savor my solitude and reflect on my life!  Enjoy the pictures from yesterday and today!

Cathi

The kids were feeding this little guy pretzels!

Picnic Lunch with dad on the last day of summer vacation

Mikayla ~ First day of HIGH SCHOOL!!! 9th grade

Colby ~ First day of MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! 6th grade

Keara ~ First day of 5th grade! (last year of elementary school)

My 3 kiddos before school

Waiting for the bus!

Bye guys! Have a GREAT first day of school, love you!

1 week.......

I can't believe that I am even writing this post!  1 week from today my children will be back to school!  WAAAAAAAA......(ok so maybe there is a little bit of joy within that cry).

Where on earth did our summer go?  Between church camp, driver's ed, a 2 week vacation across the countryside, and swimming lessons, our summer has been far from slow!  It has flown by in the blink of an eye! 

So 1 week from today:

~ my kids will be getting up at 6:20AM every day to get ready and on the bus by 7:10am
~ my kids will be back to a bedtime routine
~ morning scripture/prayer for the day
~ I will be all alone during the day to a too quiet house

I love and hate this time of year....this time of school supply shopping, closet cleaning and new clothes, dentist appointments and school sports physicals.  Along with that comes fall sports, morning and bedtime routines and homework....OH THE DREADED HOMEWORK!!!!

So in 1 week, I will probably be doing a dance and weeping all at the same time. 

Our final weekend of summer is almost here....what are we going to do to celebrate our final weekend of summer vacation?

Well we are leaving on Friday (Jason's birthday) and heading to Watertown, SD!  We are staying at the Hampton Inn and spending time with Briana, celebrating Jason's birthday as a family!  We will stay until Saturday afternoon when she has to go to work and then we will head to Brookings and spend the night with Jason's parents, returning home Sunday sometime!  We are looking forward to a weekend away to relax and spend time together, the last time until the holidays probably!  We will all be busy with sports and school as will Briana, that she won't have a chance to make an improtu trip home like she did the other night!

Pray for us as we begin a new year, that we will transition smoothly and that I won't be too lonely during the day!  I really need to find some volunteer work to do to fill some time!  I will soon run out of projects to keep me busy!

This was last year's first day of school picture!  Hard to believe that this year there will only be 3 in the picture!  I hope that you all had a wonderful summer!  I just can't believe that summer is almost over!  1 week.....only 1 week left!  :(

Until next time,

Cathi