A Most Favorite Time of the Year..............

It's a most favorite time of the year! No, it's not Christmas. It's not the 4th of July. It's not even anybody's birthday! It's - Back to School Time!!!! I look forward to this all summer long. Some might think it's kind of rude for me to be so eager for the kids to go back to school. Don't get me wrong, as I think it's great that kids have time to decompress for a couple of months (and decompress they do). It's a great opportunity for them to catch up on sleep, to travel, to spend time with family that they don't see very often, and to spend time with friends that one would think they would get tired of seeing! The adventures of summer break are memories for them to treasure for years. But, summer break is also a time that parents are sleep deprived, totally confused as to where each child is and when and a time when it's best to give up on structure and welcome complete chaos. Heck, this past summer, I think I may have fixed dinner a total of three times! I found it easiest not to worry about dinner. This way I wasn't irritated by fixing a meal when there wasn't anybody at home to eat it!

So, this past Thursday began what we like to call order and structure at our house (like the two even exist at our house, but it's nice to pretend). Kids went back to school!


Ryan is in 7th grade this year. His first year at Junior High. It hasn't changed the fact that he needed to have his school supplies all together days before school started. It hasn't changed the fact that he mentally needed to plot out where his classes are and how to most efficiently get to each class so he's not late. It hasn't helped that we told him that now that he's in Jr. High, a lot of those things from elementary school really don't matter anymore - such horrible parents we are. His main elective this year is band - remember that trombone that he signed up to play? Yep, he gets to carry it back and forth to school (our school district doesn't provide buses unless you live a mile or more away from the school). Fortunately, he's able to store said trombone at school. I wonder how often we will see, or hear, the trombone at home.


Tommy is big man on campus this year. He's a mighty 9th grader. He and Ryan are at the same school this year. I'm still not sure which of the two to feel sorry for. As a freshman, Tommy is able to play some high school sports. He has chosen to play water polo. And I must say, that we are blessed, as practices are after school and not in the wee early morning hours. Tommy also starts Seminary this year. That is in the wee morning hours - 5:45 AM in the wee early morning hours. Fortunately for Monique, Wendy will drive Tommy to seminary on her way to seminary which doesn't start until 6:00 Am in the wee early morning hours.


Wendy is our 11th grader this year. She is taking one class at the high school - American Sign Language. She will then fulfill the rest of her high school requirements while taking classes at the community college - here it's called 'Running Start'. If everything plays out as planned, she will graduate high school with her associates degree. Of course, figuring out her schedule has not been very easy, as there is this sign language class to work around, plus the fact that she is playing soccer again, and needs to schedule classes around practices and games - oh my!


Yes - Tyler did graduate this past spring. But since he was ready and on his way to work, Monique couldn't resist the urge to take his picture as well. I actually think that the overly excited look on his face is due to the fact that he is going to work instead of going to school like the other kids. He said he didn't even feel like he was missing out on the whole going back to school thing.


And of course, 1st day of school pictures would not be complete without a picture of Sammy. From what I was told, Sammy was rather sad that the kids were going back to school. He doesn't like his people to leave - maybe because then he's left home with just the cats. I really don't think they terrorize him too much while we are gone.

I'm sure big things are in store this school year. Our days will be filled with many stories and adventures and many times will we be hearing the words, "Homework is stupid - it's an infringement on my personal time". Should we keep a tally?

Kids - have a great year! Open your minds and absorb all the wisdom that you can. Be respectful, be kind, have fun. Remember who you are and wear clean underwear!

Tyler Did It!!!!!!!!!.................

This is a project that has been years in progress! It all started when Tyler was 16. As with any teenager, he was enrolled in driving school with the anticipation of soon obtaining his drivers license. Driving school was attended, tests were taken, drives with instructors were accomplished. However, being the horribly strict parents that we are, we did not permit Tyler to get his license with some of the choices that he had made, along with the fact that we were not going to insure him with his grades lower than a 'B' average. So, the days, weeks, months, oh heck - the YEARS passed by, and still, Tyler did not have his license. He seemed to be content walking, or bumming rides from friends. It was certainly cheaper for us! We thought for sure that by the time he graduated from high school, that he would have his license. Such was not the case. He did purchase his own truck after graduation, but he was not able to drive said truck, as he STILL DID NOT HAVE A LICENSE!

Well, the glorious day has finally arrived! Saturday, Tyler took his driving test through the state DMV and came away with his very own, state issued drivers license!

NOT his actual license!

YEAH TYLER!!!

Now, if only his truck was running! Baby steps!

Graduation!!.........

