Continuing Education

"Back to school" is sooo overused. But alas, it's true. They're baaa-aaack. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

We had our "back to school" breakfast.

Name pancakes! Just in case you forgot how to spell your name over the summer.

No Seminary on the first day! But Lucy is still tired.

Will and Molly are excited and ready!

The traditional first day photo. Picking out what to wear the first day is always a fun challenge! Everyone looked so cute!

Molly picked out her skinny jeans with a little bling on the pockets and a super cute plaid shirt with a little sparkle in it! Her new pink and white backpack is fun and sporty!

Will was looking like a middle school hottie with his MEK jeans and embroidered shirt. He has his locker supplies ready to go, too. This is his first year with a locker!

Lucy tried on several outfits before deciding on this ensemble. She looked beautiful and just like a sophomore!

After breakfast, we loaded up the car and were off to THREE, yes three different schools! First stop was the elementary school! We all walked in with Molly. It was a little sad to see her going to school all by herself. William was always so good to walk with her and make sure she got inside safely over the past three years. But she's a big girl and is doing GREAT!

Molly and Mrs. Bainbridge!

Next stop - Prosper High School. The NEW Prosper High School. It's an amazing campus. First of all it's HUGE. It's also state of the art everything. Lucy was excited to go to school to just be inside this wonderful facility. Lucy's friend, Emily, joined us on day 1 and they were all too kind to pose for the photo in front of the school. NO, I did not walk them inside.

Lucy and Emily

The Middle School starts last, so Will and I made our way through the traffic to his school. The Middle school is only one year old and is really a beautiful campus, too! Will was excited, but nervous, too about all the things that come along with sixth grade! Lockers, combinations, changing classrooms, getting lost, etc. I have all the confidence that he will do great!

Looking so cute with the new haircut, too!

After leaving them off one by one and breathing a sigh of sadness and relief I went straight to the gym. The school day was over before I knew it and I ran around town collecting my favorite people in the world. I missed them!

Valentines Day is for Kids

I got to spend a good part of the day Friday at the elementary school enjoying Will and Molly's class parties.  I used to LOVE Valentines parties when I was in school.   My favorite was in first grade when we actually set up a little post office.  Everyone got a mailbox and we took turns being the postman and got to deliver the valentines to the mailboxes.  We had a mail bag, hat and everything!  I loved Mrs. Casper and everything about the first grade - well, except the time she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom, so I wet my pants right there in front of the whole class!  I loved snack time with the milk crate full of 10 cent miniature milk cartons that was brought to our room each day  I loved film strips and school paste, coloring, and cutting snowflakes.

Anyway, the kids parties were fun.  Being co-room mom for Molly's class, I got to help plan the party!  We had lots of fun and I love to be there with Molly.  The good thing is, she still likes to have me there!

Valentine Bingo is always a big hit!

I made 100 brownies for the treat for the whole second grade.  They were yummy and festive!

Will loves to challenge me, like Lucy, with last minute, "Oh, I forgot, I was supposed to....." requests.  They usually include late night trips to Walmart,  speed laundry, extra trips to the school or searching the house for lost items.  Friday morning at 7:10 am (the bus comes at 7:11), Will informed  me he was "supposed" to have a decorated box for the valentines.   If I were a really savvy parent, I would have grabbed a shoe box and handed to to him and said, "have a great party"!  But, all those  memories of elementary school and lovely decorated boxes came flooding to my mind.  I WANTED Will to have a decorated box.  I wanted him to have great memories. So, what did I do?  I had Will tell the bus driver (remember, the bus stops at our house) not to wait for them.  I found a box and some simple supplies that were easy to find, and I threw together a nifty box for Mr. Will.  We hopped in the car and got to school on time and Will, armed with his box, was a happy camper.  A teacher even stopped him on the way into the school to checkout his cool box!

Later, I stopped into the party (even though Will told me it was "OK" - I didn't have to come, which was probably more like a "please don't come, Mom, I'm not a baby anymore", which I ignored and went anyway) to see what fun the fifth grade was having!  Will's box was full of Valentines and looked so nice sitting on the desk.  I told his teacher the story of my early morning creativity and she tells me, "He didn't have to have a decorated box.  I told the kids that I had bags here, or they could just bring a bag from home!".  Lovely.  I laughed and looked around and sure enough, Will had the best looking box in the whole class.    He was happy, and so was I.

Sweet.

The girls in the class had a great time line dancing at the party.

The boys did this.

Lucy, being in High School, doesn't get nearly the attention the little kids do.  She got a box of Camp Rock Valentines to hand out to her friends at school.  Awesome.

It was a Happy Valentines Day.

