First Day of School Pictures!

The girls each had a great first day of school! (Mom did too!) Here are some pictures from this morning.

End of Summer Party at the Park and Sleepover!

We had an end of summer party at the park with a bunch of friends and then a sleepover that night also. It was a lot of fun for the girls. I thought I would share some of the photos we took. Many of them, Abby took! She has a great eye!

Homeschool vs Public School

This has been our dilemma for the past 6 months. Which one is really better for the girls? Well, the decision has been made and revised and made again at least 6 times. Today, there is a final decision. The girls are going to public school.

When we took Olivia in to meet her teacher, Eme and Abby started asking me if they could go also. My worry is that they will start and after the newness (I don't think that is a word!) wears off, they will start complaining and want to stay home. And I was really looking forward to the extra time I was going to get with each of them at home.

At the same time, public school offers a lot. Fun field trips, friends, etc. I didn't want the girls to miss out on that either. Plus, I stressed about whether I could adequately cover everything with them. (although I know I can, I just worry!)

Garr woke up at just the right moment (he worked last night). As I was sitting on the couch in tears with the girls around me, getting ready to discuss the school issue for the final time, he appeared. His response? "If they want to go, send them!" But, but, but, I worried! We finally decided to go ahead after some serious words with the girls about sticking to it! I took Abby to the school to enroll her. It was a great experience - they were so kind! I also was able to get her into the class that I had hoped for. She has an awesome teacher.

The girls were so sweet. Eme talked to Garr when I was gone, and told him that if I really wanted to homeschool her, she would. She didn't want me to be sad. And Abby told me she was sorry, she just really wanted to go to school. That warmed my heart. My girls care about others more than themselves.

Honestly, I'm feeling excited now that a decision has been made! The girls are going to do great this year. And I will get some free time! Yay! =]

Summer is coming to an end...

Our summer sped by. It feels like we are spending this week trying to make up for all we missed due to mom and dad's accident. This week we have been to Killen's Pond, Lake Como, Xbos, the park, and are having a sleepover tonight (7 little girls!).

School starts on Monday. Olivia will be going into kindergarten at the local public school as she got a really excellent teacher. She also learned how to ride her two-wheeler this summer! She is such a proud girl! She goes out to ride all the time now and she constantly wants us to come out and watch her. =] It was so great to be able to have mom and dad right here to see her ride. She celebrated her 5th birthday in July. We had a little party at the local park and then had her family party at camp. She loved all her "cool" gifts! Her babysitter, Sami, made the awesome princess cake for her!

Eme and Abby will be starting 3rd and 2nd grades. They haven't gotten used to the school here, and have asked to homeschool. We'll see how that goes! Eme was in a drama production at the local Opera House. She attended drama camp every day for two weeks before they put on their production. She did great and had a lot of fun.
Abby has become our resident photographer! She took the picture of my dad throwing his head back, laughing. She took some other pictures at our local park that I will share in my next post. She's quite talented!

My parents are getting better all the time. My mom is still on bed rest, but she is allowed to get up and do light chores and go places if she feels like it. My dad is gradually able to use his arm more and more. He has gone back to work, and preached for the first time a week ago. He said it felt great!

Garr is really starting to settle into his job. I think he is leading his dept in DUIs so I am proud of him! He is getting ready to test for his first couple of stripes in jiu-jitsu. He is working towards a blue belt. I'm just busy with the kids and starting an Awana program at our church. We had a yard sale with some friends last week and that was a success!

Daniel deserves a paragraph all his own. He is 8 months old now - almost 9. He has 6teeth and doesn't mind you knowing it ~ Don't let him stick your finger in his mouth! =] He has perfected his army crawl and gets around really fast. He gets up on his hands and knees to rock, but back on his belly to crawl. He says "da, da" and "ba, ba," but it's rare to hear him say "ma." (which stinks for me!) I'm afraid he may be a picky eater. He likes the basic baby food, but when you start mixing them ('corn and sweet potatoes' or 'apples and bananas', for instance), he refuses to eat them! He loves Gerber Graduates Puffs and he does such a good job picking them up and getting them into his mouth. He had a rough month healthwise. When we went to family camp, he had an ear infection and a virus and a rash! And he was cutting two teeth! Poor kid! When we came home, we found out his other ear was infected. He seems to be getting better now. It was the first time he had been sick and apparently he was going to do it all at once! He is a very happy, mostly content baby. We feel very blessed!

I'm am going to post lots of pictures from the past month. I'm having trouble with making notes next to the pictures - but I'm sure most are self-explanatory! Enjoy!

Update

Hey Everyone, Just an update. We are all doing well - tired out, but well! Mom and Dad are healing really nicely. Every day they are able to do more for themselves. Our church has been great - bringing in meals and helping out with the kids the first two weeks, especially. We are leaving for Family Camp in Denton on Friday. The surgeon said that mom can go, as long as she continues with the bed rest there. The kids are very excited. I'm a little overwhelmed at packing and loading and setting up all by myself. (Garr will be there to help with some of it, but he is still working for the police dept. during a lot of camp) I know we will have a good time when we get there, though!

Daniel is getting so big! He is army-crawling now. He started when he was 7 mo, 1 day - so July 1st. The week after the accident - not the best timing in my book! He does a lot of "singing" now. It's really cute. Eme performed in a play (she was in drama camp for two weeks.) She did a great job and had fun too! Abby got a new bike today. She finally outgrew her little one. I will try to get pictures taken and posted soon. Olivia is turning 5 on Friday. We are having her party tomorrow morning at a local park. It should be fun. Garr's birthday is today! We didn't get to do too much to celebrate. We had ice cream cake (his favorite) and I got him this thing for his bike that keeps track of how many miles he has ridden, and also an autographed Matt Hughes t-shirt. I think he is especially excited about the t-shirt.

Hopefully I will have time to update again and post pictures after camp!