First Day of School!

They are growing up too damn fast.

First grader and fifth grader. Last year ever that they will be at the same school together!

Safety guard!

This first grader LOVED her new teacher.

Emma in her own words

In answer to your question...yes, it is July 22nd and I'm just now going through the work my kids brought home on their last day of school 6 weeks ago. What of it?

And now...Miss Emma, in her own words.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Sophie

Translation: I am lucky for my family. My sister cheers me up when I am feeling sad. My Dad always gets me treats. My Mom goes with me on a ride when I am scared. I love when I am lucky.

Survival instinct

Clearly, my kindergartener is a genius.

Thanksgiving, per Emma

Sophie, meet Kindergarten. Kindergarten, meet Sophie.

I'm baaaack!

I know, I know...I've barely posted in months. For the three people that were adversely affected by this, I'm really sorry. Life has been pretty hectic, and this blog has been one of the sacrifices I've made in the name of time management. (When time-constrained, why are the things we do for ourselves, for our own pleasure and satisfaction, often the first to go? Hmmm. Discuss amongst yourselves and let me know what you discover, please.)

Sophie going to kindergarten finally gave me the impetus I needed to post again. Because, you know, in case that first sentence flew right by you: MY YOUNGEST, MY BABY, IS NOW IN KINDERGARTEN!!!!!

Sophie is so flipping excited about going to the "big kid" school, the same place her big sister attends. The administration put a lot of effort into making sure the students felt comfortable, slowly prepping them for what school will be like before expecting them to jump right into a full day. Sophie had three days of kindergarten "orientation" last week, where she went in from 12:30-3:00pm and, from what I can tell, drew a lot of pictures. Then she received her teacher assignment (Hello, Mrs. Doyle!), and Thursday was her official first day. She was nervous initially because, oddly, very few kids from her preschool are attending Covington, and she didn't see any familiar faces during orientation. But then, some good news: we found out that two friends of hers are in her class...including her beloved Willie. The minute she and Willie spotted each other in line, all was well. They just kept looking at each other and grinning like idiots. They even held hands as they walked inside together. Pretty damn cute.

By all accounts, her first day went well. She seems to really love school. (Sixteen more years of the same, please and thank you.) This morning she popped out of bed and asked, "Is today a school day?" This is a potentially loaded question, so I wasn't sure what reaction I would get when I tentatively answered yes. She promptly started jumping on her bed and scream/singing, "Yay! School day, school day, I get to go to school today!" so I suspect she was okay with it.

She's now on the same schedule as Emma, my newly-minted 4th grader. (Yeah. I know. Time flying and all that. Wow.) Having them at the same location is divine. No more driving Emma one place and Sophie another. Our mornings are much more mellow now that I can just walk them both to school and drop them at the same place. And having them both out of the house is nice, too. (Is it bad to admit that? Well then, I guess I'm bad to the bone.) They've been home with me since summer camp ended Aug. 2nd, and we had a great time together. But my to-do list keeps growling at me like a wild animal, and I'm a little tired of staying up til 1:00am every night trying to jam 10 hours of work into 4 hours of time. So being on a regular schedule again is a very, very good thing. So good, in fact, that I'm gonna go bounce on my own bed and scream "Yay for school!" until I lose my voice. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

And now...pictures!

School Pics...Dig it.