1st Day of School 2012-2013

I always feel like the scene in Finding Nemo where the fish is yelling, "first day of school! first day of school!".  I am so glad that our kids really enjoy getting out of bed in the morning for school.  One of the things that's HUGELY different this year is that I'm now working the night shift at the hospital.  This usually puts me walking through the front door about 20 minutes or so before everyone needs to be loaded into the truck for the quick ride to school.  We haven't been brave enough to try the school bus just yet.  When I get home in the morning, I have just enough time to help Megan do something with her hair and peek in lunchboxes to verify the contents include actual food.  

 Shopping for school clothes with Megan in the JC Penny dressing room.

My classes were in full swing when the kids' school started back up again in August.  I get most of my school work done on my nights off of work.  I've had a few occasions where I'll be quietly studying, only to find one of the kids has gotten out of bed and is roaming the house.

 Megan with pinky over her arm (her favorite blankie) coming out to get another blanket from the linen closet on a chilly night.

 One afternoon, I was listening to a class on-line and turned around to find Daniel reading away and listening to a riveting lecture on active vs. passive immunity.

 Megan is in a crafty phase right now.  She makes the cutest things...and the biggest messes.

 The kids playing with the cars and track in Joshua and Daniel's room.

 Daniel is in the FIRST GRADE this year.  How did that happen?  His teacher is Ms. Parker and he adores her.  She is pretty fond of Daniel as well.  Here he is on supply drop off day checking out his new desk.  He's really enjoying school this year and it's so fun to watch him grow.  He loves to read and is a wiz at first grade math.  I'm so proud of him.

 Megan is in the THIRD GRADE in Mrs. Smith's class.  Megan was nearly moved to tears when she found out her BFF Sophia is not only in her class, but sits right beside her.  Yay!  Thank you, elementary school classroom planners.  Also in Megan's class is one of her cheerleading friends, Eliana.  Megan's been on the A/B Honor roll so far this year.  Her reading is improving and her math skills are amazing.  I'm a little nervous about the FCAT this year, and will be shopping for an FCAT study guide in the next few weeks to work on some home-prep.

 Joshua is in the FOURTH GRADE and his homeroom teacher is Ms. Akers.  Joshua is enjoying his class this year because all of his best friends are in his class.  Last year, when the 3rd grade FCAT scores came back, a group of kids scored exceptionally high on both the FCAT and the IQ scoring, and these children were grouped together in the same homeroom class for the 4th grade.  Which means, there are a lot of smart kids with strong personalities all in one classroom, so his teacher has to have an extra dose of patience!  Here he is talking to his friend Owen, who lives across from Grandma and Grandpa Holloway's house.  Joshua has also earned the A/B Honor Roll all year so far and is doing quite well in his studies.  He is playing the recorder this year and learning how to read music.

 Here's a shot of the crew before heading out for the first day of school.  They were bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go!

 I'm not sure how I managed to upload this picture here...but yes, that is a frog on my kitchen table that Joshua rescued out of the pool filter.  ON MY KITCHEN TABLE...eek.  REALLY?  I guess it's just the life of being a mom to boys.

 The view of the back packs.  We love our Land's End backpacks.  Now that we are halfway through the school year, they still look brand new.

Daniel doing his homework on my computer.  Isn't he adorable?