Start of School Year 2017: First Grade and The Fours Class

Here we are August (yeah I know I'm late) of 2017 and it's time for school to start.  AAHHH! I can't believe the summer went so fast and I have a preschooler and a first grader.  CRAZY.  

 Because I didn't want summer to end, I took off Monday afternoon before school started and I took Tommy to Get Air... and boy did we ever.

 We jumped all over that place.  Then we went to Barnes and Noble and Tommy convinced me to buy him things that he really didn't need.  But my boy was heading off to school... so of course he needed a Ninjago Lego Character Encyclopedia among other things.
I felt bad so I bought Charlotte a My Little Pony book too. :)

That night was Tommy's Meet the Teacher Night where we dropped off our school supplies. Charlotte came with us and she made herself right at home in Mrs. Lane's chair.  :) Tommy was super excited.  There was so much stuff to look at and school supplies to put away.  We were busy and then it was over so quickly. 

 Charlotte had a meet the teacher night too.  We received this letter before the night addressed to Charolette.  I thought to myself, hopefully this is a just one little spelling error.  When we arrived to the preschool class,  her name was misspelled 5 times throughout the classroom.  Luckily they were able to easily change the misspelled name tags.  She's going to learn how to spell her name this year so we would really like her to be able to spell it right. :)

 The Tuesday before school started for Tommy, we went to the state fair.  Charlotte actually started school on Monday and then I took her out on Tuesday.  Whoopsie! Anyway, we went to the state fair because we had an employee appreciation day there.  My parents came too. My mom and i went to our meeting where we had lots of speakers and then we were free to roam around the rest of the day.  Charlotte and Tommy had to sit through the meeting which was a little rough.  So we stayed in the back and made them eat sandwiches.  Senator Joe Donnelly saw them sitting there eating and said, "Wow, those sandwiches look really good right now!"  Ha! I hope he likes bologna.  :)

 After our meeting was over, we fed some animals.

 We had to visit the Glass Barn for our obligatory Glass Barn photo booth picture.

 They had some new backgrounds this year.  The corn dog one was fun!

 Then it was time for some rides!

 Charlotte and I rode the elephants! Look at that smile.  Hehehe!!

 Tommy and I rode the ferris wheel which always freaks me out.  Gotta be brave for this dare devil!

 Our view of the main drag.

 After the rides, we went to see the horses.  This picture doesn't do the size of this horse justice.  I swear this horse was 10 feet tall.  Flipping HUGE.

 Tommy and Charlotte enjoyed the Lego exhibit.  Tommy was confused though.  He was wondering why all the blocks were the same color and size.  Where were all the lego guys?? Ha! He actually had to use his imagination a little for this. :)

 The next day, I took the kiddos to school. They were ready!

First day of school pic.  Tommy probably wants to play with Legos for a living more than swimming but he certainly likes swimming right now. :) 

Charlotte had a hard time deciding what she wanted to be.  I think she thought it was more of a Halloween question.  I would ask her and she would say, "A unicorn! Rapunzel! Belle!"  I'm like, "No what do you want to do as a job to make money?" "Cupcakes?" "Yeah sure, that'll work." :) 

 Some outtakes from our first day of school pictures. 

 I dropped Tommy off at school and luckily had lots to do in the office dropping off the epi-pen and other meds so I had to keep it together.  It was hard.  But I did it.  Then I stayed in my car for awhile in the parking lot of the school before I took off for work.  While I was sitting there, I was able to hear the morning announcements outside of the school.  Hilarious.  It also made me really excited for Tommy's new experiences to come.  School is so fun and I had forgotten all the cool stuff they do.
Anyway, while I was sitting there, I got a call from the school. I almost got out and ran into the school because I figured they were calling because he was having an allergic reaction or something.  Turns out, I just needed an extra form for the meds and the school nurse was calling me about that.  Phew!
But in the afternoon before I went to pick him up, I got this picture from his soccer coach who is also a teacher at the school.  He was definitely having a great day and has great people taking care of him. I was so proud and happy.  The kid is a stud, right? :)

I don't have a picture from the end of Charlotte's first day but Charlotte is also really enjoying preschool.  I think her favorite part is learning new songs.  She is always singing.  She is working really hard on writing letters and staying in the lines while coloring.  She loves her teacher and her friends and seems to be super happy in preschool too.
I'm sad they are growing up so fast but I am overjoyed to see how they grow and what kind of people they become.
Love you Tomster and Charshe.  :) You make me so proud.

