Back to school, back to school

Our sweet Hunter started 8th grade this year!!! I remember the night before HE started kindergarten, putting his name on all his supplies and getting his backpack packed up for his big first day! Now he is going to 8th grade and MY baby started kindergarten!

Hunter gettin' some love from his dad.

Who is taller????

Our handsome Hunter!

The Tuesday before school started Nanny and I decided to tackle a rather large paint project...the master bedroom! Since Steph was REALLY struggling this week after chemo, she stopped by and grabbed the boys before she headed over. You must think we are crazy to paint with DARK brown paint and FOUR children ages five an under! Truth be told, it's easier to have these four than just two. They play great together. They usually pair off and we never have any problems!!

Claire pulled Levi into the bathroom in one of her totes from her shelf!

This is the outside of our shower. Being a smart...you know what...I decided to poke fun and the random light fixture. Later, as I tried to paint over it, I found that it wasn't such a great idea. You can still see it. Oops. Sandpaper here I come.

Just a little note.

This is how you do lunch in a house with no carpet....and not much furniture.

Levi and Coco playing trains.

The little boys got a bath in our new bathtub!!!!

Claire showed off her new skill...NO TRAINING WHEELS!!

Thursday August 20, 2009...THE BIG DAY!!!! My baby was off to kindergarten!

Here's our big girl ready to go! Please note the bruised shins. She bruises easy, is riding a bike with no training wheels and has a new house full of wood stairs!! Need I say more!

I have 12 of these pictures of me and Jarad EVERY year on the first day of school. The tradition continues!

Claire insisted on taking this fake mouse to school. I told her he needed to stay in my purse because we didn't want to scare the other kids!

Claire finding her cubby.

Daddy took charge....

and this was about the point I broke down!

To keep myself busy, I took Cohen for a haircut...BYE BYE CURLS!!!! Then we headed to Nanny's to surprise her...she didn't even recognize him!

I felt bad not having Claire here! I was counting down the minutes until I could go pick her up!!

Cohen and Levi on our new back deck!

So THIS is what he does with Nanny!!!

Our big girl is home at last!! She had a great day and couldn't wait to go back the next day because they were having P.E.!!! (The artwork on the wall has a story...I will explain later!) She loved music class too. She said she sat with a friend from our old neighborhood at lunch. She also got to play with 3 other of our old neighbors at recess.

Drew went with me to pick her up at school. Sitting in the car line was absolute torture!!! I could NOT wait to see her little face! When she jumped in she was very excited to see Drew and even looked excited to see me! Drew said, "Claire, you should have heard your mom. She just talked about you ALL DAY LONG!" The smile on her little face was priceless.

Here I am with my babies! (paint samples on the walls...we are using neither color!)

We went that evening to get Claire's new glasses. We talked about how important it is that she wear them ALL the time. That night she was watching T.V. in her room and I heard her glasses case snap shut. I went in and saw her rolling over to go to sleep. I thought it was so funny! The next morning she came shuffling in with her hair all over the place and already had her glasses on! She is being so careful and responsible with her new specs!

Miss Smarty Pants!!