School started the second week of August for our kiddos. Yikes! Ready or not, here we go! We'll start with Lise this time, just to shake things up.
Lise prepped for 7th grade by decorating her locker and making a list of all her outfits (and hairstyles) to rotate through and keep her look "fresh".
 |
Go Rams!
|
With turning 12, Lise has entered a new stage in her life - the wonderful world of Young Women's. She has loved all of the fun activities, working on personal progress goals, and reconnecting with some of her past friends and making new ones. We've got a really fun beehive group in our ward.
 |
| In our family you can start wearing makeup when you turn 12. Lise has jumped on that bandwagon and is definitely in full blown "teen mode". |
Lise has also reconnected with some school friends she likes to hang out with. They even went to a high school football game - so grown up!
Lise's favorite subject is art - no surprise there! She has also joined Drama Kids to express her flare for being dramatic - oh, I mean, acting. ;)
Around the house Lise likes to do fun object lessons for FHE. It's super nice to have that taken care of! And in other Lise news, she has gotten a few babysitting jobs, which she loves doing - and also loves having some extra "mula". She got a "cruiser bike with a basket", that she has been wanting for awhile and has been saving her money for other things like clothes, polaroid film, and an ipod touch.
Now let's move on to the Plew Crew.
When the class lists came out I had a "Holy De ja vu, Batman!" moment. Our last year in Florida, Kate had Mrs. Young in 1st Grade and Lise had Mrs. Mims in 4th Grade. We come back and now Kylie has Mrs. Young and Kate has Mrs. Mims. It's like I'm reliving the year with the same teachers, but with different children. Luckily I like these teachers, so all is well.
This year I finally let Kate take karate. (She wanted to in 1st grade, but I was worried she's use her skills on 3 year old Kylie. Now . . . I think Kylie could handle herself. ;P )
Kate has tried many things in the past and quickly lost interest, either from boredom, too many rules, or the uniform "bugging" her. But so far Kate has loved karate. You get to punch and kick and yell your guts out, plus, your uniform is basically a set of white pajamas/robe thingy. What's not to love? And Kate is super flexible, which is also uber helpful in karate (she's already part of the "middle splits club"). So who knows, Karate may prove to be Kate's thing! (Oh, Kate also wanted to be in the American Girl Book Club like her sisters were when we last lived here. Fun stuff.)
When we came back to Florida I thought Kylie was going to want to do soccer. But she decided to take ballet and tap with her refound friend, Maddy. She may do soccer in the Spring, but meanwhile she's having a great time twirling and being social.
I forgot to take a picture of Aly before school - blame it on sleepy brain when Aly was out the door at 5:30 for early morning seminary! Aly actually says that seminary is her favorite part of the day, which I am grateful for. She's got a lot heaped on her plate starting high school - going from a very small middle school of around 600 students to a huge high school of around 3000 students, taking on honors courses and an AP class in 9th grade, and cross country practice after school. She is also taking a leadership class which requires her to give 10 hours of community service per quarter. She has been doing indexing for Family Search and volunteering with Plew's after school care program to help the kids with homework and playing games. Phew! That girls is busy.
Aly was so excited to be back in cross country. Unfortunately, these are the only pictures I have of her season because after her first race she incurred 2 stress fractures and a bone contusion in her right foot. This would lead to 4 months of physical therapy. :(
 |
| Here is a picture of Aly riding Lise's new bike in Walmart. You can kind of see her boot she had to wear for 6 weeks. Apparently riding a bike in Walmart was on Aly's bucket list? Go figure. |
Being injured, did not affect Aly's social life, however. She has enjoyed attending football games, youth dances, and temple trips with youth from our ward.
Another thing they do in Florida is that EVERYBODY goes to Homecoming. If you're 16 you can go with a date, but if not, then you just all get together and go as one big group. A family in our ward hosted a dinner and pictures for everyone before the dance. Super fun night.
