Well we survived the first week of school. The night before school started Rick gave all of the kids' Father's blessings. Jenna was very reverent for the first couple but after that she lost patience and was jumping up and down on the ottoman singing, "up and down, up and down!" We were tempted to lock her in her room by the time we finished.
I went with Janelle and Jaiden on their first day of school to help them find their classrooms and get situated. Kindergarten starts a week later so I think Josh felt a little gypped that he didn't get to go to his class. Jaiden had an appointment with the Wound Clinic and so I had to come back to the school and get her a couple of hours later. I dropped the two youngest off with a friend while I brought Jaiden to her appointment. The doctor was a kind older man with white hair and an engaging personality. He offered Jaiden $25.00 if he could cut off the braid in her hair and keep it. She giggled and shook her head and then he said, "How about $50.00?" I told the doctor he had better watch out or she would take him up on it! Then we ran into our neighbor who works there. She always brings sunshine into a room and so it was fun to see her. After the appointment I dropped Jaiden back off to school and picked up Josh and Jenna. We decided to go swimming and the water felt so refreshing in the heat and they loved the play time. It wasn't long before Jared arrived home. He is on the early schedule now and so he is the first one home. I love having one home by 2:25. I am usually very tired by that time and longing for a nap. So after the daily chit chat about school, I leave him in charge of Josh and Jenna while I sleep for a half hour. He likes it too because it gives him a few minutes to chill before he has to do his other jobs.
I asked Jared how his first day of school went and he said in the voice of one who is pleasantly surprised, "You know, it actually went really well!" Then Jase got home a half hour later bursting through the door with, "that was the longest day of my entire life!!!" Poor kid. Janika's day at the high school went well too and the other kids all had good first days. After school I hurried Jaiden off to her dance class and then started cooking chicken tacos for dinner. After a wonderful dinner we decided that for our FHE activity we would run out to Wal-Mart for school supplies since many of the kids had come home with a new list of things they needed before the next day (or at least that is what they claimed). So we headed off for notebooks, calculators, 3X5 cards and so forth.
I also got shoes for Janelle. I didn't find out until this morning that all of her tennis shoes that fit at the beginning of summer were suddenly too small. I tried to get her to wear sandals like she has been all summer but she likes to wear tennis shoes to school so that she can run around and play sports at recess. Janelle is so funny because she put on these old pair of shoes this morning that were full of holes and falling apart. I had been meaning to sneak them into the garbage but forgot. When I saw her wearing them I told her she needed new shoes. She said, "These ones are just fine -- I hate for you to have to spend your money on shoes for me." She is one of our frugal ones. But I insisted that we really could afford $15.00 for a pair of shoes! And then Jaiden didn't want to be left out so she got a pair too even though she doesn't really need them. Wal-Mart was out of the cheap composition notebooks and we ended up having to go to three more stores to find some. We had been planning on going out for ice-cream after (we had several coupons for free cones) but it was so late by the time we finished that we brought everyone straight home amidst protests and crying. It was a long first day!
Tuesday morning I had some neighbor kids over for playground for three hours in the morning. Then Josh and Jenna were invited over to a friend's house and it was so deathly hot outside that I decided to swim for an hour in our pool. It was heavenly! Jared came home and I retrieved the kids and took a nap. That night I went to the elementary school "Back to School Night" while Rick stayed home with the kids. When I was in Janelle's class the teacher happened to mention an experience she had that day. She had told the kids to write a paper using their best third grade handwriting. She said, "I want your handwriting to be so neat that
anyone can read it." Then she said she had one student who raised their hand and said, "Well, what if they are blind?" Everyone laughed and I thought, 'sounds like Janelle.' So I went home and asked her and sure enough -- it was her.
The next day Janelle came home and said that the teacher banned the class from asking "what if" questions (which Janelle is notorious for). Then the next day Janelle came home in tears because her clip had been moved down because of talking in class. She was really taking it hard because I don't think she has ever been "in trouble" before. I started to worry a little but then the next day Janelle came home all smiley and happy and said, "Prayers really do work! Today I got my clip moved all the way to the top!!" Whew! Glad to hear she made it over this little bump. She can be overly inquisitive to the point of being annoying (as her brothers will attest to). But I don't want to squelch her curiosity and interest either!
Wednesday was Josh's kindergarten assessment (he did great) while Jenna played a neighbor friend. Wednesday night was Achievement Days for Janelle, a Board of Review for Jase and Jared, Young Womens for Janika, Interviews for Rick, and bathing kids for me. Bathing kids has always been one of my least desired responsibilities. I am not sure exactly why -- maybe because it hurts my back to lean over the tub and wash hair or maybe because I end up getting soaked or maybe because the kids end up screaming an ear splitting scream that echoes in the little bathroom piercing my ears. I often try to pass off that job to Rick, Janika, or Jared. But they were all gone tonight. But bath time is getting easier now that we only have to bathe the three youngest and the older kids can take care of themselves.
Thursday Jaiden had another appointment at the wound clinic with an hour waiting time. I tried to keep her entertained by reading to her from "The Friend." This is the first time I met the doctor who did her surgery. Jaiden was pretty quiet and nervous about the prospect of getting her stitches taken out, but the doctor decided to wait a week and suddenly Jaiden was cheerful and chatty, talking non stop. Thursday evening I had my Adjunct Faculty meeting which stretched on for two long hours.
Friday night we ended up having a BBQ at our house with our friends, the Adams. They are moving to Salt Lake and so this might be the last time we will see them for a long time. We have gone camping with them several times and done a lot of fun things together. We will miss them and Jase will really miss their son, McCabe, who is one of his best friends. They are excited to start on a new adventure though and we wish them the best of luck!
Saturday Rick came home from his early morning shopping trip with two huge cases of uncooked chicken that needed to be cut and bagged up in order to freeze. I also made three or four chicken dinners to freeze for future use and put a bunch in some marinade for dinner tomorrow. It took several hours to cut up all of the chicken and make several meals and it was tiring. We also babysat my friend's kids for about five hours. They were really good and our kids loved playing with their kids. They spent several hours in the pool. Then Rick and I went to the temple and Janika went to the monthly Region dance.
Sunday I helped teach the primary a couple of songs in sign language for the upcoming primary program. Rick pulled me aside after church and said he invited one of our members over for lunch right after church. Good thing I had food prepared! Rick barbecued the marinated chicken and I had a rice/vegetable casserole ready and we also had green salad, tomato salad, and perfect corn on the cob. It really hit the spot. Rick and our guest then went and visited other branch members. Everyone is still adapting to the earlier schedule and as you can see the first week of school was tiring for our kids too...
.jpg)
