Virtute.org

First day of school breakfast:  Overnight french toast with fresh whipped cream and sausage.  I wanted to make something special for breakfast, but it turns out my kids like regular french toast much better.

It was a little cold the first morning of school.  Here’s my first attempt at a group picture:

Isaac is a thoughtful brother.  Nicole was panicking a little about being cold, so Isaac tried to keep her warm.

Attempt #2, this time Nicole was warm enough to smile.  I always imagine a perfect first day picture, but I can’t seem to get everyone to look and smile at the same time and I hesitate to torture them with a prolonged effort.

The bus stop was at my house last year, so the kids all lined up in the driveway.  We have about 30 kids who get on at this stop each day and on the first day we also have parents with cameras.

Ila started kindergarten this year, but kindergarten starts a week later.  Grandma and Grandpa Cochran came out to see the kids off and Ila and Thomas ran across the street to be with them.  (I assume all the visitors to my blog know that my in-laws live across the street and I LOVE IT!)

I’ve been making an effort to put a snack out for the kids each day after school.  Here’s their first day of school snack:  apples, oranges, banana bread pieces, cherry tomatoes, and cheese sticks.  I’ve also been insistent that they do homework and practice piano right away and so far it’s worked well.

Some of the moms always bring Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the kids as they get off the bus on the first day.

I love the freckles on Charlotte’s nose.

Charlotte loves fruits and vegetables.  They are her favorite things to eat and she’s loving that she can harvest her lunch every morning.  She’ll go out and pick a bag of cherry tomatoes and an apple for her lunch.  She also has packed plums from a neighbor’s tree and watermelon from her grandparent’s garden.  Our raspberries and blue berries are eaten almost as soon as they’re ripe.

My attempts to get a perfect picture of the kids in their Epic Foothill shirts was about as successful as the first day of school pictures.  (Not sure why they’re all pointing, but Ila didn’t seem to get the direction).

All the children were with me when I bought the shirts, but Thomas was being a grump and said he didn’t want one.  He was sad about that choice when he saw all his siblings in their matching shirts.

Nicole discovered bees on the roses and was quite intrigued.

I taught Nicole how to throw a frisbee as we waited for the bus, then I took a picture of her successful throw.

I liked this picture of Thomas and Isaac together.

All lined up for the bus, except Ila who still had a few more days before Kindergarten.

Charlotte was propelling the boys forward by standing on the swing set.

I love the friendship between these boys.

Nicole was being a super hero with a blanket tied around her neck and she dressed her stuffed kitty as a super hero too.  The look on her face is her response to me asking her to look up for a picture.

Here’s Zach being handy.  We’ve had some trouble with flooding downstairs when the water softener flushes itself out, so Zach snaked the drain.

This is one of Thomas’s new friends.  His name is Sean.  Thomas and Sean have been spending some extra time together since all their siblings are in school.  They play together so well that they often spend most of the day together.

Ila’s first day of Kindergarten finally arrived.  She was so excited!

Here Ila is with Charlotte and Lucie.  Those three are the best of friends.  I also liked how Nicole was holding onto Isaac’s arm in this picture.  The official bus stop is actually around the corner from my house and this year the bus driver said she needs to stop at the official stop.  She doesn’t like the stop here and is trying to have it officially changed back to my driveway (I hope she succeeds).

Here is Ila getting off the bus at the end of her school day (they have half day kindergarten here).  The principal rode the bus with the kids on their first day.

She had a fabulous first day and she officially loves school.

Zach has been playing computer games with the kids.  They play Castle Crashers together using special USB controllers. (Our neighbor, Lucie is playing too.)

Lucie and her brother, Evan often come over after school to play with my kids.  I love that they have such good friends right next door.  Lately Lucie has been asking to help make dinner.  Ila and Lucie helped me make pizza in these pictures.

We got home from a meeting at the school and found Charlotte leading the children along on an imaginary adventure.

Sometimes I can’t get over how grown up she looks:

This is on Sunday just before the home teachers arrived.  Lucie used to hide from my camera, but lately she has started posing for the camera.

After reading a bedtime story where one of the characters had a pet rat, Zach and the children decided that they needed pet rats.  My protests were ignored and the children used their allowance money to get three pet rats and a cage.  Evan and Lucie came along to pick rats.  Evan got a kick out of the fact that I didn’t actually want pet rats.

Thomas played with play-dough while all the other kids were at school and he kept making things that he thought were hilarious.  This is one of his “hilarious” creations:

Here are some pictures of the boys enjoying playing outside on a pleasant evening.

The girls played in the backyard.  This picture is from after Charlotte’s evening shower which is why she is already in her PJs.

I seem to have taken lots of close-ups of Charlotte’s face lately.

I went to the Timpanogous Storytelling Festival with Charlotte’s class.  Grades 3-6 hike into the canyon for the event.  My kid’s school is the only school close enough to walk to the event.  I was lucky enough to have Isaac sit behind me so I got to spend time with both of my older children.

Charlotte caught up with her best friend for lunch.  I’m still a little sad that they’re not in the same class this year.  Last year they had such fun walking into the canyon together singing songs at the top of their lungs.

Remember those rats I wrote about earlier in the post?  Since I hadn’t taken any other pictures of them, I made a point of taking pictures today as we fed them frozen peas and frozen corn today.

There are three rats.  The white one climbing out is Patch.  The one in the corner of the cage is Eustace Jr. because he looks like our cat (Eustace), and the one outside of the cage on the right is Mist.

Eustace Jr. is the biggest rat and also the biggest chicken.  Mist is the middle sized rat and she has a middle temperament. She loves food and will snatch it eagerly from a person or another rat. Charlotte wanted a rat with grey on it to name Mist, though I’m not sure why.  Patch is the most adventurous and friendly rat.