And finally for Aly, she decided she wanted to get an Ombre in her hair. It was weird for me to see her go blonde, but it looks really good on her.
Next we'll talk about me (Stacy!) With the girls back at school I volunteered to read for Kylie's class for Library Storytime and love doing that. I have also been trying (sometimes successfully and sometimes not) to continue working out in my home without my workout buddy. It is hard to stay disciplined!
I also had a Back to School Brunch at my house to try and get to know some of the ladies in my ward better. It went well and I was asked to retake over the Ladies' Lunch Bunch that I had been in charge of when we lived here before. Oh how I love chatting over food!! :P
Before we moved down here I thought I would be spending a lot of time working with the FRG for Chris' battalion, but that has not turned out to be the case. Instead, I will be spending my time working with the Young Women in my ward, specifically the Mia Maids (14 - 15 year olds). I am excited to be in there with two of my daughters (even though they don't share my enthusiasm), and we have a great group of youth, so I am excited for that as well.
Chris has started to settle into the role of Battalion commander. It is a demanding, rigorous job, but he loves being back at Group and working with the troops.
So, despite being exhausted at the end of almost every day, he is doing his best and giving his all ,so he's rockin' it, as always. ;)>
Chris also was able to go to Louisiana to help with flooding cleanup with our church. It was a good opportunity for him to serve and also get to know some members of our ward better.
Mid-August brought Chris' birthday. We surprised him with some notes and goodies in his truck that morning and Kylie wrapped herself up as a present for her Dad. Good ol' Kylie; she is the party!
In addition to work and school, the girls have been up to some of their usual craziness in their spare time. Whether it's tea parties, rock bands, or dressing up your stuffed dolphin in Barbie clothes, there's always bound to be something new and exciting going on.
And finally, even though school had already begun, we had to give our last hurrah to summer by going to the beach on Labor Day. A few other families from the ward came along with us and it was a great time.
 |
| Making new friends |
 |
| Lise wanted to take some "creative" pictures at the beach |
 |
| Realizing that your guy friend with 3 sisters knows how to french braid your hair better than you do - yikes! |
 |
| Hooray for the Beach! Hooray for new friends! Hooray for Florida! |
P.S. IT'S NOT ALL SUNSHINE
I need to put a note in here to recognize that our move back to Florida and starting back to school was not all smiles and happy times. Despite all the good things we've come back to - a house we had already lived in, schools we had already attended, and a community we were familiar with - this move and the transition back into school has been TOUGH! I do believe that there are different seasons in our lives. Kentucky seems to have been a season of healing and reprieve, a tender mercy given to our family after some hard, gut wrenching experiences. But in coming back to Florida it seems we have been asked to pick back up our cross and grow and stretch some more, in different ways. For some it has been the heartache of saying goodbye to treasured friends and struggling to build new relationships - again. For others it has been the stress and anxiety of being thrown into a different school system and harder classes with new expectations, demands, and work loads - again. But after a lot of blood, sweat, tears, hormones, anxiety, and STRESS (on the part of both kids and adults), I am grateful to say that I, for one, have learned a lot and have seen a lot of growth in my children and our family as a whole. I have learned that, as hard as it is to watch my children struggle, I need to allow them the opportunity to grow - and yes, sometimes to even fail - so that they can learn from their struggles. I have been amazed and delighted to discover that my girls are not quitters. That even when they get knocked down hard they will pick themselves back up again and keep moving forward. We've also been learning together that we do not need to be perfect, just prepare and give our best. We have learned that we need to shift our priorities a bit, and that focusing on being an eternal family is more important than focusing on grades or worldly achievements. I have learned that sometimes I just need to listen - not try to take the pain away or tell my kids that "everything will be alright", but rather just acknowledge that sometimes things are hard, but let them know that they are not alone and that they are loved. So, as my kids would say, "The Struggle is Real." But there is purpose in it if we are humble and learn something from it. For that I am grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment