Small town, Big house, Big life...: First Days and Birthdays

Things have ben a little hectic around here over the last few weeks. On the 14th of August, Ruthie began her first grade year. All three kids are now at the same school, which is great for mom. They now have an additional half hour to get hair combed, outfits selected (and reselected), backpacks checks and all of the sundry little things that go along with getting six little feet on their way to school. My first class at the college begins at 7:45 and so, Kerri is in charge of the mornings. So far, they have performed flawlessly. Sarah began life as a third grader and is thriving at it. Aside from a bout of the stomach bug, she enjoys her class. Nathan is king of the hill this year as a fifth grader. Unfortunately, being king doesn't mean that you can kick the little third graders off of the soccer field... and because they start recess first, there hasn't been a lot of soccer playing going on. He is enjoying the city league and is by far the best player on the team (no parental bias at all here).

Kerri began her "Blocks" a year earlier than expected. A last minute change in class schedules gave her the opportunity to get them out of the way. "Blocks" means that she has four graduate level classes that each meet one evening a week for an extended time. My evening class lets out at 4PM, so she drops the kids off at my class and I then become soccer dad and homework checker. Pray for Kerri, but more than that pray for the kids as they suffer through my cooking!

Below are three shots of the girls in their first day of school outfits. Nathan's pictures came out blurry, so we have included a video of his birthday party. His birthday is on the 8th, but we waited until the 16th so that he could gather friends from school. It was a great time of bowling and cake. It is hard to believe that I have been a dad for a decade! It seems like only yesterday that I was ten myself.