First day of school

Josh was so ready to give us a back to school smile!
Libby had to make sure that her hair looked great, in her back to school photo.
This was our 4th attempt for a photo with Erin. Either her glasses had a funky glare or she was giving us a fake smile. Once she sat down and calmed down, we got this gem.
Traditionally, I pack Jacob a lunch on the first day of school. Instead of eating the muffins for breakfast, like everyone else, he dug into his lunch. He usually takes it in a backpack to school. It makes him feel like a big kid. This year it was eaten, before we left for school, except for the yogurt. Silly boy!
Was Penny excited for the first day of school or what??!! :)

I don't know if I had mentioned to many of you that we had an AWOL hamster recently. A few days ago, our black hamster, Skunk, escaped. We have been looking and looking for that stinky Skunk!! Yesterday, the first day of school, she gave up her location. I was sitting at the computer desk and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Skunk peeking out from behind the dresser in our office area. So, I got the older children to barracade the other end of the dresser, while I moved the dresser out enough to reaach behind it & get Skunk. Skunk ran out from behind the dresser, right to me. Once I grabbed her, she wiggled and wiggled, and then probably said, "Crap, I'm caught!" and stopped wiggling, so that I could place her back into the crate, toy free. We gave her food and fresh water. She ran over to the water cup, gulped and gulped! Catching Skunk gave the children a buzz, before heading off to school! A back to school memory for the books!

At school

Off to School!! We got to school a bit early, so that we could find a parking spot. Since we were a smidge early, we had to wait in the cafeteria for the bell to ring. I enjoyed looking at all the children's faces. Some of the little faces were happy, others were sad, and some were even crying. Erin saw the girl that she was a reading buddy to last year and she was crying. Erin went over said hi and gave her a hug. It was cute. The little girl began to smile. Sweet!

Then the bell rang. We were dismissed by cafeteria rows and we were in the first row. We all got up and the excitement began. We voted that Josh would be taken to class first, since he is closest to the cafeteria and gym. So, we were off to take him to his class. He was the 4th or 5th child in his class to show up. He took the stuff out of his back pack, organized his stuff, gave me hugs, sat down and started with his morning worksheet. Josh is a sweet boy! His teacher seems to be super nice too. I think that he'll have a good year! One down, 2 to go...

Next we decided to take Erin, since her classroom is next. I could see the butterflies in Erin's stomach. We got closer to her class. Once we all got to the classroom door, Erin began to smile. Her teacher greeted her and pointed her to the table in which she could choose her seat. Erin chose one, came back gave me a hug and began to unpack her backpack. She was happy when we left. Two down, 1 to go...

Finally, it was Libby's turn. She was fidgety. We walked down the sea of children and parents hallway & got to her class. There were more children in her class then the other two classrooms. She found her desk and number. She unpacked her backpack and went over to find her cubby and someone's stuff was already there. She looked a bit confused, so she had some figuring out to do. She has several of the girls that she has had in previous years, so she has instant buddies. She too gave us a big grin, as we were leaving. Three down...time to go home.

Jacob asked once we left Libby's class if we could "go home now." Then Blaklee said that she needed to go potty and Jacob said that he needed to go as well. It gave me an opportunity to hang out @ school a bit longer. Once they were finished, we walked back to the van, put children in, buckled them up, packed the stroller, backed out, and drove home. Before I had finished backing out, there was a car waiting for our spot. We made it home. The babies all looked confused without the older children here.

Penny was exhausted from needing to wake up 2-3 hours before she normally does and by 8:45 am, she was down for a nap. She was asleep in about 5 minutes and slept until noon. Jacob fell asleep in the recliner around 11am. Blaklee put a couch pillow on the floor, grabbed our red blanket and the yellow carebear and was curled up on the floor by 12ish. She stayed awake until about 12:15-12:30. So I picked her up and put her down for her nap. The house was quiet! I finished another shirt for Erin and a pair of gauchos for her as well. I also got to clean-up a bit. Of course once the children came home from school, the house was destroyed again. Ah...back to normal.

Back to School already??

We were waiting for the girls and Maylee, after their beach trip, so to quiet Penny down, she was taken out of her carseat and given a fig Newton. At first I though it might be a pretzel, but after closer inspection, it's a newton...Yum!
Ashley and Penny sharing a hug!
This was taken when Clyde took the boys to see TMNT at the theaters. They went in costume. They got lots of adoring looks. Clyde had fun taking the boys to see that film!
This is Penny holding one of the 3 baby boy hamsters that we had out of Princess Leia and Han Solo's second litter. My Visiting Teacher took two of the boy hamsters, leaving us with one, which is named Spiderman.
Here we are at the NC Zoo, watching the Polar Bear play. I like the Polar Bear, sea lion, and Otter exhibits the best in North America. We have lots of photo's like this as our family grew. This was just to carry on the tradition.

