First Day of School!

Well, here we go again...another year of school! Today was the first day for the 4 older kids. Katelyn first day of Kindergarten will be tomorrow. She is excited but is glad that she got to stay home today because today is also her birthday! She turns 5 years old today! We took the annual "before school" pictures so here they are:

Here is Brittaney. She is 15 years old and she is a Sophomore this year. She is very excited to get her driver's permit...aaahhhh! She attends early morning seminary at 6 am every morning that there is school! She has some great musical opportunities at school this year. The conductor asked if she would give up her study hall and play the piano for one of the other choirs. Also, she auditioned last year and made the top Show Choir and Chamber Orchestra (which is the Junior/Senior orchestra). She plays the violin beautifully too! She is one talented young lady!! She is enrolled in all Junior honor classes and is taking French 3 as well! Did I mention that she is a little "smarty pants" too? She has a lot on her plate, so she will keep us very busy this year!! Great job Brittaney!!
Christopher is in 7th grade this year. He is in all 7th grade excel classes - which means he uses 8th grade books, but gets to stay with kids his own age. he is a little "smarty pants" as well. He plays the trumpet in the school band as is doing very good. last year washis first year playing, but you wouldn't know it. My kids are all pretty musical...I think they got that from Rich...haha! He is also an AWESOME soccer player, but has decided to try out for the football team this fall. I only let the kids do one thing at a time so I guess soccer will have to wait for the spring. I know some coaches that are going to be very dissapointed. They really like having him on their team. He is usually the top scorer for his team. However, I am really proud of Christopher for trying something new! Besides, he has to get really good so he can grow up and try out for the STEELERS...right?! Great job Christopher!
Kehli is in the 3rd grade stretch program - they do 4th grade work, but stay with kids their own age...another litle "smarty pants". She wasn't quite as excited this year as she has been in the past, but she loves school. I really like the school she attends. She loves to read, especially Harry Potter books. She told us that she wants to learn how to play tennis, so we are looking into that for her. She has played soccer the last few years too, so we will put that on hold and let her try tennis. I think she will LOVE it! She seems like a "tennis player" to me! She is also getting excited for her birthday next month when she will turn 9. Great job Kehli!!Brenden is in the first grade this year. Last year for kindergarten he went all day every other day and every other Friday. He did Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday. That is the schedule Katelyn will do this year too. Anyway, he wasn't too excited that he had to go to school all day every day this year, but he is excited that he gets to play on the playground there every day. We go over to that playground a lot during the summer. Brenden is our little gymnast. He REALLY is very good. We are also looking into gymnastics classes for him. This little boy can flip, and do tricks that I have never seen another little boy his age do. He loves to walk all over on his hands. When we went to his school for the open house, they did popsicles out on the playground. He starting walking on his hands and the little kids on the jungle gym were like "WOW...that is so cool!" Brenden thought that was awesome! Great job Brenden!
Well, there you have it! I will post about how their day went and about Katelyns first day tomorrow! I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with myself only having Tayler at home with me. I only babysit on Fridays now, and I haven't ever had just one kid home with me except for when Brittaney was little. I am rather excited at the prospect of really redoing our home. Going through every nook and cranny, every cabinet and drawer and even the attic!! YEA!! Brittaney laughs when I say that because she said I should take some time to have some fun. I told her, I will have fun doing this. It will make things so much nicer and more organized around here and then I can have more fun!! I have been having a lot of fun lately getting rid of things. I want to redo the kids bedrooms eventually too! Oh - my list of things to do is so long!
Anyway, I am so sad to see summer be gone already! I really love having my kids home with me and we had a fabulous summer. It was full of camps and a fabulous vacation to Idaho and Colorado. I will post about those later. I should get going so Katelyn and I can go have a fun day together for her birthday. Happy Birthday Katelyn!! Love you all!