Happy Birthday Jock!

Jock's birthday was Tuesday, but it got a little wrapped up in all the busy-ness with school starting and parent meetings and all. We did still celebrate though. He and I went out for lunch on his birthday, and we also stopped at the Cheesecake Factory to get dessert for after supper. His favorite is the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake - but we got a few pieces to share between the 5 of us. Mmmmmm!!!

Happy birthday to my most wonderful husband! I Love You!!!

And, since James' birthday is the day after Jock's, it's likely that his future birthday will be a little less of a big deal, but we'll still make it special for him, especially when he hits the next zero here in a few years! :)

Josephine - Kindergarten, Aug 2012

Josephine was probably the most excited of my three to start school, not surprisingly. Kindergarten's a big deal!

At Meet the Teacher night, she got through her tasks like a pro - not wanting help, wanting to put all her supplies where they go very quickly and get on to the next thing, very matter-of-factly. So funny! Then when I asked if I could take a picture of her and her teacher, she got a little nervous, then warmed up fast once she talked to her teacher for a minute. :)

Later that evening, and the next night, while I was finishing her hair, I kept quizzing her on what grade she was in and who her teacher was. Then we'd talk about something else, and I'd come back to the question. It only took a few times for her to get down that she was in kindergarten, but she couldn't remember her teacher's name!

I don't know why, but I worried more about the kids starting kindergarten much more than I did with Kaylen. Maybe I just don't remember 4 years ago! I had visions of Josephine standing in a school hallway, alone and crying, because she was lost. Then when someone came up and asked her who her teacher was, she couldn't tell them. I'm happy to report she had it down after just a couple days of school.

Josephine picked her outfit when we went shopping also. She chose a dress, and then I had to find some leggings for her to wear under it. Later, when we went to the mall to shop for Kaylen's clothes, we found the perfect shoes for her to wear for kindergarten. But unfortunately the store couldn't find the match to the display model - the only one that was her size. She cried and sulked all the way down to the other end of the mall from JCPenney to Younkers, and then was SUPER excited when we found the same pair there, in her size! She's using her backpack that she used for our Disney trip last fall, that has barely been used since then.

Josephine's first highlight from the first day of school was that her teacher had a really big white "TV" that she pulled down from the ceiling. I asked if she shined lights on it and showed some letters, and she said no. She didn't like the school's pizza or chicken gravy over mashed potatoes (although I'm not sure she gave them a chance because she wants to use her lunchbox). When I asked about her special classes (art, music, and library, so far), she seemed to really like music class. She also got to write, sing songs, and has been wearing her eye patch every day, with help from her teacher of when her two hours is up.

So proud of my baby girl - not so much a baby anymore, and so excited to be a big kid in school!

Elijah - Kindergarten, Aug 2012

At Meet the Teacher night, Elijah was so excited to see all the toys in the room! Especially the tub of dinosaurs. I could hardly pry him away from the bin to get a photo of him with his teacher! His teacher seems really nice. She's new to the school, but has several years' experience at another nearby district.

Jock cut Elijah's hair the weekend before school started, so he'd be all ready. We always have to have a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school. Good thing, because Elijah's summer sandals broke the weekend before school started. He chose a cool Batman shirt, and likes the black tennis shoes we found as well. Usually I'll get the kids new backpacks as well, but he was content with his Cars backpack that he took to Disney World last fall, that has rarely been used since.

I can't believe he's in Kindergarten! He's had a good first few days of school so far. I asked him what he did each day, and at first he'd say his standard response from when he'd be at daycare all day: "Play." (Yup, that's it.) Then he corrected himself, and said, "No, we didn't play at all. But... we played outside 3 times." Before school started, he was excited for lunch - that's all I could get out of him. Yup, typical boy, the highlights of the day are recess and lunch.

So proud of my big boy, now a Kindergartner!

Kaylen - Fourth Grade, Aug 2012

Kaylen was so excited to be assigned to her first choice of teacher for 4th grade. I don't think she really knew the other three fourth-grade teachers though. The teacher she got had been a 2nd grade teacher - not her 2nd grade teacher, but her class had been right next door and had done some activities together, so she knew her and really liked her.

She also was super-excited to have one of her best friends from last year in her class again this year. They've seen each other several times over the summer - her friend would try to come to the pool on daycare pool trip days, and they've also done a couple sleep-overs. Her family was out of town when the class list was posted, so I let them know via Facebook. :)

Kaylen was very excited to go to the mall to shop at Justice for back-to-school clothes, as I'd promised. It was an interesting trip, but we both survived, and we did come home with a couple tops instead of an entire outfit and a fancy new bag. She also was able to spend a little of her own money as well. Shoes were even more difficult to find some that fit and we could agree on, but we finally found some tennis shoes - the day before school started!

