First Days

It has been a crazy couple of weeks!  Most of the kids started school on Aug. 16th.

 It was Nat's first day of HIGH SCHOOL!

So far, she's doing great.  She likes the A/B schedule with only 4 classes a day.  She's taking child development and Spanish for her electives and like them both, and she's enjoying seminary too.

Josh is in 7th grade! 

7th is a big change from 6th even though he's in the same school.  Last year he stayed with the same kids all day, this year he's on his own!  He's doing awesome.  He gets to take wood shop this trimester and loves it.  Josh and I were psyched to find the shirt he's wearing here.  It says "Ninja monkeys stole my homework."  Josh was also ordained a Deacon this summer and today he passed the sacrament!  I can't believe how grown-up he's getting.

Jessica is in 5th grade!

She's the oldest in her school now!  Jess really learned to buckle down and work hard at school last year and got excellent grades.  I'm sure this year she'll be just as awesome.

Missy's a 3rd grader!

She's super excited to learn cursive and her times tables and she wants to get every possible award this year.

I walked to the bus stop with the girls on their first day. I love the kids at their stop, I'm so pleased that they have really good kids to hang out with every morning.

It was funny trying to get them all to smile for this picture as the bus pulled up.  "We're not even your kids!" But I almost feel like they are!  All these kids have been in my ward since we moved here-- I remember when they were born!

Amanda got to go see her teacher and do an assessment on the big kids' first day, but she had to wait and wait and WAIT until the 28th for her first day.

Here she is-- my baby's a kindergartener!

Notice that her shirt is yellow-- her favorite color-- with a dog, her favorite animal!

Hamming it up for the camera

Mandie has morning kindergarten, which means she gets to walk to the bus stop with her 2 big sisters.  Here they are showing her the ins and outs of the bus stop.  The stop is at an empty lot between two houses, and that's their "clubhouse" tree behind them.  You have to have a password to get in and get warm in the winter.  And don't worry, they always post a watchman up at the sidewalk to yell when the bus is coming.

The kids let her go to the front of the line, but she waited for her sisters to go on with her. 

Amanda absolutely loves kindergarten and she's really coming out of her shell this year.  

So then there's me!  I should have gotten my picture taken on my first day too!  I went to Salt Lake for the first weekend of my masters degree on the 24th.  Most weekends we'll do live video classes, but 3 times a semester I'll be heading up there.  Navigating the U of U campus was a little trying, but other than that it was pretty fun, and it was really exciting finding out what grad work is going to be like.  I am really looking forward to it.  The program is much smaller than I thought it was.  I thought there were 30 spots in Cedar and similar amounts at the other 3 distance ed sites, but there are only 22 of us all together.  5 in Cedar, and 2 more who will come up from St. George and do classes with us at SUU.  I'm hopeful that this will greatly increase my chances of getting the practicums I want later on.

Added to the recent craziness has been the play "Annie" that Nat and Jess were in, which finished up with daily 3 hour rehearsals the first week of school (and which will get its own post) and me getting a second job!  I now work with the school district "Youth in Custody" program, mentoring all the kids currently in foster or proctor care.  I'm cutting back my hours at the detention center and trying to make it so that more of my working hours are during the kids' school time.  So far it's been super stressful, but I really like the new job.

The End!