A Checklist:

You know, for back to school. I should be doing a checklist on hurricane preparedness, but I don't want to think about that anymore. I am super nervous and trying not to let my kids know just how scared I am. Not for the actual event, but for afterwards. The authorities say we could be without power for up to a week. Yikes. Oh well, I feel like we're as ready as we can be. What a crazy last week it has been. Alright, enough with that.... onto our Back To School Checklist!

-Dental check-ups for everyone. The kids were all awesome, they love the dentist. Sick and twisted, right? It's probably because none of them have ever had a cavity. And the same held true, they all had perfect little clean smiles. Hooray for that. Andy wasn't so lucky. He had a small one, which has already been taken care of. I didn't have any either, but I need to have 2 (my only 2!) fillings replaced because they are old and falling apart. Next week... yuck. I hate that numb feeling all. day. long.

-Physicals! Yay, right? No. The kids were fine and healthy, of course. A few of them needed immunizations and we also found out that Daphne and Jonah had strep (I meant, most of them were healthy :). Ahhh, so that's what those fevers were from...

-Haircuts. We spent the Saturday morning before school started giving everyone a trim-up. And they all look teeee-riffic. Of course they do. I cut their hair. Tee-hee.

-Back to school shopping. My favorite. I just love to shop, no matter what (or whom), it may be for. They have this cool tax-free weekend here in VA for said shopping and we took advantage. We only saved something like 20 bucks, but it was nice to get it all done in one day. Pencils, folders, rulers, notebooks, paper, crayons, pencil boxes, markers, erasers, glue, scissors, kleenex, hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, a couple back-packs, new lunchboxes, and the like. Also, lots of new shoes (we ended up with 10 pair, I believe.... the kids had all grown at the same time. Imagine that?), a first day of school outfit for all (complete with lots of new underwear and socks), and a pizza for dinner at Costco, along with churros for dessert. It was a fun day spent together as a family.

-A week of practicing waking up early for school. A bunch of friends in my ward planned a week of breakfasts, taking turns hosting and preparing breakfast for the lot of us. There ended up being about 50 of us (8 families) and it was so much fun. We would meet at the host's house at 7:30 for breakfast, we would all eat and the kids would play, and we were back home by 9. It was good practice for my kids, even though some mornings I was dragging them out of bed to get to breakfast on time. We only did it for 6 breakfasts, so luckily I was able to pair up with my friend Ira and I didn't have to host one at my house. The menu was fabulous each day:

Tuesday: hard-boiled eggs, muffins, yogurt, sausage, and orange juice
Wednesday: German pancakes with various toppings, including maple syrup, ice cream, fruit, chocolate syrup, yogurt, and whip cream, along with orange juice.
Thursday (Ira's and my day): sugar cereal (such a treat, haha) and milk, fruit/granola yogurt parfaits, and orange juice
Friday: pancakes, bacon, orange and apple juice
Monday: breakfast casseroles (eggs, sausage, cheese), baked french toast, monkey bread ( I have always called these pull-aparts, but everyone else here calls it this..? Not quite sure what monkeys have to do with brown sugar, butter, and biscuits all baked together?), orange and apple juice
Tuesday: french toast topped with fruit compote and whipped cream, watermelon, yogurt and orange juice.


It was a blast, as well as a great idea. I love my ward, I have made such wonderful friends and I love the fun things that are always being planned.

I only brought my camera once and only snapped a few pictures. It must have been Friday because there are pancakes in the pictures :)

I just noticed that all 5 of my kids happened to make it into this picture. Can you spot them all? It's "Where's The Collette Children Game"!

-Summer's Last Hurrah. On the Saturday before school started, there was a Movie/Swim Party at our community pool. It was super fun for the kids since the pool usually closes at 8. They though it was just SO cool getting to swim in the dark with the pool lights on. We also got to watch Rio, which we had yet to see. The movie started and all of us were watching it, chowing down on popcorn. One by one, the kids slipped away from the movie and into the pool, until most of the seats were empty and only adults were left watching the movie.This kid sat and ate popcorn and watched the entire movie.


Daphne found a great spot where she could swim and watch the movie. Smart girl.

Eventually, everyone ended up in a towel and finished watching the end of the movie. It was such a fun night, as well as a final farewell to summer.

-School Open House. Every year the kids get to go to their school, meet their new teacher, see their classroom, and bring all of their spanking new school supplies to their cubby. This year was especially exciting, because Daphne started kindergarten! We went to her orientation and then headed to her classroom.

She got to sit at her desk...

Explore her classroom...

Meet her teacher (who is SO great)...

And check out the school bus that she will be riding. It all made her SO excited for school to start.

We then took Laylah and Jonah to meet their new teachers, who I think will be excellent also.

And afterwards we had to go say hi to all of their old teachers. It was a fun day that made the kids SO excited to start school.

-And last, but not least, on our back to school list is.... our Back to School Feast! Which I will keep you on the edge of your seats for....

I know, I know. It's just almost too much to handle.