Back to School

School started for us New Jersey folk the day after Labor Day. We celebrated on the first day of school with our annual Back to School feast. It was such a great night as a family.

Our theme this year is "I can do all things through Christ" (from Philippians 4:13). I planned on making a painted sign with our theme, but things got crazy and so Bryn ended up helping me out with this sign. (She's got a few misspellings in her sign, but she literally whipped this sign out about five minutes before our meal. Thanks Bryn!)

I was in charge of preparing our "feast" and Josh was in charge of introducing our theme. He gave us a great message, encouraging us to center our lives on Christ. This year Josh and I really want our family to be even more Christ-centered. Life can be challenging - school, work, parenthood, and all the other big and small challenges - but we want our children to know that they can be strengthened in all circumstances by staying close to Jesus Christ. Through Christ, all our stresses, concerns, fears, and disappointments can be replaced with faith, hope, confidence, and happiness. The future is bright!

The girls were perfectly polite and behaved the entire night ;)

The good news: I made a cake that did not shrink up - a big success for me. 

The bad news: I forgot to buy the powdered sugar for the glaze, so this unfrosted cake is cracking me up in all these pictures. Oh well! We served it with ice cream and no one seemed to mind the missing glaze.

After dessert, Josh gave the girls Priesthood blessings, an annual tradition at the start of a school year. Josh specifically blessed Bryn that her speech issues can improve this year as she continues her speech therapy at school, and that Mya can have confidence and courage as she begins her new classes this year. Both girls felt so special getting a blessing from their dad.

Bryn on her first day of school. So far Bryn has absolutely loved first grade and her teacher Ms Testa.

 No normal poses or smiles for this girl.

Mya isn't doing preschool til next year, but she is taking a couple classes each week at the Rec center: Ballet/Tap dance, an art class, and a gym class. So far Mya is loving her classes. She is so excited to go to each class and she proudly gives us a report at the dinner table, sharing lengthy recaps of what she did in each class.  

 It's sometimes sad to see how quickly time goes by, but it's so fun to watch my children grow and experience new things. I sure love my little family!