first week of school

I figure I better not leave all these pics. for my "August little things" post because it will get way too gigantic.

Lots happened the first week of school!

First and foremost: schedule hit us like a truck.

Scriptures bright and early at 6:30.

And this is how Lucy generally spends that quality time:
Ha!  I mentioned on Instagram that I'm pretty sure she gets some spiritual epiphanies from those discussions:)

The second day:
Lu and I have been riding the tandem bike to school together.  Here she is waiting for me:
And Bo just begs with those puppy-dog eyes to come along, poor girl (she gets walks later...still not ready for her to be on that busy street.)

We have had some fun times on that tandem so far.
(and I go straight to my workout after I drop her off.)

A couple times we have run into some of her friends riding along, which is kind of fun.
Love those girls!

July and August are our months of monsoon season here in the desert.

We LOVE it.

The sky starts to get all rumbly...
...and then it just DUMPS.

That happened a couple times that first week.  Here are Elle, Claire and Bo dancing in the pouring rain:
And the double rainbow that showed up:

There are some boys in Lucy's class who come over to hang here pretty much every day.  We love them.  We need more boys around here!  They usually jump on the trampoline and swim, but sometimes Lucy will go hang with them too.
They are the kindest, most well-mannered boys.

Soccer carpools are here in full force:
That particular one was right after I dropped them off under a rumbling sky, and they cancelled practice 10 minutes later so here they are, sweaty from their ten minutes of running.

(As a side-note, man i was grumpy for one reason or another that day!)

Bo is helpful with our 6:30 wake-up-calls:
...that along with opening the shades...it's so bright at 6:30 in the morning!

One of those first mornings our friends decided would be a good time to have some adult time at the lake.

So we went.
It was right after a monsoon storm, and the sky was so clear and crystal.


We sifted through the post-summer stuff to try to get organized around here and I found this book Lucy had worked her tail off on this summer:
Looks like she took more time making that thing than actually accomplishing the tasks :)

She killed it on reading:
Slacked off a tad bit on Math:
And zones?  Well, not so hot either.
But those colors.
Yowzas.

More chess:
It was national chocolate chip cookie day and naturally we really had to celebrate that one.
Elle got to go to the lake with a bunch of friends:

(I stole that from her friend's snapchat)

That first week Grace went on her first date and also got asked to Homecoming (details about that back HERE).

We tried to get the green out of Elle's hair with some tomato paste before a photo shoot:

It worked...sort of...(she was in pics for hair extensions, and they didn't have any green ones...ha!)
(She's been doing a little work for "barefootblonde" this summer.)

Piano lessons started up again.
The girls have a new teacher since our old teacher moved away and we're all adjusting pretty well to the change.  Lucy was questionable at first, and we were worried it was because she couldn't see the music as well as she did last year.  I think part of that is true, but part of it is just adjusting for that girl.

I spent some time at the high school for "back to school night" walking all Grace's classes while she was at tennis.
Loved being there and imagining her in those classes...wishing I could be a fly on the wall sometimes.

We went to the first football scrimmage of the season with the Young Women and positively melted in the heat.
It sure was pretty though.

I also got to spend time at the Junior High for their back-to-school night.

This time around I got to go with my student:
...who was fresh from soccer practice.
Not pictured are the three-times-a-week tennis lessons Grace and Claire go to (Grace can drive them so I'm not around to document, dang it, but HOORAY for driving...it is the BEST).

Also not pictured is our counter scattered with all kinds of new books and school supplies.

And the job charts that we revamped.

And the grocery shopping trying to fill the fridge for more regular family dinners and also new sack lunch ideas (we got some lunch stuff the kids are excited about).

And the still-easing-into-routine late-nights that turn into grumpy mornings because we're still trying to figure out how to get more sleep around here.

But at least these pictures will remind me how the first week of school looked in a nutshell.

Phew.  One down, lots and lots more to go.