I have been harassed enough that I'm finally catching up on some blogging. Between work and kids and vacations this summer we've been having too much fun to take pictures, let alone blog about them. But I will do my best to get us up to speed :)
Today was Asher's first day of Kindergarten (Reese started 2nd grade last Wednesday). The morning started off well and he was pretty excited, even as we went into his classroom, hung up his backpack and put on his name tag. When CK and I started to leave, however, the excitement turned to anxiety and then tears. We stayed with him for a bit and tried to extract ourselves but he wasn't having any of it. Finally, the principal came into the classroom and we agreed to stage a quick (albeit painful) handover in the hallway. Despite some kicking and screaming, CK and I managed to leave and receive a phone call from Mr. C a few minutes later that Asher was fine and smiling and in storytime. Hopefully, tomorrow will be slightly less drama.
We knew Asher would have a tougher time than Reese but it's still amazing to see how different each child's personality really can be. I'm glad Reese is there with him in case he needs her and hopefully after a day or two meeting new friends and having new experiences, Asher will love school as much as she does.
The last few weeks we've had a ton of smoke in the air as there are wildfires across Western Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The air has been terrible but we finally got a cold front last night that blew in some blue sky. See the differences between Reese's first day photo last Wed. and Asher's this morning:
The kids were trying on their Halloween costumes a bit early this weekend (Soren didn't want to participate):
Jeff and Michelle were visiting last week and we had a great time taking in the Lewis & Clark caverns and getting some good cousin bonding time. This is about the only picture I could get with all of them (Kaitlyn joined in to try to keep the peace). From left to right: Emily, Asher, Elijah, Grace, Kaitlyn, Reese and Soren:
