The last

This is our last weekend before school starts.

Our last hoorah......
Our last weekend "free" until October 31st......
Our last "fly by the seat of our pants" because we don't have to do anything......
Our last weekend to enjoy our kids before we start asking them about homework.......
Our last "stay up as late as you want" night.....

Tuesday begins another year of....

Get up now or you will miss the bus....
Get moving or you will be late to school......
Did you get your homework done........
Do you have all your sports equipment......
When does practice end tonight......
I need (fill in the blank) from Wowmart. AND I need it by tomorrow. Usually said at 10pm.

I am ready for the kids to get to school.

BUT.....

I am not ready for all the rushing that goes along with it!

Gabby has what is called Zero hour this year. She will start school an hour before most others. This will help her get all her classes in before she has to leave early for sports. This also means I get to drive her to school EVERYDAY. Spanish as her Zero hour class will be interesting! She can hardly speak English before 10am :} She also has Geometry (honors, which is a faster moving class than regular geometry), Chemistry, English/Lit, Health, Flags (marching band), Art and study hall.

Edris is taking all the basic sophomore classes. English/Lit, Geometry, Chemistry and World History. She is also taking Dance, Art and gets a study hall. We told her that if her English class was too hard we would let her transfer to Spanish (just joking Rosa!). She could probably teach the Spanish class :}

Abby gets to take Orchestra, Algebra 1 Honors, Biology 1, Software Applications (learning how to use Excel, Power Point, Access), Spanish 1, English/Lit and Health. No study hall for Abby! She will be a busy girl :}

Today is their first official day of volleyball practice. They both made the team. Abby on the Freshman team and Gabby on the Sophomore team. Their coaches are having a Kick Off cookout party this afternoon and then we are going to do some shopping afterwards.

We are feeling the heat this weekend as our neck of the woods is warm and humid. Usually the signal that school is starting. Happily, our schools have all had air conditioning installed. And that means that the kids must dress like it is winter outside in order to not freeze to death inside!

Time for me to getting going and enjoy the day!

Hugs :}

Our family of 5

Last night was the Peoria Chiefs baseball game. It came with free hot dogs and peanuts and we ate our fill :} All that AND they won 11-1. Couldn't have been a more gorgeous night at the ball field.

Edris is fitting into our family very well! We went to the high school today to get her schedule all taken care of and to walk her through the school. I am a terrible tour guide so we tracked down the girls during their lunch break from volleyball and had them help us out! Good thing we did - I would have been lost :}

I told Edris early on that I am not a good cook and that if she doesn't like something, to just say that she doesn't like it. So far she has not said that anything has been bad. I think she may be being nice..... Course, as previously stated, it was hot dog and peanut night at the ball park last night!

Edris makes interesting observations. Yesterday she mentioned that there are a lot of large trucks in our area. Yes, we love our trucks, vans and hummers!! I think I can make an overall observation about Americans (and not just Texans). We love EVERYTHING supersized!! Something that I think we probably need to re-think........

Life is more interesting looking at it through the eyes of a newbie!

Tomorrow is a day at home. I need to work on laundry, vacuuming and ironing. I told Edris we were going to stay home and eat bon bons. None of us have ever had bon bons so maybe we will have to eat something else instead. Ice Cream? Chocolate? Hmmmmm......

Good night all & Hugs!

She's Here!!!!

The past two days have been a whirlwind!

Sweet Edris left her home and family on Monday morning (our time) and traveled the whole day.

Her mom, Rosa, was the most worried about the very short layover in Chicago O'hare. This is where Edris had to go through customs, recheck her baggage and get her boarding pass. All in an hours time!! Rosa had good reason to worry :} I have to say in all our days of traveling, we have NEVER had a flight out of Chicago and into Peoria leave on time. Last night, IT DID!

Well, as you could guess, she missed her flight :{

She got stuck in a long line at customs and didn't make it out of the International terminal before her other flight left.

Thankfully, our exchange student coordinator (Ginger) was in Chicago visiting her cousin! A quick call to Ginger and she was on her way to pick up Edris at O'hare. She got to spend the night with Ginger and her sweet baby girl, Taylor.

We really are thankful that Ginger was there. I can't imagine what we would have done! Ginger then got her back to the airport to catch her flight down this afternoon. And can you believe it - her flight was 30 minutes LATE taking off!!!

Here is a great picture of the girls! Gabby is thrilled that Edris is just her height :}

We got Edris home and she quickly unpacked before we wisked her away to get the girls' haircut. While we were there, we scheduled appointments for each of them to get their hair done for Homecoming at the end of September!

Here they are doing what they do best....

Right now, Gabby is at flag practice (yes, she got her tooth fixed on Monday and it looks great!), Abby is in her room, Edris is reading in her room and I have a cake in the oven (literally!). Bill has been at his place of employment for 20 years and wants to take some cakes in on Friday. So, having one large pan, I have to start early to get three cakes done by Friday :}

Tomorrow will bring Gabby and Abby trying out for volleyball while I take Edris to get her eyes checked and to get a school physical. One of the other foreign exchange parents in the area are doctors so they are going to do the physical for free!!

Tomorrow evening, we get to introduce Edris to America's favorite pastime.

BASEBALL with free hot dog and peanut night :}

We are so EXCITED for FREE hot dog and peanut night!!!!

I just hope that Edris doesn't feel overwhelmed...

Oh, and before I forget.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSA!!!!!

I hope you got some rest this last 24 hours :}

Hugs all!