Back to School

It's that special time of year again, the time when nervous little kids gear up to make new friends and parents breathe a sigh of relief at having seven hours of their kids lives handled every weekday for the next nine months. The girls were super excited since they got to go to a new school this year, joining the other smarty-pants kids in the school district in the gifted and talented program over at Morningside Elementary. To get them off to a good start, Natalie cooked them up the awesome-est pancakes ever, complete with kiwi eyeballs and blueberry mouths.



She also packed them some awesome lunches in their new lunchboxes: sandwiches, fruit, granola bars, fruit leather, capri sun, gogurt, chips, and a cookie for dessert. My mom used to give us a peanut butter sandwich and an apple, these girls are lucky ducks.




We were told to catch the bus to Morningside at the Junior High just up the street from our house. The girls were so excited they hauled us out twenty minutes early to make sure we wouldn't miss the bus. Not sure why, since we only had to walk a block, but they were being so good I went along with it.


Up the street we went.


And around the corner to wait for the bus in front of the school.


So we waited, and waited, and waited.

And along came the bus, on the other side of the school, where we weren't. The girls raced a mad dash over and tried to get the driver's attention, but since there was no one at the unmarked bus stop where we didn't know we were supposed to be, the bus took off without us. Lesson learned, we headed home and I drove them over. They've been doing fine with the bus on the days since then.

James starts on Tuesday at pre-school. We met with his teachers this week and they seemed very nice. We told them James was reading, and listed some books he had read and what he was currently reading (the giant Calvin and Hobbes compilation) and one of the teachers responded with "Is he doing phonics? Is he starting to blend his letters then?" I started to tell her we were way past that, when my politer better half said yes, he's done phonics on the Starfall website. Do people say their kid is reading when they really mean he can identify letters? I figure if I say he's reading it means I can hand him The Cat in the Hat and he can plow through it without any help. Anyway, he got a chance to show off his reading skills today at church. James gave his first Primary talk, and he did a fantastic job. When it was his turn, he marched on up to the podium, his one-page talk in hand. Once he got the booster step set up so he could get his head up to the microphone he waved away any other help and delivered his three minute address like a little champ. We got stunned looks and gushing compliments from all the adults in Primary. I wonder if the other Sunbeams are blending their letters yet.