Back to School 2010 - K 2 4

All set and ready to go.  

At what age will my son decide to smile without looking constipated?  

I'm just saying....

Paige could hardly sleep because she was so excited for Kindergarten

Blaire Rose knows she's awesome, so she'll have lots of friends

Graeme is excited to have the same teacher in AGATE this year.

Paige knows right where to go - 

she is so excited for her turn with Mrs Lyons!

Blaire Rose & her buddy Ellie were happy to see each other after summer break

Mrs Perlattis is such a sweet teacher!  

Graeme is blessed to have her again this year.

And mommy & daddy went out for coffee....Aw, sweet time alone together!  

What did you do on your kids' first day of school?

Back to School Pics

'Twas the Night Before School Started

'Twas the night before school started, When all through the town, The parents were cheering... It was a riotous sound. By eight the kids were washed, And tucked into bed, When memories of homework, Filled them with dread. New pencils, new folders, New notebooks, too, New teachers, new friends- Their anxiety grew. The parents just giggled, When they learned of this fright, And shouted, "Upstairs! GO TO BED! IT'S A SCHOOL NIGHT!"

Thankfully this isn't how my kids feel about school  - but I thought it was good for a laugh.

Wordless Wednesday - Preschool Days

 

Finally my turn for preschool 

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For  more participants, visit WW.

Recipe for a Perfect Day

By Graeme Forbes

My perfect day would be sunny with some shade. I would play with my legos and there would be no school except for the parts of school I like - PE and Recess.

I would also spend time with my dad. I would only eat healthy food that I like - for example, carrots and apples. I would also go skydiving.

Mama's Heart Beats Proud

Our kids' conferences were today. It is always so nice to have other people saying positive things about my kids.

Blaire Rose gets to go full-day to Kindergarten and is thriving. Her reading is coming along quite well and she is a good friend to others in her class. She consistently makes good choices and is very generous in her compliments of others in the room.


Graeme is doing very well in his 2nd grade class, making good friends and learning lots from his teacher. Graeme is very literal and loves doing reports on factual things - he's not so fond of creative writing. We found out today that he qualifies for the AGATE program that our school offers for the district. This is a great opportunity for him to be challenged - and be with highly capable students in a self-contained 3rd/4th/5th grade classroom, assisted in the provision of accelerated opportunities. This will also encourage him to learn how to explain his reasoning behind things - a very good life-skill!

Conference Childcare Swap

Crazy house full of kids today - doing childcare swapping during school conferences.

For more Wordless Wednesday participants, visit 5 Minutes for Mom or the Wordless Wednesday Headquarters.

I love you with all my heart

"I Luv U al mi hart"

Blaire Rose is learning how to read and is trying to write things all the time.

Blessed Routines

We made it to the weekend after our first week of school. *whew* It was a busy one, with many things to be done during the school hours - which probably helped Paige transition to not having Graeme and Blaire Rose home during the day. I am wondering if she's going to get spoiled with all the one-on-one attention from Duncan and I? Oh well. Duncan and I got the youth room completely organized (after 3 years.... hmmm, maybe it was time?) and we got some yard-work done as well as attended various meetings.

Blaire and Graeme both seem to be loving school, but they also loved being able to chill and watch cartoons this morning - with no reason to leave the house till late in the morning. Duncan took off early this morning with the teens to go to Service First, a community service project that our church does the first Saturday of each month from 8-noon, and the kids let me sleep in while they ate cereal and had fun building a fort with blankets on our couch.

Being a bit O.C.D., {OK, I'm a LOT O.C.D.!} I am thankful for routines - especially the routine of school - it seems to rejuvenate my kids and help them appreciate each other when they are together (on a good day, that is) - but it also brings out some quirky behaviors that they pick up from being around other kids. Ah, the joys of parenting - teaching them to deal with things that life brings their way. I have joined the PTSA at our school and they recruited me to be the Volunteer Coordinator - possibly a bigger task than I anticipated? Thankfully the previous Volunteer Coordinator has been very generous with her notes from last year.

We've started using a new devotional book with the kids. They loved the short stories in the other one, but they had them all memorized, so it wasn't really that challenging for them anymore. So, we've transitioned to using a book that we received as a baby gift when Graeme was born. It is more of a read-through-the-Bible style, but it is broken down into segments that are perfect for the kids. Right now we are reading about Jacob & Esau and how they treated each other - great opportunities to talk about sibling rivalry!

With school back in session, I am hoping to be able to pick up some more jobs for my organizing business and would covet your prayers for that to happen. I met a gal this past week that owns a consignment store on Bainbridge Island. I plan to talk to her about possibly advertising through her shop - pray for guidance on that one!

I would also like to be able to start some stamping again - as I haven't done any of that since May - before we went to Germany. I got some fun stamps for my birthday and haven't had the time/opportunity/energy to use them yet - can't wait!

I love the smell of fall. I can't wait to get out some spiced candles and hot cider! I am also not minding that we've had a beautiful week - with weather in the 70's and sunshine almost every day!

Back to School

It is so good to be back into a routine. School times did get shifted a bit again this year - so they could fine-tune the bus schedules - but overall it's been a good week. Graeme has been liking his classroom so far and seems to be settling in pretty well.

Blaire Rose was so excited to start school and hasn't had a problem with adjusting to her classroom for all-day Kindergarten. She didn't even want a hug good-bye on her first day! She loves her teacher and is on the road to a fabulous year already.

My heart did break a little today when she told me that she only had a banana for lunch because she thought that was what I had packed for her. I reminded her that it was for her snack and that she was supposed to go through the food-line. She replied that she didn't mind and that she was OK with just a banana. We had a talk about needing more nutrition than that, so we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Standing in front of our new tree

Walking to school

Blaire Rose in front of her classroom

Graeme and his friend Brig

In the same class for the 3rd year in a row

Kindergarten Classes

Our local school offers full-day and half-day Kindergarten classes. The difference being that full-day costs $350/month and 1/2 day is free. Graeme did 1/2 day and was fine - but we were really interested in full-day this time around. We had really been praying about whether to put Blaire Rose is full-day next year - we feel she is ready, but we knew we didn't have the funds to do that. So we decided to apply for a scholarship and they called us yesterday to let us know that we are one of the full-year recipients. WE GOT IT! We are quite excited and can't wait to meet Blaire's teacher and get to know her class.

Marine Science Center - Poulsbo

Working in Blaire Rose's class this school year has gone quite well - despite the fact that teaching is definitely not my passion. One of the bonuses is that I get to go on all the field trips and we had a great trip today to the Marine Science Center in downtown Poulsbo. Blaire Rose got to have 2 of her buddies ride in our car on the way there. Beatrice and Kallen had a good time and everyone enjoyed the short trek.

There are 15 kids in her class and 3 teachers, so we split up into 3 groups of 5 kids and had a good time. We got to touch sea stars, watch sea anemones catch food to eat it and play a short little game with suction cups to see how some animals get around.