Back To School!

I was so nervous for school last year, finding out a week or so before that Soren would be in all-day Kindergarten instead of half-day.  That first day of school was so tough for me, and it seemed like the longest day ever!  But this year was totally different!  Yesterday was the first day of First Grade for Soren, and the first day of Kindergarten for Gabe, and it was exciting!  They have both been looking forward to it since the end of last year.  Gabe went to Ensign Pre-K for half-days for half of last year, so he feels comfortable there.  He is ready for a full day of school, and I'm ready for them both to be there learning new things with good teachers and friends.

Backpacks ready and on our way!

Gabe is in Mrs. Thomas' Kindergarten class, and he couldn't be happier.  She was Soren's teacher last year, so it will be fun for Gabe to get to do some of the same things Soren did.  When Gabe came out of school yesterday, he seemed happy and he gave me a hug.  I asked him how it went and he looked at me seriously and said, "I didn't like it.  I LOVED IT!!!"  He thinks he's so funny.  And he is!  It must have been so exciting for him that it wore him out.  He fell asleep watching TV after school. 

Soren's teacher is Mrs. Sprague.  She is new to the school this year, but she has taught first grade for 19 years in the district.  We haven't heard too much about her, but what we have heard has been good, so we will just plan for good things this year.  We were surprised last week when we found out who his teacher would be, and also found out it's a 1st/2nd grade split class.  I wasn't too thrilled about that at first, because I thought they had put him in a special program called C&A (Curriculum and Assessment) that I had not requested.  But then I learned it was just due to numbers and not enough 1st and 2nd graders to fill complete classes, so they decided to merge the two.  I can see some advantages and disadvantages to both, but I'm just trying to focus on the advantages!  If he's going to be in a split class, I'm glad he's in the younger grade.  I think it will be good for him to be challenged academically, and seeing as he's one of the older and bigger kids in first grade, he'll fit right in with both levels.  When he came out of school yesterday, he greeted me the way he did last year, with a big huge hug that almost knocked me off my feet!  I always have to be ready for him after school, or he will level me one of these days!  He was so happy and just loved his class.  Some of the words he used to describe his first day were, awesome, epic, and AMAZING!!!

Soren's favorite pose is to pretend he's hitting the guy next to him.  Stinker!

The highlight for both boys was of course, recess, and seeing their friends from last year, but they seemed to like being in class, too.  I think we're in for another great year!  I just love that they are at the same school where I went!

It was fun to spend some time with just the girls while the boys were in school.  I think we'll have some fun adventures with these girls!  Sean took the day off and we all took the boys to school, and then went to breakfast at Original Pancake House.  Then we came home and cleaned out a bunch of old toys and stuff from the basement.  The girls enjoyed playing with the Hot Wheels tracks and cars without being bossed around by the boys.  Before we knew it, it was time to get the boys from school!  Thank goodness they go for a full day.  We'd never get anything done if it was just half!  :)  It still doesn't look like we got rid of anything in the basement, but it's a start.  We're trying to focus more on fun and spending time together instead of accumulating "stuff" but we still have quite a ways to go.  I'm not sure the boys even noticed we got rid of anything.  One thing we got rid of was a big toy box that we've had for 4-5 years.  It holds a lot of toys, but it's not an organized way to store them, and it somehow ends up being the place for spiders to die.  I thought it was funny that the boys didn't notice it was missing.  Anyway, we took a pretty good load of stuff to the DI on the way to pick up the boys from school.  Last year the first day of school was so long, but this year it flew by!  It was so fun to see the boys after school and hear about their first day.  I miss them while they're gone, and just wish I could have a camera or a recorder on them to know what they are up to and the funny things they might say!  Glad they are having fun and learning!

From this angle, she doesn't even look like Brooke to me!

We let the boys choose where to have dinner as a first day of school celebration.  McDonald's was the choice, so that is where we went!  They love playing on the playground, and Maddie is getting right in there with them now.  She was especially excited about the basketball hoops.  She pushed a chair over to the hoops and grabbed the ball.  She knows just what to do!  Hope everyone's school year is a slam dunk!