BTS night take 2!

We had back to school night last night for the bigger girls. There were a few highlights for us. The first one was finding a Nordstroms gift card in Graces desk. The teacher said she said it in her desk and thought it was interesting. She uses it as a book mark. Hilarious! (Once while shopping for shoes, the cashier gave us about 50 used but empty giftcards from the register. That has provided my kids more entertainment than Lincoln Logs ever would!) The little boy who sits next to Rita is really funny. His mom showed us his prayer journal. It read, "Dear Jesus, I pray Rita can come over for a wonderful playdate. I pray it can be really fun and the weather nice. Amen." The last highlight was Ritas teacher saying, "please don't let this cause you stress at home, it is just 1st grade" in response to parents questions.

Sam the kid is at home!

Last night was Sam's back to school night. Children were asked to stay home as this was a parents only event. Well, there must of been 5 kindergarteners that came with parents (for whatever reason, etc). Towards the end of the presentation, three of the boys walked up to Nate seperately and asked where Sam was. What is funny is that there was nothing on us like a nametag that would lett these kids know that we were (specifically Nate) his parents. But the funniest thing ever was when the kid said directly to Nate, "where is Sam the kid!?!". We almost died laughing. We guess that Nate must be "Sam the adult!"

Ellen - Big Sister; Sam - Big Brother

Ellen likes to help with Clara.  They share a room (not at night yet) and that will be a lot of fun for them in a few months I am sure!

 Ellen filling up the diaper bag for me.

Friends and Family

We have had a lot of friends and family visiting in the past month.  I haven't been too good about always taking photos but here are a few.  We couldn't have done it without the meals, visits, phone calls and support.  It has been overwhelming!

This is one of our babysitters Lindy - first visitor!  She took the kids a lot in those first days.

 Close family friends:  Kris and Anne, they are such wonderful cheerleaders and encouragement to us

 Best friends from college, Erin and Andy - hilarious - they brought us dinner in the hospital

 My MOPS friend Andrea and her four kids - first playdate - ha ha!

 Rita's BFFs at school (twins!!!) - Ross and Jocelyn

 Close family friends:  Em and Tiffany

 The best neighbors ever - Glickers, this is Leah their baby whisperer daughter!

 The other baby whisperer around here!

Came down and back in one weekend:  Grandpa Verwys!

Aunt Betsy visits

Aunt Betsy meets Clara and we visit the Capitol...

We took a "kid tour" of the Capitol when Aunt Betsy was here...  

For more photos, see Betsy's blog here:

CLICK HERE!

Back to School

Little girls at home.

Riding the bus for the first time.  We have 17 kids at our bus stop!

 The bus driver let me get on and take a photo.  So fun for him to go off to school.  I love it!

Big Girls Cooking School!

I took the big girls to a kids cooking class by themselves and we made yogurt parfaits with homemade granola and also made personal pizzas.  It was really interesting to see how someone else made these simple recipes and the different ingredients that were used!

Rita's Surgery

Rita went in for surgery this month.  Nate stayed home with the kids and they made an adorable Get Well poster for Rita.  Rita did great other than being scared.  Didn't even shed one tear!!

Happy 5th Bday Sam!

Sam's birthday was our first outing with Clara.  

We went to the Krispy Kreme factory.

Teachers!

We are so excited for another year of school!  

Here are the kids with their teachers.  

We have wonderful teachers this year.

Kindergarten

Mr. Winakur
(We are so excited that Sammy's teacher is a guy!  He loves the Phillies.)

Mrs Snyder  (assistant teacher)

(She used to teach at the local church preschool so all my neighbors know her.)

First Grade: 

Miss Nicholson

(happens to also be the best friend of one of our favorite babysitters!)

Third Grade:

 Mrs. McCleod

(Has taught 3rd graders for 9 years!!  A pro!)