Monthly Archives: August 2010

Tonight was the first varsity football game at Metea’s stadium!  Brittany and Sarah were VERY excited to perform in marching band as well!  Angela went up early to help with the band uniforms, and I helped out during halftime in our first attempt at being the “pit crew.”  It was a lot of fun and being down on the field was cool.  The band really looks GREAT this year!  It is nice to see that they have grown in size!

Brittany is loving doing percussion and she also (as you can see above) holds the Illinois flag during the pre-game show.  Sarah is ecstatic to be a marching leader again this year and sounds great!

The team ended up losing which was sad (due to a VERY bad call), but they, as a team with no seniors, almost beat a full team with seniors playing!  Regardless of how they do, they’ll have a great year with a LOT of learning experiences!

School started today!  It’s hard to believe how fast the summer went by!  It seems like yesterday that the kids came home from their last day of school very excited for a summer full of fun, trips, and rest!  😐  Next thing we know, we’ve returned home from a 2 week vacation to Utah and Idaho, attended EFY, gone to Girl’s Camp, attended youth conference, started marching band, had a Spanish student for a week, gone to all the school orientation events, etc. and now we’re going back!

Kirstyn could hardly sleep last night she was so excited for school to start.  She had all her clothes set out and ready, her backpack all packed up, and was giddy as a 5-year-old on Christmas morning!  🙂  Brittany was a little nervous but excited as well.  For Sarah, she’s excited, but this is “old hat” for her, and we’re not sure what’s going through Zachary’s brain right now!  🙂

It is SO nice not having to worry about Sarah and Brittany getting to school this year!  🙂  Sarah picked up her parking pass the other day and now it’s officially on the car!  They’ll just get ready and go.  I think Sarah is more excited about driving to school than she is about school!  🙂

After Sarah and Brittany sped off to school, it was time to get Kirstyn ready to go.  Her friend Riya came to walk with her and they both looked overjoyed to be able to go to a new school!  Kirstyn is excited that she doesn’t have to ride the bus anymore and they get to walk down the street to school!

Then it was Zach’s turn!  We hope he’ll get along well riding the bus without his big sister helping him out!  Hopefully he’ll also STAY on the bus until he gets to his stop!  🙂  He looked so cute in his backpack and bags of stuff he took to help the teachers!

That just left Ben and Angela home alone.  As soon as all the kids were gone, Ben was EXCITED!  He loves his brother and sisters, but we think he’s had enough of them this summer and needs a break!  He actually turns into a different, less-rowdy person without all the noise and commotion all around constantly!  🙂  Look at the happy, relieved smile on Ben’s face…

Having the kids go back to school is a nice break for Angela, although she hates to see the kids go back to school.  It just means less time with them and we feel even older!  🙁

Zach had his ice cream social back at Gombert Elementary today!  He is very excited to be in First Grade!  He found out who his new teacher is:  Mrs. Swanson.  She was the Student Council faculty leader when Brittany and Kirstyn were there.  She should be very good for him.  We hope that she is strict and keeps him paying attention and  not gabbing when she is talking!  🙂

We are very excited to see what he does this year.  He is reading on a 3rd grade level or higher, and loves the challenge of new things.  He is big into doing science stuff and we promised to do lots of experiments with him this year as long as he comes home and gets his homework done first.  🙂  Go Zach!

Today Kirstyn went to Still for the first time as a new 6th-grader for PAWS (Peer-Assisted something) day (not exactly sure what it stands for).  They had all kinds of getting-to-know-you activities, got their locker assignments, met some of the teachers, and she made some new friends.  She doesn’t have her schedule yet, but can’t wait to see what teachers she has.

I’ve never seen any of our kids so excited to be starting school as Kirstyn is!  She is ready to go and wished that school could start tomorrow!  🙂  She wants to do all kinds of things, including trying out for the school musical in the spring.  She also mentioned that next year she wants to try and run cross country!  🙂  I guess she liked seeing what Brittany did and wants to follow in her footsteps!

Today Brittany had her freshman orientation up at Metea High School and both her and Sarah played in the pep band for it.  They had a great time!

Brittany became even more familiar with the school and found her classrooms.  Then came the best part of it for her…  THE DANCE!  Sarah and her friend Taylor stayed there and hung out with Brittany and Taylor’s sister Lexi (who is also a freshman).  They had a blast getting to know people.  We’re not sure how much she actually danced, however!  🙂