Blessed Sunday

Today, on our way out the door to church, I gave my little man his weekly allowance of $5.  He did a really great job this week taking care of the trash, trashcans and toilet cleaning (love that!)

We sat in church and when the collection baskets were being handed out, my husband went to give the kids their $1/each that they can put in the basket.  We do this as an addition to what we give, but we want the kids to actually participate in the giving and know that our family shares with the church.

My son pulled out his $5 bill and rubbed it gently with both his thumbs.  My husband looked down at the money and then looked at me for an answer.
"Dominic, do you want to give your money?" I asked.

"Well, I can't think of a better way to spend it," he replied, and put it right in the basket.

Cue the Proud Momma music.  How blessed am I to have him for a son?

First Day of School - the full-time edition!

Ready for the first day!

Last year, I had a 1/2 day kindy girl and a pretty much full-time Independent Study 3rd grader.  Plus the 4th grade boy was in class full time.  This led to a tumultuous year of intense commuting, long hours and split attention for all of my kids.

Now, a year later, all three of my kids are at the same school for the entire day!  Hard to believe actually.  Seriously, only those parents whose kids were in same boat of I.S. and siblings in school full time, can understand the reality of last year.  I think as a parent, surviving that year was one of the biggest accomplishments I achieved.

My kids were thrilled to get ready for school this morning.  My 6 year old was the best.  After crawling into our room at 4am from a bad dream, I work her up with my good morning song.  (Think Good Morning! with Debbie Reynolds from Singin in the Rain).  She slowly rolled open her eyes, looked at me and smiled.  "You are the BEST mommy in whole wide world."  How's that for a great start to the day?

Doughnuts will ALWAYS get him to school!

The other two were easy to motivate with the promise of doughnuts they provide at school to start off.  We went extra early to get parking and it was like coming home.  There were many smiling parents and kids I haven't seen since summer.  My 5th grade boy hung out long enough for a few pictures and then ran off to hang with his buddies.  He's is becoming too cool.

The girls found old friends, and it was like they had all seen each other yesterday.  Giggling, smiling and laughing is a nice thing to see.  Obviously, I was way more nervous than they were.  In fact, when I walked into 1st grade, my daughter looked so puzzled as to why I could possibly be there!

Front and center for 4th grade

She's wondering how I snuck in to get this

The morning ended with a special BMX stunt show...WOW.  Another way to get the kids excited about school and pumped to want to come back.

We will celebrate tonight with Angel Chicken and special back-to-school sugar cookies for dessert.  Love a great start to a school year!

Daddy's little girl is growing up

That is one excited 1st grader!