Back to School: Feast and First Day

School started at the end of August--yet another school for these growing boys.  This school marks #5 for William and #3 for James.  But they are troopers!

We had our annual back-to-school feast the night before.

Our kid-picked menu this year was homemade chicken nuggets, baked french fries, fresh berries, and sparkling cider.   And our theme: I Can Do Hard Things.  The boys each got a keychain to put on their backpacks to remind them.

 We want the boys to remember that even when things get hard we can still do them.  We don't need to give up.  And even when it feels too hard to do on our own--Christ is always there to strengthen us  (Phil. 4:13). 

Every week at Family Night the boys report to us what hard things they've done in the past week.  It has been wonderful to hear the things they are doing (keeping their shirt tucked in at church, walking all the way to school, taking tests). And when they get discouraged about something I just whisper to them, "but you can do hard things" and it seems to give them the determination to try one more time.

Monday morning we got all ready for our first day of school in Las Vegas.  I think I'm always more nervous than the boys on the first day because we have never been at a school for more than a year--and each school has their own way of doing things.

William started 3rd grade this year:

And James is my big first grader:

I'm glad that these two are buddies and that they look out for each other.