KiNdErGaRtEn!

After much deliberation, prayers, and patience Ella started Kindergarten last week. After the lotteries last spring Paislee was placed in one charter school and Ella in another. We hoped that they would get into the same school eventually, Paislee started out as number 16 at Ella's school and Ella was number 7 at Paislee's school. Last Tuesday I received a call from Ella's school stating that they had an opening for Paislee. This was after she had already been attending her school for a week and a half, we had gone to the opening family picnic, and we were all thrilled with the school. I was torn, did we leave her there, hoping Ella would eventually join her?
So I called Paislee's school to see what position Ella was on the waiting list, she was now #1. We felt pretty comfortable with her position, that she would eventually get in, if not right away maybe later this year. So we left Paislee at her school and turned down the opening at Ella's. I felt sick to my stomach afterwards, had I just lost the opportunity to have my girls attend the same school?

And then the next morning I received another call, Paislee's school had an opening for Ella! We were estactic, she was in, they would be going to the same school. Everything had worked out exactly as we had hoped. And the next day Ella started Kindergarten. She loves it! She had her first homework tonight and she was so excited, right now homework is fun!

And this little guy, he gets to take a nap with his baby sister while his older ones are in school. And I? I have a few hours to myself to do whatever I want (er need) to do. Today it was canning spaghetti sauce, tomorrow I'm hoping it's finishing book two in The Hunger Games and starting book three!

A New Look

When it was time to get the girl's hair cut for back to school Ella had an idea. She wanted to go short, she wanted to have the shortest hair in the house (well, in comparison to Paislee and I). And she was determined. I was okay with it, in fact had been thinking about cutting it short for a long time but didn't know how she would react, but I wasn't sure what Jake would think.
When I asked him if she could cut her hair short his reply was, "She can do whatever she wants, it's her hair." I'm almost positive this will backfire on him in 10 years when she wants to dye it black, or hot pink, but hey, Daddy said!
And it really is cute! It's taken awhile to get used to. She loves it though, how short it is in the back, how easy it is for her to comb. It's darling to see her "fluff" it with the palm of her hand.

As you can tell she's perfectly happy with the decision she made, and if Ella's happy, well, it sure makes living with her more bearable!

Pool Time

We spend a lot of time hanging out at the neighborhood pool. It's so nice to have a place to go that's close, we can walk down, hang out for an hour and head home. It doesn't create a big disturbance in our day, it's just part of it.

Parker is a bathing beauty, we keep her out of the sun as much as we can. She doesn't love the water or hate it, she's content pretty much anywhere!
Grant is hilarious. The three older kids received new goggles this year, he insists on wearing his, even though he doesn't put his head under the water. Usually the green part hangs out on his forehead slightly tilted to the side, but on this day he was sporting them backwards. His favorite part about swimming? Talking to the other swimmers, he is such a friendly, outgoing kid!

This little girl has become an awesome swimmer. She loves loves loves the water and could stay in it all day.

The three little swimmers posing in the bright sun. Another benefit to the pool; they seem to get along better when we are there!

This one honestly couldn't get any easier. She fell asleep and slept soundly until it was time to go. Nothing like a nap on a hot summer afternoon, laying on a pile of towels on the concrete, in the shade.

There would be more pictures of Paislee and Ella, except their heads aren't above water long enough to capture their sweet little faces. I guess I could always photograph their floating toesies and backsides, but I think a grin is always the best!