In the Thick of It

School has started..and how!  We have all the kids at an amazing new school this year.  Well, the school isn’t new, but this campus is.  It is actually two campuses right next to each other—one K-6 and the other 7-12.  The school is American Leadership Academy or ALA.  Love. This. School.  At least so far…I love the uniforms, the curriculum, the directors, the way they have Ang and Sunny on an A and B schedule for classes like in college, love the leadership attributes that they weave into their curriculum, but mostly I love that my kids are loving this school and seem so excited to be a part of it.  Oh, and the fact that they can walk there and back each day in about 5 minutes is a pretty big bonus as well!  Seriously, we feel sooo blessed that it opened up right by where we moved!  Lots of families in this area have their kids there as well and love it too.

First day of school pics…I let them choose a pose and this is what they came up with….

Don’t know exactly what Sunny is going for here, but I’m pretty sure she did.

Angie’s objective is a little more obvious.

Ready to learn!  And lead!

 

The cool thing about this school is that, even though its a charter, they still offer pretty much all the same programs and sports as a regular high school.  No, the sports teams are not up to par with the bigger schools, but for the number of kids they have I think they are doing great—and I think it is great because it gives more kids opportunities to be involved.  

Sunny started doing cross country and Angie decided to join up as well—a day before the first meet.  We had no idea how she would do, but she came in 9th which was pretty good.  Sunny came in 4th in her group—and her coach said she should have gotten 1st or 2nd so I guess she needs to up it.  But I was proud of both of them!    Both girls are in other activities as well—Angie is in choir and student council (She won Freshman class President.:) and Sunny is in band.  It sounds like a lot, but those are actually classes in school so it hasn’t been too bad—but they get up every morning for XC practice at 5:30A.M!  It’s great because since Jack and I are up anyway we go running as well!

   

Logan is now officially an 11 year old scout (Yeah, I totally need to catch up THREE birthday posts…we’ll see if that happens) and he got his Arrow of Light at his last Cub Scout meeting. 

He got it with his best friend in the ward Sam..who turned 11 the day before Logan did.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Logan is also doing soccer right now with Sam and Jack is coaching—a nice low key league at a local family sports place.  It’s indoor soccer so that has been fun to watch.

 

And the little ones are busy too…in their own way….

Ella plays all the time with these two little girls in our neighborhood Lucy and Tessa.  They usually play very well unless someone doesn’t want to share something because it is “too special to me.”  They are really sweet girls though and I love that they both live on our street.

Savannah is getting crazy busy these days…definitely counting down until nursery…and I wish I could get her to keep these bows on her head! 

Rocking out with cousin Delphine.

 

Well, there’s my marathon posts.  We are in the thick of things and keeping busy.  Sometimes it gets a little crazy with all the things the kids do, but I have never forced them to do any of their activities—they have almost always expressed that interest on their own—well except for piano, but the girls love it now.  Anyway, I just think that it isn’t fair to tell your child, “Well, I’m sorry.  You can’t do a sport because we have too many kids in our family and it will be too hard for me.”  So, we try to fit it all in and work together to let them have those fun experiences to work, serve, and grown talents.  I feel very blessed that they have these opportunities, and we’ll most likely be in the thick of it for a while!