1st day of school

We did it!  We had the 1st day of school and everyone was super excited and happy and relieved and ready to go back for a second day!

I was emotional, obviously, my second son was off to school.  It felt "real" like all the other stuff he's been doing has just been pretend or fake.  School seems to make it "real"...everything - going to bed early / sleeping well / getting up in the morning / getting dressed / eating breakfast - there is a purpose now - have to have energy and ability to focus on learning and oh my goodness the volume of that word "learning"... its enormous.

I feel like with Mark it's all new - new process, new format, new rules, new friends, new expectations...  he is a good "new" person - i think he likes new stuff.  new shoes, new lunch box, new path to school...he is non-judgmental so anything different is just that 'different'... he will accept the different and usually embrace it.

With Noah its intensity this year.  He knows the rules, he knows his responsibility, he knows the expectations of going to school.  Everything is just more intense.  And i do not mean intense in a bad connotation.  No more excuses anymore - you've been in school for 2 years now - this is your 3rd year in this format - you should 'just know' how to exist there and with that knowing we are going to expect/demand MORE from you... i think he will do fine, great...he is a people - pleaser like his momma so i do think he will rise to the challenge.

It should be an interesting year.  Noah will have homework - starting on Monday - 2 sheets of language arts and 2 sheets of math - his teacher flat out said "math program is intense - if you need help, please let me know"...i'm wondering to myself - how hard could it be - i "got" the stuff last year - it made sense to me...in fact i thought how would my education have been different had i been taught like this - maybe i would have done ever better...this core curriculum made sense to me... and a lot of folks it does not.

Mark's homework starts in September - the teacher said "its not required"...how is that even a possibility?  How can we expect our kids to know / do better when there is no practice at home...I do believe after having Noah in school and going through "homework in the evenings" that it does make the kids smarter / better equipped to have their parents 'do it with them'... it will be 'required' for Mark in our house.  We will make the time.  We will make the effort.  The expectation is that this is what is required.  And we will see...


First day pictures were amazing - I thought the light looked great and the boys looked awesome in their new clothes/shoes in front of our amazing home.

Summer's Close...

Summer is heading to a close.  The fair came... the boys (all of them) had an amazing time.  Noah and Mark loved the rides and games of course - talked about it for days before and after - even said after spending all Saturday night riding with their buddies -- 'this was the best night ever!".  Seth loved the animals.  I think it did him good to see the cows and sheep and pigs up close and realize just how big they are in reality.  He loves to say MOOO to any animal - we're still working on it.

Here are some pictures of the big boys riding the rides... not sure if dad isn't having more fun than they are?

We've done all the "back to school shopping" also.  It was a crazy day, filled with Seth throwing his shoes out the window while driving down the road, the boys trying out the skateboards, trying to get me to buy a bike and lots of trying on shoes.

I mean don't they look so ready!?  Such cuties!

glad we saw this - Santa is ready for Christmas!

And a few more pics just to emphasize the "soaking up the last bit of nothingness"... helping with laundry (mom we need a stool to reach the bottom!), lounging around playing the tablets and a funny one of Seth who figured out if you hit the lion on the head he talks... oh jeez.

you bet i washed those backpacks!  ick!

career day and a cutie

Today is career day at Noah's school.  All week they've been talking about jobs and careers and what that means (getting up and dressed, working all day, how some jobs are very busy everyday and others are not...) I can just imagine what they talk about and what they say their parents "do all day"... 'my mom talks on a cool phone with her computer and has an awesome headset"...yep that's what i do all day.

So for his career choice - he decided he wanted to be a cowboy... thank goodness for amazon prime for mother's who don't plan as well as they should... got two cowboy hats ordered on Wednesday and at my door Thursday (only $3.99 extra)... granted they were at U.S. toy - i totally could've gone there myself and got them, but shoot...it would have been more than $3.99 in gas to get over there... PLUS how do you deny a kid getting something in the mail...the joy that brings ha!  We had to buy two...of course we did...

And because I can't leave him out...my little helper today...knows tons about MAN rings and setting up topologies for traffic on a WAN... he's a smartypants!

and with that...we have begun.

We started our formal education on Aug. 15, 2013.  It was a nice cool day.  I woke up early, made our traditional biscuits and gravy breakfast (it was my parents tradition, now i have taken it to become ours as well), and got everyone up for the exciting day!

Noah was excited to wear his new clothes.  He had asked numerous times since we bought the shirt/shorts if he could wear them the first day of school - apparently i hadn't told him that was the point of buying new school clothes...or shoes...he was excited about his new shoes too!

We took our customary 1st day of school picture on the front porch.  Jokingly I told my mom that "we" were going to get a board and write down the date and school year for the picture so we wouldn't have to guess later on what year it was... we had quite a few of those for us growing up...just depended on who was in the picture - was my car in the picture, etc.  Why we never thought to write it down on a piece of paper i'll never know...

Mark wasn't happy that morning - i think he didn't like the fact that 1) mom and dad were staying home all day and he didn't get to, 2) