Off to School!

The first day of school. . .can it be?

New shoes. Sweet faces.

A picture with mom.

Jeff

Here comes the bus! Have a good day.

And so it begins. . .the new school year. The days of summer have slipped away and the everyday routines of school return. The kids were up and ready, beds made, dog walked, teeth brushed and still had time to spare. Not bad for the first day!

Of course, I took the usual first day of school pictures. . .the kids in front of our house with their new backpacks, new shoes, new (or maybe not so new) friends. This time it felt a little more familiar and not quite as scary. Yet there was still an unspoken and subtle yearning for "home" if not on the kids part, on mine. The kids wore big smiles as they each hopped on the bus greeted one at at time by our busdriver, Jeff. He is so wonderful!

As the bus drove away my heart was beating fast and I wondered how their day would go? I wrote little "love notes" for their lunch boxes and thought to myself. . .these days are going so fast now. . .slow down. I guess they will be home soon enough with stories to tell of their first day of third and fourt grade.

I will be ready to listen.

The Last Days of Summer. . .aaaahhhhhh!

And so the last days of summer have now arrived. . .my how the summer flew by. We spent one more afternoon at our new favorite spot at the beach. Thekids climbed on the rocks, found cool sticks and rocks, had fun looking at the cool tide pools, and even saw a beautiful pale pink jellyfish. It was great. Every single time we are here I am in total awe of the absolute beauty.

I took this picture for you, mom. I loved the flowers, the sky, and the water.

Connor is really growing up and changing every day.

Weren't they just falling asleep on our shoulder yesterday?

And now this. . .crazy! Every now and then she nails him with a kiss when he least expects it. Good job, Christen.

Fourth grade!

Connor's classroom.

Third grade!

Christen's classroom.

Kelly and Christen have an early birthday sleepover at our house.

Open your present. . .

The girls made their own mini pizzas. While they were in the oven I painted their nails.

Then they watched Princess Diaries. At the intermission we sang to Christen

and had birthday brownie sundaes. . .mmmmmmm! I love her 8 year old toothless grin!

Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Hammonasset at High Tide

We went to Hammonasset on Saturday at high tide to see if Hurricane Bill was causing any changes along the Connecticut coast. There was talk of 9-12 foot waves. When we got there it was just a very pleasant beach day. . .nothing else. I guess that we are so well protected by Long Island that it was totally a non-issue. On the other side of Long Island it was a very different story. I guess we are quite lucky.




The kids have so much fun in the water and climbing on the rocks.
Another view.
King of the world!

Back to back on a boulder.

Christen is turning 8 on August 31! How can that be? I told her to smile big. . .this is your

8 year old picture. I just love the toothless grin!

VBS at St. Paul

Okay, last week was a great week! The kids and I went to vacation bible school at our new church, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It was so much fun! The kids had a great time. When we got registered I said that I would be happy to help in any way for the whole week. . .they said, "In any way?" and then gave me a "leader" shirt and a name tag! I was with the pre-k group of kids for the week and I loved every minute of it. Believe it or not, on Sunday night I told Larry that I really didn't want to go. . .I was missing our "home" church and friends. He said, "Get over it! You know that you will love it once you get there." He was right. . .don't let it go to your head Larry! Anyhow, Rally Day is September 13th and the we will be in regular attendance at St. Paul and the kids will be in Sunday School. That will be thing for all of us to have a church home.

He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103:5