Kaylen was most excited to see her friends again. Her excitement was evident, although since she's older she had to pretend she wasn't excited for school to be starting. She is excited, however, to be starting the extended learning program (ELP) class for humanities (reading mostly). She's a super reader, and after their first year of standardized testing last winter, they got her signed up for this school year. I think it makes her feel so important! I think she'd do well in math/science too if she applied herself, but math isn't fun to her, so she usually just tries to finish as quickly as possible and doesn't test well with simple errors.

After the first day of school, Kaylen's first comment was that she really liked her teacher, and she's enjoying seeing her friends every day again. She's told a few stories of her friends' summer activities. She was excited to start ELP class. When Elijah told about his first day, she told me that 4th grade only gets one recess. :( She also really took on a nice big-sister helper role for Josephine - helping her get to where she needed to go the first few days.

I'm so proud of how well she's doing in school! How does the time go so quickly?!? In another two years she'll be in middle school!

School's Started!!!

School started last week. With two Kindergartners in the house, the excitement level was pretty high! My Fourth-Grader was not all that excited about school, except that I think she got pretty bored this summer at daycare -- and also she missed her friends.

Meet the Teacher night was a couple days before school started. We packed up the backpacks with school supplies, and headed to the school. You should have seen the jumping up and down that ensued as we went out to the van.

The parking lots, streets, and the inside of the school were packed! Our district just opened a new elementary school, but you wouldn't know it with as large as the class sizes still are. Elijah & Josephine each of 22 kids in their classes -- and there are 5 kindergarten sections. Kaylen has 25 in her class -- one of 4 fourth-grade sections.

We stopped in Kaylen's classroom first. She was excited to have the teacher she was assigned - she was next-door to her room in 2nd grade. The teacher just moved up from 2nd to 4th grade this year. She stuffed all her school supplies and textbooks in her desk, met the teacher, we chatted with another child's parents for a bit, then headed down to the kindergarten area.

Elijah's teacher had a scavenger hunt for him to complete - meeting the teacher, looking around the room for where his supplies needed to go, finding his cubby and coat/bag hook, find his table, turn in parent paperwork, and just explore a bit. We signed up for the email list, filled out a name tag for where he's supposed to go after school, and then headed down the next hallway.

Josephine's teacher had a similar list of things to do - find your cubby and hook, drop off supplies, look around a bit, make a name tag, turn in paperwork, etc.

We then stopped by the nurse's office to talk about Josephine's eye patch routine. Since she has to wear it for 2 hours daily, and it's an eye issue, I assumed it'd be a nurse issue. She seemed pretty indifferent about whether she help Josephine or whether Josephine's teacher helps her with it. I left the bag of patches and note with the nurse, but also went back to her classroom and put the information on the teacher's paper as well, so one way or another, it'll get done.

While we were talking to the nurse, Jock took the older two kids to visit the library. The principal then announced that time was up, and to respect the teachers' time and head home. So on our way out, we stopped in to the art and music rooms, and then the lunch room.

Back home, we had a quick supper before bedtime. The kids had one more full day of daycare before school started. All of the kids were a little hyped after meeting their teachers and seeing their classrooms, and I'm so glad they were excited. I can only hope that enthusiasm remains for many years to come!

More on the first (few) day(s) of school for each kid over the next few days, but here's a quick pic of the kids before we left home that first morning. :)

Kindergarten Hair

It took me a while to decide how to do Josephine's hair for her first day of kindergarten. I think I was a little bit stuck in a rut of hairstyles, but found a photo online, and liked how it's similar to some that I've done before, with a twist - angle-parting starting on one side. The example photo was cornrows, but my fingers tend to get a little tangled on cornrows, and I was concerned about the time factor, so I opted for the same type of parts but with flat twists in the front instead of cornrows. Then hanging two-stranded twists in the back. And she loves the new big giant heart beads I got not too long ago!
Elijah getting his hair done in time for starting kindergarten also:

Happy 6th Birthday, Elijah!

I'm a little late getting this posted, but... Our sweet and silly big boy turned 6 last Saturday!

We sent birthday treats to daycare last Friday. Can you see how this is starting out - it was very much a super-hero birthday!

Saturday we went out for donuts for breakfast. I had Elijah wear his crown from daycare the previous day, and he loved the "Happy Birthday" comments he got when we were there.

Then, at Elijah's request, we went to feed our stale bread to the ducks at a local park, as we have done several times this summer. Elijah LOVES to just watch and study the ducks when we're done feeding them!

It was an overcast day, and not very hot, so we were unsure about our plans for the afternoon, which was to take the kids to the local aquatic center. We weren't sure if they were even going to open because of the temps, but they did, so we decided to brave it. We had fun for a couple hours before the shivers overtook us, and we headed back home to warm up with our cupcakes! ;)

Then Elijah got to open his presents from us. Batman and the Joker were hits, but the favorite was definitely the motorcycle!

Sunday we had plans with some friends, so we waited until tonight to do a little family party. Jock's mom, grandma, brother and 2 boys, aunt and uncle came over for cake and ice cream. Yes, more super-heros, and a yummy ice cream cake from DQ! :)