2nd, 4th, 5th

Everyday when I pray, without fail I thank God for the neighborhood we live in, for our humble home and for our ward. I can't see myself ever leaving this place. I feel grateful that our kids are growing up in this little brick home and that it will always be "home". I guess I can't say with absolute certainty that this will be the only place that they know as home but I hope it is and it may very well be.

By the time I was Ray Ray's age I had been to my 5th elementary school and although moving around may have added to my character and my resiliency, I am happy not to have our children experience the same. I don't know that our kids can yet appreciate the gift of this stability that I yearned for but I think they will some day. If they are any bit as nostalgic as their dad, they will certainly fall in love with this place as we have (if they haven't already).

Going back to school is very exciting. I always get a bit giddy about it and as the summer wanes into autumn I am filled with a deep sense of well-being - that old familiar happy feeling. Seeing paper cut-outs in school classrooms of apples, fall leaves and pumpkins; buying new shoes, notebooks and pencils; getting haircuts - I look forward to this. Although I regret not having more lackadaisical days of summer, I can't deny how much I love this time of year. (Besides, summer is not technically over yet and we will probably still go swimming a few more times before it ends.)

Lou shares my excitement. She made a calendar and put it on the refrigerator to mark the days until school started and in her personal prayers she often asked that school would come faster (much to Ray Ray's chagrin). The boys claim to hate school- but I saw their excitement when we went to the school's open house and on the first day of school so they can't fool me. Here are a few pictures of the first day of school this week:












My one wish about school this year is that there won't be as much homework for parents. I think they should hand out awards for moms (you know, like the cub scout pins that the boys pin on their mom when they earn a badge because you know the mom had a lot to do with her son getting that badge).