I cannot believe that school is nearly back in session! We have been busy as bees getting the children ready for school. They need quite a bit of things to be prepared; things like protractors and a compass, crayons, markers, glue, about 20 spiral notebooks, 1"-1& 1/2" binders, folders galore, red pens, high lighters, just to name a few. We go on Monday to meet and greet their new teachers. I pray that the letter that I wrote to the principal did some good!

Clyde is happy at his new job at SWRMS. He is fitting right in with the crew. This week has all been prep work. He had schedules and rules to post. I made him several posters for his class. I should have taken pictures of them. For his Football schedule, I made a football field with the field goal to post the actual schedule on. It turned out so cute. I also made a softball field for the softball schedule. There were a few more as well, for his bell schedule, SWRMS' motto, dance schedule etc. I tried to make them bright and colorful, but masculine. I also made the words "respect", "responsibility", and " citizenship" that he glued and had laminated for display in his class room. He has already asked me to make curtains for his room. He has these 2 massive windows w/ not so good blinds. The light that comes in is way bright, so I guess that I'll be making the curtains for him as well. He said that the fabric has to be flame retardant. I am hoping that Jo-Ann's carries some of that. I'll use my 40% off coupon for the yardage.

Clyde is assisting with football as well. They started practicing this week so it has been a long week for all of us. He typically leaves our house around 6:45am and hasn't been arriving home until 9:30pm. Did I mention that the days have been long? Last night was Randolph County's open house. He was able to meet a bunch of his students and their folks. I think that he is going to have a blast. He is coming home tired but happy. I am so very glad that he is loving his new job. I hope it goes well once he actually starts teaching. He did teach early morning seminary for 3 years, so he is used to lesson plans and such.

Thank goodness for the pool. We have gone nearly every day this week. I would like for the children to be really sick of the pool, since it'll be next summer before we get to swim again. We were at the pool from 10:30ish to 2pm today. Some pals from church joined us. My children had a blast! The younger ones took great naps!!:)

Tonight the girls are sleeping over at Aunt Raegen's house. I bet they are having a super fun girly night. Every girl need that every once and a while! So, the boys & I are having a star wars nite. Go Obi Wan Kanobi and Anakin...we're watching "attack of the clones." Exciting!!

Clyde's graduation

Here Clyde is on his birthday. This was his last day of class and his graduation day. We are all so very proud of Clyde and his accomplishments. We ran around the house trying to get ready for his homecoming. We got blue, yellow, and white balloons from Audra to snazz up the house for him. We baked him this cake, which is one of his favorites. I'm not sure what it is called exactly, but it ia a yellow cake, with jello and hawiian punch, gelled in it, then topped with pineapple and cool whip. If you'd like browned coconut shavings are a nice way to garnish it. (Clyde didn't want the coconut this year.) Later that evening we went out for subs and a movie...Ocean's 13. I love spending time with my Clyde.

And finally, after a decade of college, we are proud to announce Clyde's graduation from UNC-G. We are all so proud of him and all of his hard work. His birthday was the 26th of July and he graduated the same day! This past week has been quite adventurous for us. Tara, my sister-in-law called on Wednesday morning, (8/2) to tell us of a Social Studies opening at SWRMS, in Asheboro. Clyde called the school and the principal was either in meetings or was out of the office for Wednesday and Thursday. Clyde was able to speak to him on Friday and set up an interview on the following Monday morning. Clyde was way nervous all weekend. We were constantly praying for him. Then Monday rolled around. Clyde anxiously drove to Asheboro for his interview. He met with the Principal and the gal in whom he would be replacing. She is moving to Lead Teacher. Clyde gave them his simple resume and they asked him usual and unusual questions. They asked about his mission to Poland and were amazed that he spoke another language. Then they saw that he had been married for 11 years and had 5 children and were quite amazed with that. After the interview was finished, the other teacher took him on a tour of the school. Clyde said that he didn't feel that the interview was over. He left on a very positive note. Now, we knew that it was in Heavenly Father's hands. He had done all that he could do to get the job. Tuesday morning we got a call from, the VP of the school, needing a bit of info. Then, later that day, they officially offered him the job. Clyde has been on cloud 9 ever since. He started orientation the next day and finished out the week with it. Saturday was his last day at Wal-Mart. He was very happy about that!

We know that this is such a blessing. It is a far drive, but we both feel that it is a huge blessing for our family. It is a great school to get his feet wet and to get his teaching barrings. Clyde is an excellent teacher to that age of child. He has had great success w/ all the youth that he has taught in early morning seminary and as a primary teacher. I have no doubt that he will be a huge success. The school has even offered him an assistant football coaching job! We are all so very proud of our Clyde!!