Alternatively known as "Only 114 More Days until Christmas Vacation..."
Wow, where did summer go? I have fun pictures of Lucy's birthday, Ruthie's birthday, Meredith's birthday, camping at Beaver, camping at Palisades, the Planetarium, the Living Planet Aquarium, the Pioneer Park farmer's market, the Manti Pageant, the fountain at Gateway, Seven Peaks, the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, Temple Square, sewing camp, quilt camp, and the 4-H fashion show, but since it makes me tired just writing all of that down, I will probably not post them just now. Also, I think I just realized where summer went...
Here are Meredith and Ruthie on the first day of Fifth grade and Third Grade. Aren't they cute? They're getting so big. I discovered this year that while taking a new kindergartener to school is only mildly emotional, dropping a kid off at the middle school to start fifth grade turns me into a weepy mess for the rest of the day. Who knew?
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Meredith is excited to be in Mrs. Henrie's class this year, and to have a locker! She is already busy decorating it, and filling it with gum, which is allowed at middle school. Ruthie has been enjoying Mrs. Bliss' pirate themed classroom. She was way excited to have her first classroom job be a fish feeder. She is the animal kid, after all.
And of course, the next day was Isaac's big kindergarten debut!
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Since we don't do preschool, this was Isaac's first school experience. He was more excited than I think I've ever seen anyone for anything else in my life. His teacher is Mrs. Day (a.k.a. "the pretty blond lady who goes to our Primary.") He is thrilled with every little thing they do at school. I even got a word for word account of the bathroom rules and procedures, including appropriate volume levels for speaking in the restroom. He was a little nervous to find his classroom the second day of school after getting off the bus, so he just asked the principal to take him there. Never let it be said that he lacks problem solving skills.
This is my kids walking to the bus on Friday. It was the first day they rode the bus to school, and I thought it was so cute that they held hands on the way. When Isaac got home (he gets out earliest on Friday) I asked him if he sat with his friend Ethan who also rides his bus. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No. I sat with Meredith and Ruthie, of course." I love that they look out for each other.
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The other awesome thing about this year is our bus time! The bus gets to our stop just before 7:30. That is such an improvement! Since Meredith starts school at 7:55, I would have to leave less than ten minutes later to drive them to school anyway. So we are officially back to being bus riders. (I'm sure I can find a good way to re-appropriate the money we were spending on gas last year driving to school every day.) They also get home earlier. In fact, when Mer and Ruth got home after school the first day, and I asked them how the first day of school was, they both said, "Awesome! Our bus ride is so short!" They got home nearly half an hour earlier than last year. I'm really happy about the whole thing.
And not to forget Lucy, here's my lonely daytime buddy. She does not like having everybody go to school. In fact, she was really mad when we dropped Isaac off at school that I wouldn't let her hang up the backpack she had insisted on bringing and leave her there with him. So far, for the two days we've been home alone in the morning, she has just followed me around and said, "Mama, I'm hungry!" every thirty seconds. I think the child consumes her body weight in food each day. She would eat an entire box of GoGurts if allowed, and frequently demands "cereal and milk" four or five times a day. If her growth spurt continues, I'm going to have to get a job to buy food.
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This picture also explains why I can never see out of my sunglasses... those look like GoGurt fingerprints to me....