The School year has OFFICIALLY started

Gabriel and JoJo on the first day of 4th grade and Pre K

Charlene on the first day of 1st grade

JoJo with his "daddy" smile :)

Gabriel ready to GO!

Gabriel, Charlene and Joseph on their first day of school August 18, 2009

So this year is the first year that all 4 of my kiddos are in school.

Cooper is living with his dad for highschool, so I didnt get to embarrass him with a first day of school picture...But he is enjoying highschool so far and one of the highlights for him, besides FOOTBALL, is that he can eat and drink IN CLASS hehe Thats a big NoNo in Middle School, so its exciting :)

Gabriel started 4th grade this year. It is still hard for me to accept he is growing up! He loves his teacher. It is his first male teacher. He is a young guy and has a lot of fun ideas for teaching, so its just what Gabe needs!

Charlene started 1st grade, and that just seems impossible...She loves school just like Gabe, and is lucky to have her best friend (Coopers sister, Taylor) in her class this year. She is so excited to get to school each day and tell us all about it each night!

Joseph started PRESCHOOL this year and MOMMY is loving it...err I mean, JoJo is loving it. He doesnt ever want to go to school in the mornings, but when I pick him up after lunch, he seems to have had a good time. Its hard for him because its been me and him for so long :) Ok ok..its hard for mommy too!! Haha But we are both adjusting and he is really learning a lot...He can already write JoJo and is learning to write Joey...and he can type both with noooo help! Smart lil man :)

Well there ya have it...my kids are all growing up and I cant make it stop!

So Another month has passed...

Another month has come and gone, but hey, at least it wasnt TWO months :)

Michael left the first part of July to go to WOCS...HE SURVIVED and graduated July 17th. He had a "great" time LoL As great a time you can when youre 35 and in bootcamp like circumstances :) But he did great, like I knew he would...

I was SO proud of him. It was a great accomplishment for him, and worth all the sacrifices we have made :)

He got to come home for two weeks and hang out with us...it was GREAT to have him here. We went to the Rockstar Energy Mayhem concert to see one of our FAVORITE bands, Bullet for my Valentine, and OMGOSH it was the BEST! We had a GREAT time there :)

three of the guys from BFMV

The two weeks with Michael went by way tooo fast for all of us, but we enjoyed every moment. He is now in Maryland for more school, and we are officially on the housing list for Fort Polk. Hopefully we will hear something SOON!

I got the kids school supplies bought, new school clothes, Gabe and Charly are registered for soccer and we enroll in school tomorrow! So we are keeping busy while he is gone, and I suspect we will stay busy with school, soccer and church. Then, just when things start to slow down, we will be moving!!

Everyone is doing great and we are all just ready to be together again in our own home once again. I am hoping to have Michael home for at LEAST a year before he has to leave again, but dont worry, Im not holding my breath!! haha