Well, I'm having computer issues. Call it user error, call it a learning curve, call it what you will, but I can't figure out how to do what I used to do so easily with pictures on my new system. One day soon, it will be awesome! For now, I'm just going to have to catch up with words.
Since my last big catch up, we had a fabulous trip to the beach. I also have great pictures of peach picking, which was a blast! There's more in there, but I'll have to post pictures to jog my memory. At any rate, this is supposed to be about BACK TO SCHOOL!
This summer absolutely flew by! Between swim team, camps, etc, I really don't know where summer went. Still, by the end of the summer, the kids are so done with spending every waking (and sleeping) moment together, and they're ready for school to start. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty ready for it to start by that point too! There's something refreshing about returning to a structure. At the same time, there's a stress level that comes from it that always makes me pine for summer again, and just getting to relax with the family.
So, two and a half weeks ago, school happened. Since I can't post pictures from the first day, I'll make a word picture of the first day. Our morning schedule is crazy. The boys and I load up in the van at 7:05 while the girls are still getting ready so we can drop John off around the corner for carpool. When we get back there's just enough time to finish getting the girls ready and off on their way. Of course the first day is harder because of crazy traffic and walking kids in, and it's our first day with John's carpool. The night before we laid everything out perfectly, and I made a minute by minute timeline of exactly how everything needed to run. On top of all that, I'm supposed to get pictures. Right? So, we all manage to get up and dressed. Breakfast is ready, or already eaten. I get the boys out to the car to go to carpool, and it won't start. Seriously. On the first day. That didn't exactly fit into my minute by minute plan. Later while taking pictures of the girls, I noticed Ellie's dress was on backwards. She didn't want to fix it. She pitched a fit while changing it inside, and thus left her backpack behind. She noticed that half way to school in the middle of nasty traffic, and pitched another fit because I wouldn't go back and get it. We were late. Oh well. 5 Alive was my big goal for the summer. We officially made it! Everyone made it to school and was even wearing clothes. I call that a win.
This is a super huge year of transitions for us! First, nobody is in preschool. It feels weird! Jake, Will, and I have the whole day to ourselves without the awkward drop off and pick up times in between. We went to the zoo the first week of school. It's the first time Jake and Will have been able to enjoy it at their own pace. I feel like I've jumped back in time to before John and Eve were in preschool. There's an element of it that's so so so fun and great. There's also an element of it where I realize the zoo is full of mommy groups with their small children, and all of my mommy groups have, for the most part, gone back to work or are doing other things now. Still, I'm so excited to have this time with Jake and Will that they can finally slow down a bit and be their age, and I can enjoy that age with them. I'm very excited for that this year.
Next big transition, my little Ellie started KINDERGARTEN!!! I still can't believe it! We walked in for meet the teacher and Eve was with us. They assumed we were just early for Eve's because surely Ellie is too small for Kindergarten. She still has her baby face and chubby baby knuckles, and her sweet little voice. At the same time, she has thinned down and grown up so much (even though she's still pretty short), and she's obviously so ready for Kindergarten. We were absolutely thrilled to see she's gotten Mrs. Ferrell and Mrs. Smith. They were Eve's teachers in Kindergarten, and I can't say enough how amazing and wonderful and fun they are! Two weeks in, and Ellie is already signing the whole Brown Bear story. It's very sweet and amazing. She is so excited, and I couldn't be more thrilled. The first day she walked right in and sat down with the class no problem. When she came home on the bus, though, she got of last...in tears. Oh no! I was so worried. Turns out she just had a misunderstanding and thought she wasn't going to be able to get off the bus. Of course, she'd dead tired and everything is new, so she just broke down. The second day, we did car line and Eve was so sweet to offer to walk Ellie to her class. It made my heart swell. We've been all smiles ever since then. Tired and a little cranky some days after school, but that's par for the course in Kindergarten.
Eve is our stronghold. She's the one with no big transition this year. She knows all about where she is and what she's doing, and she's doing great with it! Her teacher is Mrs. Haynes. I don't know much about her. She's maybe not the warmest fuzziest teacher, but I think Eve will do well in her class and learn a lot. As I said, she's been a great big sister to Ellie, and has been a shining star in her class in so many different ways already. She's been very responsible this year so far, and I'm noticing a lot of maturing that's happened since this time last year. I'm so proud of her. This doesn't have anything to do with school, but I've also noticed how caring she is toward others. She is really blossoming in that area. She's playing soccer, and when one girl got hurt, Eve was the one to stop playing and check on her (at 6 and 7 years old, they're often oblivious to that sort of thing). It's just kind of who Eve is.
John is also going through a big transition. We had a rough summer. I don't know how much of it had to do with age, or if any had to do with anticipating a new school and all the changes that entails. He's really becoming (or I'm starting to notice more) an introvert, and being around 2 sisters and 2 little brothers day in and day out over the summer doesn't really lend itself well to that. We had several talks this summer about lots of things, but I've been eagerly anticipating this school change as a possible help. Last year John scored extremely well on a standardized test given to all 2nd graders. He was invited to attend Charles Townes Center, which is a program housed at the Sterling School. It's a program for academically gifted kids that runs grades 3-8. When we went to the open house last spring, we were immediately sold on the program. It fits him to a tee. We are so proud of him for qualifying. At the same time, it's a brand new school about 30 minutes from home. The program is very tough. Their goal is to challenge each of the kids. The word "stressful" was used at least 20 times during meet the teacher (only in front of the parents), but at the same time, they really encouraged us that they will support us and we'll all make it through OK. It is going to be a fantastic experience for John. He is going to learn to fail and be humbled, but he will be so much stronger, smarter, and well rounded, and he most certainly won't be bored! Even with Ellie starting Kindergarten, I think this transition has been the hardest on me, but at the same time I'm so excited for it. John's teacher is Mrs. Merritt, and she is unbelievable! He's enjoying everything so far and it hasn't been too much of a shock. Today, though, is the first time the homework has been really over his head. He was frustrated and about to throw things down (he's never had to deal much with frustration, so he's not good at it). I was so proud of him, though, we worked hard through it. He tends toward lazy, but tonight he really pulled up his boot straps, and by the end was smiling about it...even after bed time. I was just so proud of his work ethic and persistence. That's what I think he's going to gain from this program. We're all going to grow some gray hairs in the process, though, that's for sure!
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