The First Day

Yesterday was the first day of school...
It was full of excitement for the kids...
and a bit of sadness for me.

I love my kids, and I love the relaxing nature of summer.
I hate to see it pass.

This year is especially difficult because this girl is in 8th grade.

where did the time go?

They had a fruit basket upset yesterday, so today they are in new rooms...
She is not with Jan, but I did capture this photo of Sam and some of her friends before class started.


Emma- 6th grader extraordinaire!


McKenna- 4th grade ALREADY??


And Super- 3rd Grade (Same grade as Sam when Jack was born!)



Sydney and McKenna were hoping to be in the same class... and they are!  Syd was so excited lat night that she said "Can I go back to school right now?"

Emma switched classes this year which doesn't happen too often on the off year.  Lots of prayer went into this decision.  She is happy with it and excited for the change.


The school girls...


Jack saying goodbye to his sisters...

NO LIMITS.

This summer Josh, Sam, Emma, and I have been watching Expedition Impossible.
Long story but if you have been watching it you will recognize our Back to School theme for this year.

No Limits.

We have all been inspired by a group of 3 men who have been traveling through various terrains across Morocco.  One is blind.  One broke his ankle while doing the show and is competing in a cast. The other is like the big brother and encouragers.  They are amazing.  They do not limit themselves... and they do not quit.  Know what their team name is?  You guessed it, NO LIMITS!  What a great theme for the start of a new school year.

Tonight we held our first ever Back to School Celebration/Banquet in honor of these precious kids... and their awesome daddy.


(Let me clarify... I do NOT want school to start back up... but since we have bills to pay & my kids need to learn... and I am not in charge of the world... yadda yadda yadda... it begins tomorrow whether I like it or not, SO...  Let's Celebrate it!)




the place settings...


The ones we celebrated


A toast to "No Limits"


The final treat from summer...


goodbye summer we will miss you terribly.


Lots of things are going to be changing come tomorrow morning.  The lunch boxes are already out and half packed... backpacks at the door... and the poor boy had to sleep in his own room tonight.  First time all summer and it did not go over very well.  Jack really does not like school nights :(  Poor dude.  The girls had to go to bed early...

I guess the other thing that will be changing is that I will likely get more time to blog:)  There is always an upside.  But I've got to tell you... I am going to miss my family.

Cars 2

Living in a house with a little boy has changed things in a big way.
With the girls it was ALL about American Girl...
with Jack it is about Monster Trucks, Cars, Toy Story...

Boy Stuff.

At the end of June Cars 2 came out. 
He watched it once with us...
and once with Papu.

He races his cars daily on our dirty hardwood floor...
it is adorable.

Pretty much the movie was a HUGE hit with Jack, the girls, and Josh & I.
We only go once a year... usually with our bff's in Cali, but since that trip was cancelled we attended by ourselves... but I must say I love this memory.  And in a weird way it was almost like a date... Josh and I sat behind the kiddos and watched them enjoy the moment :)

TIMBER(s)

In the last number of years I went from never watching soccer to sitting out in pouring rain watching soccer multiple days a week.

Then Portland decided to get rid of their triple A baseball team and start up a soccer team.

The Portland Timbers.

This year they went MLS and some of our friends are MAJORLY into it... think of it like us and our Ducks that might give you a better idea.  Anyhow they have taken us to a couple games and it is really fun and of course I like that the team colors are the same as the Oregon Ducks so picking what to wear is easy... since I have no Timbers gear.  My hubby has bought into the Timber Fever and has a hat and a t-shirt (Thank you AJ) that he wears with pride!

Now we even watch the Timbers on TV... and boy howdy did we ever get sucked in the the Women's World Cup this summer.  All 7 of us cuddled up on the couch watching all the games!  Good times!

The Timber Army.... these people sing the ENTIRE game.  No kidding they SING. 
the boys.

Soccer has some pretty cool traditions and one of them is that when the teams walk onto the field they walk on with a kids team holding their hand.  I love it.
their seats are first and second row... awesome for game watching... and super fun!

Mr. Owner man.
The Childers Fam... and proud season tickets holders.
us girls :)

I must confess I am really proud of this...

No people this is not an episode of what not to wear...:)  Gotta love him!
One of the most beautiful things about this photo is "date night" with friends and knowing that our kids were old enough to babysit themselves.  When did that happen?  Time surely flies.

Now what?

I guess my mini vacation from the computer lasted a LOT longer than I thought it would.

I have so many things that have happened from summer that I don't even know where to start... so I will start with this.

My laptop is officially dead.
Good news they were able to extract the hard drive and save everything.
Bad news to fix it would cost $1060.00.

SERIOUSLY.  I almost feel like that was a joke since you can get a totally new one for less.
So after a couple months of no laptop (at least) I am going to have to get a new one.  Not sure when, not sure what... but with school starting back up next week I feel like I need to start blogging again on a more regular basis.

So I am going to go a little backwards and highlight a few things from summer, skip the rest, and then move on to where we are currently.  It will be easier that way. :)

The annual beach shot...

Sam, 13- Emma, 11-McKenna, 9- Syndey, 8- Jack, 4
at the beach I grew up on :)
Man I LOVE these kids!