Back to School :(

I have pawned one dog (dog update as soon as I have time, if you're interested) off on Alyssa and I am going to attempt to get some first day of school pictures up here.

I hated to see the kids go back this year. This summer was gone way too fast. It always is, but this year more than ever. Our three week trip and Girls Camp ate up most of the summer. I mean, in a good way, but still, there was too little time to just do my usual hanging out with the kids summertime thing. And then doggy man ate the last ten days and I was just nowhere near ready to bid my babies farewell, especially since Alyssa does save me from puppy duties occasionally and now I will be going it alone. But like I said, that post is for another time. Let's get to the back to school thing.

Our school has always started at 7:40 and ended at 2:30 but this year we got bumped to the 8:45-3:45 time slot. I am so bummed. The day is over when they get home. Dinner and homework and then off to lessons for whoever has lessons that night. The only good part about it was going to be the sleeping in thing but that ain't gonna happen since Bernie's only predictable poop of the day is precisely at 6 AM.  But again, another post. Can you tell my mind has been kidnapped? Anyway, the good part about the new schedule is that they get out at noon every Friday so I am happy about that.

Another change to the school was the introduction of families. The kids are being taught in family units and not specifically by class or grade. Kindergarten is alone but every other class is combined. They originally talked about having classes as varied as 2nd-5th grade together but thankfully they rethought that so now they are only in 1-2, 2-3, 3-4. and 4-5 families and they will be paired off with other classes in their family for different subjects and work with specialists in that field along with their regular teachers. Not sure about this concept and I am planning to try to get all 3 kids in a K-8 Charter School next year, but it is what it is for now.

Hold on , the dog pawning did not work. I will return when Seth is home from church to relieve me of my duties.

Alyssa is in 5th grade!!!! Holy Cats, how did that happen. I remember dropping her off at Kindergarten and hearing her cry from outside the building like it was just yesterday. Seriously, yesterday! Her entrance to 5th grade was a bit anti-climactic since she is in a 4-5 class, same classroom and teacher as last year. I am nervous because this teacher didn't challenge her last year and told her what political opinions to have which made Seth MAD! It made me mad too...she told Alyssa it was people like us (voted for Scott Walker) who lost her her job, and then lo and behold, she didn't even lose her job because she is back this year. Anyway, Alyssa is a smart kiddo but school is boring to her and I am afraid this year will be no different, but maybe the specialists in each family will challenge her?

We never can find a pair of leggings that are tight on this child but she is pretty cute regardless and oh so grown up looking in her no more Gymboree for me attire.



Alex is in 2nd grade and he landed in a 2-3 combo class. He got one of the two male teachers at the school and he really likes him so far. He told me that his favorite part of the day was reading which was awesome because he usually hates to read with people and gets self conscious but we have worked hard and he has made a lot of progress.

Shopping for Alex is easy. He just grabs a few shirts and he is good to go. I tried to get him Vans or Converse but the only thing he was picky about was his shoes and he wanted Nikes, so Nikes he got


He had to have the backpack they were selling at Taekwondo, as though we don't spend enough money on TKD already.





Chloe wanted to be in one too so we had her hold up no fingers for grade zero. She also got to wear a new dress and her jacket that is supposed to be for her first day of school so when you see it again, pretend it is the first time.



Seth had the day off...actually he had the past 5 days off to help me with Bernie. I am so sad to see him go back to work tomorrow. But since he was with me this morning he thought it would be funny to put a camera  in my face while we drove away from the school. Most of the pictures were ugly cry scary so they got deleted but here is a taste of how I handled drop off today. I am pretty sure I am not strong enough for this mothering thing because my heart absolutely breaks when I can't be with my kids.

This one cut my face in half when I made it XL so it will have to just be large. Isn't blogger annoying sometimes? Not that you need to see it any bigger.


I was back at the school 45 minutes before school let out, pacing around, waiting for the bell. Every year we do ice cream with 2 girls Alyssa met on the first day of Kindergarten. Quinn is her best friend and they keep in touch regularly but Lauren moved on to one of the Charter Schools and they haven't hung out as much but when I got to the school Lauren and her mom were there. They came over after their school let out because tradition is tradition and they were not going to miss out on our ice cream trip. So now I have pictures of them from every year of Elementary School. Pretty cool!


They did eventually let little sisters pose with them too.


Poor Alex is always surrounded by girls. I would love to have some of his buddies come along too but I never see any of their moms picking them up.

So that was our first day back. By the time we got done with ice cream it was 5:00 so we had to run home and shove food in our faces to get to TKD by 6:00. We ended up taking summer off of TKD so it was our first day back and ice skating starts again tomorrow for Alyssa. Chloe wants make-up lessons or fairy lessons this year and I don't know where to find either of those so we will see if she comes up with something more realistic before we enroll her in anything and stay tuned because she starts her final year of preschool on Thursday.