We were able to celebrate Tyler's graduation this past weekend. It has been a long and ardous journey - not necessarily for Tyler, but for Monique and I. Some memories (nightmares perhaps?) of Tyler's school years: 8th grade - while feeding the missionaries one evening, Tyler asks Monique if she knows of a book with at least 400 pages that he can do a book report on. After a few questions back and forth it is revealed that the book report is due the next day. At hearing this, or seeing the smoke come out of Monique's ears, the missionaries took their cue and took their leave for the evening! Thank goodness for books on tape! High school - the school district has a system where they call every evening (promptly at 6:00 PM) to inform parents if a child has been marked absent/tardy in class. With Tyler, this was nearly a daily occurence. His solution was to give the school his cell phone number. That way, we wouldn't be bothered with the phone calls! We received a progress report just a few weeks before the school year was ending. The progress report was for two classes - welding and drama. The grades in the two classes were 'F' & 'F'. As both of these classes are electives and classes that Tyler wanted to take, I informed Monique that there must be a new grading process and the F's stood for Freaking Fantastic!

We never knew from one day to the next what we were in store for with Tyler and school. But then again, neither did he! We are very proud that he was able to fulfill the necessary requirements and graduate! It was a happy day seeing him walk and receive his diploma!

Congratulations Tyler!

Happy 19th Birthday Tyler............

As you well know, to celebrate birthdays we are usually up extremely early - too early! Unless it falls on the weekend. Such was the case with Tyler's birthday this year. The family choir actually didn't even perform this time. Tommy was at a friend's house, and Wendy was off to work (nice turn of events when the child is off early to go to work and the parents get to relax and take it easy)! All in all, I do believe that Tyler enjoyed his day. We took him out to dinner and then he was off to Seattle for the evening!

And, of course, a birthday is not complete without a cake. Unfortunately, we didn't have the cake until Sunday evening. It just extended the celebration an extra day!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Mormon Prom - The Big Night............

After weeks of preparation and hours of anticipation, the Big Night had finally arrived. But, something that must be realized, is the fact that the best place to get ready for a big night is at Camille's house. We were privileged enough to be able to meet up with Wendy and crew and take pictures - a huge honor, trust me! I may be slightly confused, but from what I can tell, the highlights of the evening were getting ready, getting together with the gang and possibly the dinner. Not very much was said about the dance itself.

Wendy and date

The whole group.

Wendy and date along with Camille and date.

Camille and Wendy

After the dance, Wendy was getting together with some other friends for the night. I'm sure they were all comparing stories, laughing at all of the stories, and just being teen age girls. I'm sure it was great to be able to be at home without all of the giggling and screaming and such.

The only thing that could have possibly been better than the entire evening would be something like going to a Seattle Sounders game! Oh wait! One of her friends was taking a bunch of them to a Sounders game for her birthday party! Can you just hear the screams of excitement? My ears are still ringing!

The group at the Sounder game.

What a glorious weekend! The joys of being a teenager!

Mormon Prom - The Invite........

Mormon Prom! It's a rather big deal here. It's an alternative to the prom at the high school (a good alternative). It is put on by the church and includes three to five stakes. It includes dinner and the dance and the kids don't have to pay for anything!

Emotions are quite high the few weeks leading up to the prom. Will so and so ask me? What if this person asks me? He's asking her, but his friend is asking this person and one of two people might be asking me. If this person asks her and this person asks me, then we can all go in the same group. Mims needs to make me another dress - yes, plans for a new dress were under way before she was even asked to go to the dance!

And then......the invite comes! The doorbell rings, the door opens, and all that is on the front porch is a bouqet of balloons!........

Inside the balloons were pieces of paper that made up a puzzle asking Wendy to go to Mormon Prom. As you can tell by the photos, a fork is a far better tool for popping balloons than say a nail, a pin, or even a sharp knife!

I like the expression on Wendy's face in this one!

The anticipation and the excitement were almost too much to bear. Thank heavens the day finally arrived! Except, now the dilemma is how to respond? A simple 'yes' certainly would not suffice! The theme of balloons was followed - water balloons. An affirmative response was written on a piece of paper and 'sealed' with scotch tape and placed inside one of the water balloons. (We were outside filling water balloons as people were arriving for book club. A few people were extremely curious as to why we were filling up water balloons when we should be having book club. Most people just commented that we never have a dull moment at our house!) Wendy and entourage took the filled water balloons and put them on her date's front porch. He had to stomp on them to pop them until he found the note inside. A date was secured for the upcoming event! Now we can all rest easy for a few weeks!

Koninginnedag..............

Friday was koninginnedag in The Netherlands! On this day, things can get really crazy - REALLY crazy! Steve was fortunate enough to spend the day with his Uncle Mike and Aunt Lill (thanks to both of you!). Arrangements were made with the mission president in advance. Mike asked if it would be okay to invite Steve, and the president said yes! He wanted missionaries out of Amsterdam for the day. And, of course, the rest of the Stigter family was there as well! From the looks of the photos below, a great time was had by everyone.

Oma, Steve, Opa

Steve and cousin Thomas

Uncle Mischa, Uncle Mark, Steve, cousin Thomas, cousin Kevin, Uncle Mark, and Opa

Thanks again, Mike and Lill for including Steve in the days activities!