August and Back to School!

 August wrapped up our summer and also was the beginning of a new school year! This year was pretty monumental for our family as our baby Lila went to full day Kindergarten! All four kids in school all day! 

We had our traditional Back to School Feast before school started and I love this night so much. The kids always choose pretty much the same menu and its such a fun way to calm nerves and celebrate all the big things happening. We did Fathers blessings and read "You Are Special" and tried to send them all to bed with happy, peaceful thoughts!

Davis started 3rd grade with Mrs. Thorpe. I was thrilled because I knew she'd be the perfect teacher for him. He was mostly just excited to get back into the swing of things and to spend time at recess. He had a bunch of friends in his class, which was also exciting!

Hudson started Jr. High! 7th grade is such a big step, but with Chase already there Hudson cruised right through the transition. He started band, and since he has so much piano experience he was able to skip beginning band and go right to concert band in the percussion section!

Chase started 9th grade! He is taking AP geography and accelerated math. He got to start seminary and is his class pianist- so he's been practicing the hymns (it's pretty easy for him). Every day I'd pick him up from school right when the bell rang and hurry him over to the high school for football practice. He'd make it with a few minutes to spare. 

Kindergarten started a few days later. Lila is our first to do all day Kindergarten. She's also pretty attached to mama and struggles with separation anxiety. Because of this, I played every card I had to get her into Megan Joseph's class (our neighbor and one of our very best friends that Lila has loved since she was a baby). It worked and Lila got to start her school experience with the very best Kindergarten teacher in the world that she happened to already love! She also has a few little friends from the neighborhood in her class too! 

She went right in with no tears at first! That didn't last long, and we had a bunch of teary mornings where I had to peel her off me into Megan's arms. But after a few months, she was back to happily walking right in with the other kids. 

August also meant the football was in full swing for all three boys! Davis and Hudson also started playing tackle football this year. Which is a LOT of practices! It was also so so hot during this time, and they were practicing for hours in full pads. These boys are tough. They all seemed to just love it though! 

When school started, we also had to take Speedy back. It was fun having a pet for the summer! Davis and Lila were both so sad to say goodbye to him!

Right before school started, we had the best day at Cherry Hill! Hickmans met us there and these kids had a blast on waterslides and the lazy river all day! We had to leave after six hours for football practices, but it was seriously such a fun day! 

Hudson and Davis didn't get to choose their numbers- and somehow we ended up with 57, 58 and 58!

Lila resumed ballet classes! She was so excited to be back! 

Aunt Heidi came to town and got to take Lila to ballet one day! These two are besties.

All the boys football games started. Even though his eyes are closed, I love this picture of Chase. It was after one of his first games. As a freshman on the Soph team, he didn't expect to play much. He ended up getting in at the end of every single game of the season. This is after one of the first, I think he got in for 6 plays and he totally rocked it! 

Right at the end of the month, my cousin Patrick got married. We had wedding festivities for like four days in a row with lots of family in town. I only have pictures of the actual wedding, which was so beautiful and magically all my kids were well behaved. We stayed and enjoyed the party and dancing until 10 pm and no one melted down!