back to a schedule

And along with the start of school, I found I have not taken very many pictures at all.



Here is E's first picture she ever colored in the lines (vs scribbling).  Of course, documenting her favorite colors of pink, pink, and more pink and purple.

Biz is such a lover of princess stuff...(and did I say before "all things pink?")

We started the school year trying to teach E along with David but quickly learned that David was more distracted and E was not quite ready for that jump.

Now, E (who fights taking a nap almost every day but still needs one) takes a nap and D does school with me.  After crying (by me) on the first day of school and a rough first week, we are finally getting somewhere.  David is now able to write sentences from my dictation (been one of the hardest things for him in the past).  He also can read a good bit (even a few words that are not phonetic) and recognizes quite a few sight words despite not working on that too much.  We read at least once a day.  His math is continuing strong.  He is doing addition through 7s and can count by 10s and even 5s (with a tiny bit of prompting).  We are on schedule to be finishing Kindergarten by Nov-Dec.  Think we may continue on to First Grade in the spring.  After much consideration/prayer, we decided to put him back into Kinder at church this year.  Just don't know where he belongs because he is growing in maturity too but not ready for the next step quite.

We started soccer again.  David is on the same team again this season but sporting a different color uniform.  They are now red camo.  I did not realize how fortunate we were to have such a capable coach.  Coach Al plays seriously himself and is used to coaching--unlike most of the other teams David's age.  David is learning a lot and improving.  He still seems better cut out for defense than offense.  He is a tough defender and far more hesitant to move the ball to the goal himself.  He even got to attend a Dynamos game with his team (and Daddy).

The sibling fighting and craziness has calmed down a lot.  There is still a lot of chasing each other around the house (although most often with both parties happy about it), but overall, it is wonderful to see reciprocal kindnesses, sharing, and love toward each other.

The kiddos also all got their matching tshirts this month.  We use the HEB book club tshirts for sleep shirts.

And a few pictures of D that did not make it in respective past months because they were hidden on Daddy's phone:

Here's to another month of madness...

the handyman

I am in love with my handyman.

He can do anything!  Even tackle new chandeliers in 20 foot hallways.

eleven + six makes for a full house

We spent Labor Day at my sister's.  She generously hosted not only us but my brother and family as well.  That meant 11 kids and 6 adults.  Despite a last minute scramble when my brother's car broke down, we all enjoyed an exhausting but fun 2 days in Sherman.

The drive there on Friday afternoon was pretty pleasant.  A took a nap on the way there and the other two happily watched movie after movie on the 5 hour drive (we did hit rush hour in Dallas--yuk!)  The view was also pretty magnificent as we watched the clear demarcation of a thunderstorm that we thankfully missed.

Saturday morning was sticky and hot but we spent a bit of time outside drawing chalk outlines of various kiddos and Daddy and Mommy.  A only let us get a leg or two before running off.  The pluckier adults also took to the scooters (Mommy's chalk shadow rode one as well).

All the heat made for perfect swimming weather.  Even David went off the diving board after much coaxing (and with floaties).  He is just such a cautious oldest.  Bizbeth and Abigail were far too interested in the yummy snow cones.  (A if you are reading, can I get the pics from you?)


We spent late afternoon doing Karaoke thanks to youtube.  E joined the girls in a Frozen favorite, but she was more interested in watching the movie clips on the music video and dancing than the actual singing.

Afterward, we took some frightfully cute pictures of little Javi (who will still have to remain anonymous here just now).  Fritz can stand in for his pictures in the box.  :)
And then a few with all 11 kids.  Sweet Suma helped out with Abigail despite A being too big really to be held.

Sunday was church time followed by lunch and a few hours of visiting before getting on the road a bit too late to get home again.  Despite pulling in to the house at 10:30 at night, only E had fallen asleep.