First Day of School

Well, it's that time of year again!  It has come around way too quickly this time.  I think I have enjoyed having my kids home for the summer this year more than ever before.  They are easy and enjoyable to be with for the most part.  We have had fun conversations and they are a big help with Micah.

Today is their first half day of school.  Alex is a senior!!  I am already feeling sad that he will be leaving soon. :(  Jesikah is a freshman!  She is pretty nervous about her first year of high school, but I know she will do great!  It will be fun to have two in high school.  I really am enjoying the high school years with Alex and Jesikah already.  I have seen Alex and Jesikah's relationship grow already as they have been talking about high school things and friends they have in common.  It is so exciting to see them starting to develop a real friendship!  The same thing happened last year with both girls being in middle school together.  I LOVE seeing my children learn to love and value each other.

Tessa is in 7th grade this year.  She will be alone at the middle school this year, but she doesn't seem to mind and is usually excited for school.

Jarem will be a 3rd grader this year.  He was excited to meet his teacher last night at the open house.  Her name is Mrs. Berger and she just moved from Ohio.  She is fresh out of college!  This is her first teaching job.  I am a little concerned about her because of her being a first year teacher and I remember what that was like!  I had a lot of great ideas and was super excited about teaching, but the discipline was a real challenge.  I think it is the same for most teachers starting out.  I hope things will go smoothly for him this year.  He doesn't have any friends in his class, but hopefully he will make new friends and be happy.

With the pictures, I tried to get one picture of the whole outfit and one closer up one of each child cause I know how important the "whole" outfit is. :)  I had a lot of fun shopping for back to school clothes with the kids.  I love the program we have where they pay for half of their clothes.  It makes them so much more careful about the price and whether it is really worth the price.  I was very proud of their frugal, yet stylish selections.  I never have to tell them anything is too expensive anymore.  If they are willing to pay half, I will too because they are always careful about what they spend.

 Jesikah wanted Sperry's shoes really bad, but when she saw they were $83.95, she decided it wasn't worth it.  I asked the lady in Journey's for other less expensive recommendations and she suggested Journey's Kids.  We went there and she found the SAME shoes for $53.95 cause they were kids sizes but they go up to women's size 8!!  She was VERY excited and got them.  She's been working hard this summer babysitting for a lady in our ward who is a beautician.  It's been great for her to earn her own money.

 Alex has gotten so tall.  He is 6 foot 1 inch now.  He has been working this summer on building muscles.  He has a pull-up bar in his room and has done lots of push-ups and other things too.  He is a working boy now.  He has been working at Zaxby's all summer and will continue into the school year.  He has been SO responsible about always being to work on time and doing a good job.  He has been saving 70% of his earnings for his mission.  He's saved almost $1000 this summer.  We are really proud of him.  For him, it is all about shoes and jackets, so his shoes are the most important part of his outfit. :)

 Tessa had a pretty laid back summer.  She didn't earn much money, but she did take care of our neighbor's cat for 10 days and earned a whopping $50!  She and Jarem have had a lot of time together to play this summer.

I included this picture because Jesikah wanted some jeans with the sparkly pockets, but couldn't find any for a reasonable price!  She finally found these on clearance and was SO happy.  Her outfit wouldn't be complete without the sparkly pockets!

Jarem got to leave about 1 hour and 1/2 later than the other kids.  He had a pretty strong opinion about what clothes he liked this year and he actually wanted to try things on.  

 While we were shopping one day, he found this Adidas athletic shirt that he really liked.  It said size 8 but looked really small.  I told him I thought it was too small, but he still wanted to try it on.  I said ok.  When he finally came out of the dressing room 15 minutes later, I asked him what took so long.  He said, "It took me 10 minutes to pull that shirt off cause it wouldn't come off my head!"  I thought it was pretty funny.  Needless to say, he didn't get that one. :)

Now it is just Micah and I at home.  I think I am going to enjoy having the little guy home with me this year.