72 hour kit assignment

 Water Supply and Snowclothes

 Jacob 72 hr kit bag

 Jared 72 hour kit tools/hygiene/etc.

 72 hr kit food bin

 72 hr kit tools/ water filter

Jacob replaced leaky batteries with solar lanterns and added a small video game and paper and pen to his kit.

Rebecca's Homecoming

Rebecca really enjoys some of the friends she has met in cross country and had a great time at Homecoming.  She was set up on a blind date with another boy who is new to the area so doesn't know a lot of people well either.   She was lucky to find a modest dress to rent in town just 2 days before the dance. For their day group date they went rock climbing and had a nice dinner at one of the boy's grandma's home. I love how they chose fun activities that were not super expensive!  Its been such a long time since I've been to a school dance, I totally forgot about a boutonniere until Rebecca asked me about 15 minutes before the dance if she was supposed to get him a flower because he asked what color her dress is.  Big Oops!  They came 10 minutes early and she wasn't quite done getting her hair fixed after spending a long time curling all of her thick long locks so with the quick rush to get out the door I only got one quick pic on her phone and took another after she got home.

More pictures at this link.

School Pride Week

Disney Day

 My kids took school pride week seriously and had some fun dressing up for each days theme during homecoming week.  I feel grateful that they have all found friends at school and seem to be adjusting well.  I'm loving the no homework policy of the middle school teachers, because it gives us a bit more sanity at home and a little time to squeeze in practice on the violin and saxophone between our crazy schedule of daily football practice and cross country, gymnastics and piano lessons and helping the rest of the kids with homework.

Mixed Up Day

Crazy Hair/Hat Day

 

Pick an Era Day

First Week

When I was in 7th grade, my family moved to a new state and started school a few days late.  It was a hard and awkward transition at first.  I was so grateful for Joanne Decker who volunteered to share a locker with me, a complete stranger, when she could have chosen to have a locker all to herself.  I was praying my kids would meet kind people like her who would make this new start a little easier for them.  I think all of the kids were both nervous and excited for school this year.  Luckily they all get to ride on the same bus that picks up in front of our house! 

Junior

 Rebecca's new school adventures this year include Cross Country, Child Development, Food and Nutrition,  Journalism FCCLA VP plus a lot of rigorous courses that she really pushed to get in (AP Govt, AP LitCollege Anatomy and Physiology, Human Biology and Stats).  I am so grateful for her counselor MiKelle Barney who helped her get into some of her "full" classes and put up with our persistent phone calls, emails and visits.  She was answer to prayer.  I think Rebecca would jump right into college if she could do it with friends her own age!  I'm hoping she'll take a little time to relax in high school instead of waiting until college like I did.

8th

 Jacob is super excited to get to take Athletic Conditioning 2 times in a row.  He definitely got that desire from his father and not his mother!  The bus ride home is super long because they drop off a lot of the rural routes before our stop, so Jacob made another plan.  He walked home, took off his shoes to cross the shallow part of the river, and got home at least 30 minutes before his siblings who rode the bus.

6th

 Daniel chose to be a part of the Advanced Math Team and also hesitantly joined the band putting Jared's old saxophone to good use.  The first week was a bit intimidating since he has never touched a sax in his life and most of the other kids played in the band last year.  Luckily he learned a few basics from youtube tutorials and now has the notes BAG FED down.

5th

 Emily jumped right in to Middle School and gets to play the violin in Orchestra.  The first day's lunch was a bit sad for her because she couldn't find her friends to eat with, but she made friend's with "Hope"  who is another new girl in her class.  She was super anxious about having to switch classes during the day but was grateful to find that they don't switch as often as she thought.

I remember my first week I was so shy that I didn't know the kids in most of my classes.  I accidentally skipped 6th hour and went to 7th and then headed for the bus.  When no one was around I realized something was wrong and discovered I had completely forgotten my reading class and had to sit through the exact same 7th hour lecture with my real class.  I felt mortified when I went to apologize to my reading teacher that I totally forgot her class, but she was so kind.

1st

Alyssa was lucky to get her friend Hadley in her school class and her favorite part is still recess!  I love how she takes the initiative to pack her own lunch, even if it may be a bit nontraditional looking. The first morning she showed me what she had put in her backpack for lunch the night before and asked if it would be okay.  I'm so glad she asked.  She had packed her own homemade lunchable container of wheat thins shredded cheese and chopped lunch meat which sat in her bag all night.  The night before I had explained to her that her teacher expects first graders to be responsible to pack their own snacks, so she went the extra mile and added lunch to the fruit snack box I gave her.

Preschool

Luckily I still get to have Josh home with me.  It's heavenly just reading books together, going to Let's Play Music and outings to the store and seeing the house stay clean for at least a few hours in a row.  Soon he'll get to go to preschool with Rebecca as his teacher for part of her Child Development Class, but for now I'm eating up all the time I get to spend with my last child at home.  Today he drew a picture of himself on his leg, with blue eyes!

Impatience

Josh was so excited about his new purchase at the store today, he couldn't wait to put them on until we got home.  So he put them on in the car like this :)

Persistence

 

 Rebecca amazes me with her persistence in doing hard things!  She decided to join the cross country team after spending summer mornings running with Jared.  Its been a huge blessing as she's had the opportunity to meet some great friends while staying fit and pushing herself to the limit.

 I feel a surge of emotion when I watch my kids do new things. Jared rarely cries, but this day did it for him even more than watching the boys football.  I love how supportive and involved he is with our kids.  As I watched her take off for her first race, I had a flashback of dropping her off for her first day of Kindergarten as my shy little girl headed off to her new adventures in a new town just after we had moved to Idaho.  I love to see how much she has grown and is willing to step outside of her comfort zone to challenge herself and reach out to others.  Moving has been hard, but I also think it has pushed her to new levels as challenges often do.  She had fun on her FCCLA adventures this summer as she competed in Food Innovations with her high fiber "Fiberry Flapjacks" entry and is seriously considering a Nutrition and Foods or Dietetics Major in College.  After many visits with the school counselor and her persistence to keep going back until she could talk with individual teachers, she was able to get into the "FULL" Nutrition and Foods Class and is excited to serve as FCCLA VP at her new school.  I love how her passion for healthy eating is paying off for me at home because she wants to take over more of the cooking.

 

I'm not ready to think about sending my girl off on her own in just 2 years!

Imagination