Life is Full of Special People

Today, Molly and Will got to have a "Special Person" visit their school and have lunch with them.  We knew right away who to ask.  Unfortunately, we don't have any grandmas or grandpas that live nearby, and we miss them very much!   But when we need a special somebody we called the next BEST thing - Aunt Carollyn.  Jon's mother's sister is our stand-in Grandma whenever we need her.  She attends recitals, concerts, plays, and birthdays and is just as happy to be there for our kids as any grandma would be.  We are so blessed to have her close enough to share these events with us.  

Here are some photos of todays visit:

A remarkably good Turkey lunch in the cafeteria.

Aunt Carollyn and Will

Aunt Carollyn with Molly in her classroom.

Thanks for coming Carollyn!  We had fun!

My Kids Make Me Laugh

Kids are a crack up. They are very observant and not afraid to ask questions or talk about their observations. We should be more like them.

We were riding in the car yesterday when out of the blue William says, "Hey Dad, when did you get your first arm pit hair?" After we stopped laughing, Jon answered with something like, "When I was 8." (Will is 9.) He laughed in his giddy little boy laugh that makes his face light up and turn red. That was really all that was said on the subject. Will is obviously really concerned about the whole thing because today he asked Jon if he really got arm pit hair when he was 8. Jon told him he didn't, and asked why he wanted arm pit hair and Will says, "I need it for gym class." So, I guess there are fourth grade boys with arm pit hair and he's feeling left out. As you can tell by this photo, I think he has a bit of a wait. Aren't most kids like 14 when they start growing arm pit hair???


Then there's Molly. Funny, funny girl. Her school is adding an additional First Grade class because enrollment is higher than expected. So a few kids from each class will be going to the new class and Molly is one of them. Mrs. Macaulay was really sad and I was worried about how Molly would take it. Her new best friend Katie Beth is in her class now and won't be going to the new class, and she really likes Mrs. Macaulay. Becuase I didn't want to ruin the weekend with the news, I waited until tonight (Sunday) to tell Molly. At the dinner table I broke the news and she says, "OK, but if my new teacher is mean, I'm going back to Mrs. Macaulay's class. (pause) AND I'm taking my desk." No questions about Katie Beth, no worries, nothing. Of course that could all change when she actually gets there Monday, but for now all is well.

Back to School, Back to School

I can hardly believe it, but summer is over! The kids went back to school yesterday. No more staying up late and sleeping in. No more cake for breakfast. It's time to get serious.

Little Miss Molly is in FIRST grade. She was so excited to go back to school. Her teacher is Mrs. Macaulay and is very nice. Molly was really happy to get her own desk. In Kindergarten you only get a table. Today, she took a whole bunch of extra supplies to school, "you know, just in case a crayon breaks or something...." She had scotch tape, a stapler, a calculator (she's really advanced in math), markers, colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, two extra boxes of crayons (they break REALLY easily) a HUGE eraser (thanks, Ashley) and probably some other things. I noticed them in her desk while at the First Grade Parents Night tonight and asked the teacher if she should have them. I brought them all home. So my child likes to be prepared - that's a good thing. I also learned at Parent Night that she's only allowed to wear footwear appropriate for PE except for on Friday. This could be a problem. Molly is pretty much the six year old version of Emelda Marcos. She has quite a variety of shoes, but very few are "appropriate for PE." Guess we're going shopping for tennis shoes.

Anyway, she's so stinkin' cute. She has this really big, ROLLING backpack with matching lunch box. It's bigger than she is. She's getting the hang of it though. It doesn't flip over nearly as often on the second day. Molly has her clothes picked out for the rest of the week, knows when she's buying school lunch and taking home lunch and finished the whole week's homework on Monday. She's totally into it.

Will is now in fourth grade and has Ms. Young (fitting name) for his teacher. I haven't been to Fourth Grade Parent Night (it's on Thursday), so I don't have many personal observations yet. He, too knows what days he's buying school lunch but would be pretty happy wearing the same thing every day. He's getting right on the homework, which is great. Hopefully it's not a "first two days of school excitement" thing. He only has one person in his class from last year, but told me today there was a new kid (already?) who was very polite. He said things like, "May I take the rest of my lunch home?" Sounds like he moved in from another planet. Ms. Young, can Will sit next to him?

Lucy started her last year of middle school - eighth grade. She's had her schedule changed several times. Mostly to accomodate her desire to have as many classes as possible with Megan. Now she has at least four with her. She's taking as many honors classes as possible, so she has a pretty rigorous schedule. Today was the second day of school and I've already been there twice. Nice. So far all her teachers are really nice. She's anxiously awaiting the arrival of her new Vera Bradley messenger bag which she saw in Pittsburg, but we didn't get there, and they don't have anywhere in Dallas, so we ordered from the store in Pittsburg, to match her lunchbox. In the meantime, as embarrassing as it may be, she's using last years backpack. Horrors.

I am surviving the loneliness and sense of loss I feel with the kids gone all day. I manage to fill my time with little, mundane tasks. Actually things are so busy, the day flies by. But so far I haven't forgotten to pick them up. Two days in a row, YESSSSS!