Well here we are in Henderson, Nevada and have completed our first week at our new schools. I am exhausted already! But as I told the kids yesterday when I picked them up we've finished one week and only have 35 left, ha ha!
Soon I will post our summer adventures in Hawaii; in Idaho with our Pittl family (and extended Pittl and Combs families); Kaleb with Len in Ontario getting our van out of storage; in California with most of our Reil family; and now here in Nevada with our Lee family (and we've already got to spend time with our extended Lee and Barlow families).
Kaleb and Noé are in 10th grade and I think they have pretty good class schedules this year. They get to participate in early morning seminary, and what I love about it is that it doesn't start until 7:00!! Woot woot! (When I went to seminary it was at 6:15.) They both have English 10, French 3, US History, and Chemistry. Noé has Geometry and Dance, while Kaleb has Algebra II and Band. They participated in their first All-American high school assembly on Friday. Hooray for the ABC's of High School- Athletics, Band, and Cheerleading! The US knows how to make High School fun!
Gavin's in 5th grade, Teague's in 3rd, and Hiram's in Kindergarten. They're all at the same Elementary School and are loving it there. I love that they can take peanut butter sandwiches in their lunches! I do miss the school bus though.
My mom takes Kaleb and Noé to seminary at 7:00, while I get the little boys ready for school that starts at 8:00. Both schools are on the same schedule 8:00-2:11. So in the afternoon I pick up the 3 elementary boys first, then swing over to the high school to pick up the twins. This takes me an hour! And the schools are only about 5 and 7 minutes away! I leave about 25 minutes before school's out to get a key parking spot in the neighborhood across the street from the ES. With the help of the crossing guard I cross the street, then wait to pick up Hiram first. It is a safe, but tedious process to go through to get your Kindergartner! We then meet Gavin and Teague and begin our journey across the street and back to our car. The traffic is just INSANE at their school! We then drive over to the seminary building where Kaleb and Noé are waiting for us and begin the journey home. Again, both of these schools are IN our neighborhood! The traffic is just so crazy that it takes me that long to make the rounds. And I must mention that I'm doing this in 100* weather with Ali in tow most days. I need to give a shout out to my kids though- they are troopers transitioning to yet another school that they will only be in for one year.
Ali is home with me and loves that she also gets to spend time with Gramma, and the puppies- George, Lily, and Oakley during the days. She also gets to play with her cousins Bennett and Charlotte each week and they've already become sweet friends. I love that 3 of my 4 siblings live here and my brother that lives in Utah already came for a visit.
We miss Leonard like crazy and worry about him being all alone in India. This was the hardest decision we've ever made and every day I question if it was the right one. In the end, I still feel like it was the best out of the options we had. To return to Canada a year early would have hurt us financially and with a large family like ours, every penny counts. To stay in India would have hurt us physically and emotionally- Gavin's skin, Noé's mental health, my mental health, and the health of baby #7. Yep, here's the announcement, I am pregnant again! Remember in my last post how I said we were bringing back some lovely souvenirs from India? This is what I was talking about. I took the pregnancy test our very last morning there and it confirmed what I already knew- a new little one was coming to join us. We are so excited to have another sweet baby, but it's hard too. I knew I was pregnant on June 9th as the nausea started June 7th. I don't get "morning" sickness for the "first" trimester, I get "24/7" sickness for the "entire" pregnancy. Since I'm a "mature" mother, I also worry about this new baby's health and hope it will have a healthy mind and body and won't suffer because of my advanced age. I will be 60 when this one graduates from high school, yikes!
If your family has started school already, I hope you have a fabulous new year! If you're still enjoying summer vacation, I hope you get to squeeze out every sun-soaked minute of it. I hope this challenging year will make us all stronger individually and as a family. I am so grateful for our amazing extended families that love and support us so!
I'm hoping to get completely settled in soon so I can begin posting our summer adventures and now the adventures of this school year. Wish me luck!
Soon I will post our summer adventures in Hawaii; in Idaho with our Pittl family (and extended Pittl and Combs families); Kaleb with Len in Ontario getting our van out of storage; in California with most of our Reil family; and now here in Nevada with our Lee family (and we've already got to spend time with our extended Lee and Barlow families).
Kaleb and Noé are in 10th grade and I think they have pretty good class schedules this year. They get to participate in early morning seminary, and what I love about it is that it doesn't start until 7:00!! Woot woot! (When I went to seminary it was at 6:15.) They both have English 10, French 3, US History, and Chemistry. Noé has Geometry and Dance, while Kaleb has Algebra II and Band. They participated in their first All-American high school assembly on Friday. Hooray for the ABC's of High School- Athletics, Band, and Cheerleading! The US knows how to make High School fun!
Gavin's in 5th grade, Teague's in 3rd, and Hiram's in Kindergarten. They're all at the same Elementary School and are loving it there. I love that they can take peanut butter sandwiches in their lunches! I do miss the school bus though.
My mom takes Kaleb and Noé to seminary at 7:00, while I get the little boys ready for school that starts at 8:00. Both schools are on the same schedule 8:00-2:11. So in the afternoon I pick up the 3 elementary boys first, then swing over to the high school to pick up the twins. This takes me an hour! And the schools are only about 5 and 7 minutes away! I leave about 25 minutes before school's out to get a key parking spot in the neighborhood across the street from the ES. With the help of the crossing guard I cross the street, then wait to pick up Hiram first. It is a safe, but tedious process to go through to get your Kindergartner! We then meet Gavin and Teague and begin our journey across the street and back to our car. The traffic is just INSANE at their school! We then drive over to the seminary building where Kaleb and Noé are waiting for us and begin the journey home. Again, both of these schools are IN our neighborhood! The traffic is just so crazy that it takes me that long to make the rounds. And I must mention that I'm doing this in 100* weather with Ali in tow most days. I need to give a shout out to my kids though- they are troopers transitioning to yet another school that they will only be in for one year.
Ali is home with me and loves that she also gets to spend time with Gramma, and the puppies- George, Lily, and Oakley during the days. She also gets to play with her cousins Bennett and Charlotte each week and they've already become sweet friends. I love that 3 of my 4 siblings live here and my brother that lives in Utah already came for a visit.
We miss Leonard like crazy and worry about him being all alone in India. This was the hardest decision we've ever made and every day I question if it was the right one. In the end, I still feel like it was the best out of the options we had. To return to Canada a year early would have hurt us financially and with a large family like ours, every penny counts. To stay in India would have hurt us physically and emotionally- Gavin's skin, Noé's mental health, my mental health, and the health of baby #7. Yep, here's the announcement, I am pregnant again! Remember in my last post how I said we were bringing back some lovely souvenirs from India? This is what I was talking about. I took the pregnancy test our very last morning there and it confirmed what I already knew- a new little one was coming to join us. We are so excited to have another sweet baby, but it's hard too. I knew I was pregnant on June 9th as the nausea started June 7th. I don't get "morning" sickness for the "first" trimester, I get "24/7" sickness for the "entire" pregnancy. Since I'm a "mature" mother, I also worry about this new baby's health and hope it will have a healthy mind and body and won't suffer because of my advanced age. I will be 60 when this one graduates from high school, yikes!
If your family has started school already, I hope you have a fabulous new year! If you're still enjoying summer vacation, I hope you get to squeeze out every sun-soaked minute of it. I hope this challenging year will make us all stronger individually and as a family. I am so grateful for our amazing extended families that love and support us so!
I'm hoping to get completely settled in soon so I can begin posting our summer adventures and now the adventures of this school year. Wish me luck!
