First day of school

This is from the first day of school. What an exciting time it has been. Eva loves her new teacher and is thrilled to have her best friend in class with her. The beginning of this year has been smoother emotionally for Eva than last year.
This storm, Fay, is just hanging around. I have had some family and friends contact me to see how things are and really it's fine. We are not in an area that floading would be such a concern. Compared to "Charlie" that hit 4 years ago this is a piece of cake for us. I really don't mind several days of rain and wind in a row. It's just such a nice and peaceful change from the hot hot and humid weather we are used to this time of year. Without a doubt, August is the worst weather of the year for us, even September and part of October can be miserably hot.
But with the glass half full...cooler weather is just around the corner. ( or maybe two corners)
Lee loves his teacher as well. He has the same Kindergarten teacher Eva had. Lee is so great about getting up in the mornings and getting ready for school. He just hops out of bed, gets dressed, eats his breakfast and brushes his teeth. I rarely have to ask him to do anything. His big excitement each morning is asking me what I am packing in his lunch box. Lunch is a true event for him. He starts thinking about what he wants in his lunch box during dinner the night before. Today he is having left over meatballs from last night, oranges, raisins, crackers and a shortbread cookie. He already said this morning that tomorrow he wants tuna.

Notice in this picture of Eva her NEW backpack that she is in love with. She has gone on and on about how much she loves the look of her backpack...the girly tendencies are starting.
She is super sweet and working so hard to accomplish her chore list every day. Trip and I have gotten down to business with the kids chores. Before we were always kind of inconsistent with what we asked them to do, but now, through the advice of a child psychologist friend of mine, we have learned how consistent chores and accountability is really helping them feel in control and successful with their life at home.
She needs to make her bed everyday, unload the dishwasher everyday, help clear the table, sort laundry on Fridays, feed her fish and change the fish bowl water once a week. She also runs the bath water for the younger kids. She has been handling it very well. Lee is the collector of all of the garbage pails on Monday and Thursday to help take out the garbage. He also loves to help clean windows and he makes his bed everyday. I guess I just kind of always called out random tasks I needed the kids help with and I think that is ok on occasion, but I can see the advantage for everyone of the kids knowing their responsibilities each day and knowing there are rewards there. (Ellis helps clean up toys, gets the mail and makes her bed. I will have to post a picture of her bed once it is made...very interesting technique.)