Kindergarten and Pre-K 3's Class: A New School Year

A new school year has started for the kids.  On Tuesday, Tommy moved into Kindergarten and Charlotte moved into the 3's class.  Charlotte isn't supposed to be in the 3's but since she's so close to the cut off, they let her start early... ONLY IF she was potty trained.  We've been a little lackadaisical about potty training her this year.  We are never in any hurry for that.  But we decided we better get on it.  We started when we went on vacation in July and by the time she went back to school, she was fully trained. Yay us!
So off to school they went. 

I actually took this picture on Sunday morning since I was going to be spending the week at leadership training in Phoenix.  I dressed the kids up in their fave outfits with their favorite toys and had them pose like last year. We've been working on Charlotte to find something else besides Elsa for about a year now.  Hopefully she'll find a new heroine or career soon. ;-)  Tommy came out of left field with his response of a pirate.  No idea where that came from.  I'm surprised he didn't say gymnast.  He has been flipping all over our living room since the Olympics started. 

 Here is a comparison picture from last year.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. Both are still into pink and blue but much 'cooler' clothes, of course.  The shoes are much bigger but similar in color.  Charlotte has way more hair and both are much taller even though it's hard to tell from the angle of the second picture.  Crazy how much they grow and change in a year!

So while I was in Phoenix with these strangers learning how to be a leader...

 I was getting updates from afar on our school's new app.  This was an old picture that our cook posted.  She started a cooking class this summer and would find things to make that Tommy could make with substitutions.  Looks like he loved that!

Then on my birthday, I got this message.  Tommy had an incident which was no big deal.  But he also got kudos (which until I told him it was kudos, he thought it was Toodles, haha).  When I read the kudos at my meeting, I totally cried.  They had just announced that it was my birthday at the meeting  and everyone in the room sang me happy birthday.  Talk about awkward.  Then the presenter also mentioned that I had a kindergartner starting school this week and that they appreciated me being there.  So that was awesome. (Sarcasm intended)  Then all the moms in the room made sure to come over at break and ask if I tried to get out of this.  Thanks, strangers.  I appreciate that.  So glad you could make me feel worse when I was already there. 
But the kudos.  I got the kudos message after all of that.  Tommy helped a kid who was sad and scared about being at a new school.  He's got a great heart and I can take some of the credit for that.  So yeah, I cried.  It was my birthday and I could cry if I wanted to. :)

The night before school started, Tommy's teacher sent home a note for a parent to read on the night before school.  It was a sweet letter and it was to help calm any jitters about the first day.  Andrew did a fantastic job of pumping Tommy up for kindergarten.  Way to go, Dada! Tommy had an amazing first week. 

He had homework the first week! He had to memorize a poem and a bible verse.  Plus he had to put together an About Me bag by Friday.  Wow! Busy first week!! Sheesh! But again, Andrew knocked it out of the park.

Charlotte had a pretty great first week too! She got kudos for a great job helping clean up.  They sent this picture of her and a friend playing Zootopia, according to Charlotte. :)

They also had a dance party on Friday.  She's in this picture but you can hardly see her.  She is in the back left behind a girl in a blue shirt.  Near the end of the week, she had a rough day and got in trouble for not wanting to do seat work.  Hopefully the dance party helped and next week will be much better.  She misses her old teachers I think.  But she still has her besties which helps a lot. 

I'm so proud of these two.  They are growing up so fast and they amaze me everyday.  I'm so lucky to be their mom.  I hope this school year is the best year yet!

First Day of School 2015

 Who's Ready for the First Day of School?????

 These two are!! Their first day of school was August 10th. (Have I ever mentioned that school used to start after my birthday? Well it used to, back in the olden days. :) Anyway, Tommy is moving into Pre-K (learning to read, field trips, homework??? Whaaaa?) and Charlotte is moving into the two's class (potty training, colors, numbers, letters, oh my).  They're growing so fast. 

 Check out their super cute first day of school outfits.  Awww!

This class is for real now for Tommy.  It's kinda crazy.  He had a poster project the second week! Make a poster for homework? What's next, a powerpoint presentation?? Yikes!

So here's the poster.  The project was make a poster to show why you're special. It was pretty open ended.  This is what we came up with.  I had Tommy pick the pictures. He picked out and put on stickers.  We only had Elmers glue (no glue stick) so we intervened with the gluing.  There was still glue EVERYWHERE.

It was really hard to let go and let him do it.  He wanted to write his name in the middle in pink crayon. He did but you couldn't read the letters on the dark poster board so I offered to cut out letters.  That did not go well.  But he was having a bad day.  The next morning, I showed him the letters I cut out and he was totally excited and glued them on himself (with a teeny bit of a OCD mom help ;-) I thought the poster turned out great! It cracks me up that he put all the stickers in one spot.  Super cute. He's got an eye for design, I think.  Don't you?? ;-)

Tommy LOVES his new class and new teacher.  He is also glad Cooper is back from summer vacation.  He barely says bye when we drop him off.  It makes me really happy that he loves it so much. 

Charlotte, on the other hand, is going through a separation anxiety stage with her new class. :( Drop offs are not going well right now.  She's also having trouble following classroom rules.  I hope it gets better quickly. I remember Tommy having trouble at this age too. It's only been two weeks so hopefully she comes around and gets used to the new class very quickly. Potty training was going well at the very first few tries but now she's not interested anymore.  She's not even two!  Hopefully she's show interest in doing that sometime soon too. 

Wish them luck on a great new school year!

First Day of School

Tommy's first day of school was today! He started in the "twos" class.  I don't know why they call it the Twos Class because all the kids will be turning 3 in a few months but that's how they do things.  It's the age they start I guess.  

We went to the Meet and Greet for the new school year last Thursday.  I took this picture which cracks me up.  Yes, Tommy had to wear his shades to the meeting.  What a stud.  His classmate Logan ended up sitting right by us.  You can see him peeking on the right side. 

So I didn't get any pictures of Tommy standing by the door wearing his backpack.  Darn it.  I wish I would have because he was coloring with a pink highlighter before we left for school and he got it all over his face.  Heck of a look to start the new year! 

 I got some action shots instead.  Here is Tommy lugging in all his first day of school stuff.  He made it from the car to the sidewalk before he decided he wanted me to carry everything.  The whole "I do it myself" thing only lasts until it's no fun anymore.

He loves his new room already.  Who wouldn't with all these new toys?? Check out that sweet grill in the background! NICE! The cool thing about this room is that there is a potty connected to the room with a tiny toilet.  Sweet! The goal over the next year is to get all the kids totally potty trained.  They have many other lofty goals but that's the crucial one.

Tommy's day went really well except for one little thing. While a couple of the kids were in the bathroom, one of the kids, we'll call him "Lucifer", decided he needed to bite Tommy.  :(  Boo.  You can still kind of see the bite marks. (Don't you laugh, Goofy! Doesn't it look like Goofy is poking fun? Jeez, Goof.) Luckily no blood was drawn.  The accident report doesn't tell us who bit him but of course Tommy has no problem revealing it.  We asked and he told.  He said, "Lucifer needs to bite his own arm."  Haha! Yes he does Tommy.

 So since I didn't get the serious first day of school pic, we'll have to go with this one instead. He's pants-less and cloned in front of Abu from Aladdin! WHAT A PIC!
So yeah, I got a new app! It's called the Clone Camera.  It's so cool. I saw it on Apps Gone Free.  It works so well.  It's so easy too.  I can't wait to really mess around with it.  Watch out for cloned preggos! Shizz is about to get real! HA!

I'm really excited for Tommy's new class.  After the first day (despite the one incident), he seems to be really excited about his new teacher and room.  I'm excited for all the new things he's going to learn.  Very exciting times for Tommy T!