Milano-Party of 7: The kids have started school....

...and I really need to keep up on this blog better now! We had a rough summer. The middle of July, our nanny, who's been with us for 2 years, just up and left us. We still don't know the entire truth behind why she left, but she told us she she had a job offer (which was a lie, but whatever) and that she needed to make her own way. She showed up at the house, with MY garbage bags and 7 of her friends, and moved out. It threw Tim and I into a whirlwind of emotions, planning, trying to figure out what to do next. We had just finished our first week of our quarter and so really were at a loss. It's not easy to find childcare for 5 kids, let alone so quickly. Fortunately, family was a big help. Tim and I left Monday night and drove to Lexington, KY were we met my dad and my brother-in-law who took the kids the rest of the way to Michigan. While in Michigan they alternated between my parents, my sister and Tim's parents, spending the weekend with my family and the middle of the week with Tim's family. While they were there, Tim and I raced to come up with a plan. We started looking for a house closer to the school and moved. The kids came back to Georgia the weekend before starting in their new schools, which by the way are AWESOME schools. They are some of the top schools in the state and have so many programs for the kids. Seth auditioned for the band and had high rankings in every single instrument. They told us that he has a natural ability for music and that just about every instrument he picked up, he was able to play, and many sounded like he'd been playing for years. A lot of kids couldn't get sound out of some of the instruments but he got not only sound but actual notes and tone out of every one. He excelled at the bassoon and percussion though and we were told he had an innate rhythm. He picked percussion as his first choice, bassoon as his 2nd and alto sax as his third, and came HIGHLY recommended on percussion and bassoon. He was chosen to play percussion and is currently working on the bells and will be learning drums soon.
Mikayla was asked early in the 2nd week to try out for the Aristocats musical they are putting on. She has auditions this next week so I'll keep everyone posted on the results. Her teacher had heard that she has competed in Odessey of the Mind the last two years and likes that she has experience with drama.
Katelyn and Micah both are doing well with the adjustments and making great strides. Micah is learning to write his letters and Katelyn is mostly in review right now but doing excellent with it.
Mikayla has already had her first field trip. It was with her accelerated class and was to the water treatment plant. They are learning about how water is used and the importance of it and in the next couple of weeks they will doing a project called Water Kids where they will be testing and monitoring (monthly) the pond in our subdivision. It's a great program (and sure beats the "Cowboy theme" her last school had. It's a great experience for her and a great program.

Anyways, that about sums up the first couple weeks of school. I will do better with updating this. It seems that almost daily there is something now to write about so it should be much more active. :)