dancin' shoes

Sarah informed me this week that she was the only kid in the family who didn't get a new pair of school shoes.   The injustice of it all!  Poor baby.   (We won't discuss the fact that she has more shoes than her mother, and probably more than all four of her brothers put together. Someone around here has a real weakness for little girls shoes. Ahem.)

But I digress.   Anyway,  you can see that this situation just had to be rectified.  So after I took back to school pictures of all the kids, she insisted that I take a picture of her new shoes.  And then she began an impromptu dance recital on the front steps. 

Not sure what this look is all about... grrrrr?

And of course, the bench makes a good dance stage.   A classic Sarah idea.   :)

And then she did some fancy aerial work as well.   Impressive, right?

Ta da!

Show's over.   Back to your regularly scheduled program.  

I love, love Sarah's black and white outfit.  I bought it from a bloggy friend (thanks, Mandi!) who is fundraising for an adoption.   Check out her blog here.   

the first day!

School started on Monday.   I actually took this picture Monday evening, since we have four kids who go to three different schools-- and well...mornings can be pretty hectic.

So here's this year's line up:  Logan is in fourth grade, Jason is in kindergarten, Justin is a junior in high school, Sarah will start preschool in a few weeks, and Evan is a ninth grader at the junior high.

Next year I will be able to say that I have a senior in high school and a kindergartner!   How's that for perfect timing?  ;)  Heh.  We are all excited to start a new school year!

winding down... (or gearing up?)

All the signs of the end of summer are here... the back to school ads on TV, registration info in the mail, and school fees to be paid.  

We didn't go on any major road trips this summer, which in some ways was good.  Here's a little recap of our very "ordinary" summer.

Justin got his first job "working cherries".   We live in an area with lots of fruit orchards, and many high school kids help process and package the fruit.   Not the most exciting job, but it pays pretty well and he'll be done with it before school starts.  He works 6 days a week, from 7 am to 5 pm.  We are proud of him for sticking with it, and for getting to work on time every day (because 7 am is extremely early for a teenager).

And he also does a lot of this in his free time.  

We spent lots of summer evenings in our backyard, enjoying the cooler weather and our pets.

Smores are always fun!

We all did some chores and helped around the house.  Not all did them willingly, but Jason and Sarah love to help me shuck corn.

Sarah did some "cat sitting."  haha   The cat actually seemed to enjoy this and stayed there for quite awhile.

We also did lots of yard work--   we did a mini "makeover" of our front yard-- added drips, plants and landscape rock.   It was a lot of work, but it looks great.

We went to the lake with some friends.

And Sarah's latest trick is to hang from the basketball rim.  No, she doesn't climb the basketball post yet.... but give her a few weeks.  ;)  (See her shorts?  We have to fold down the waist band of most of her clothes so they don't fall off!)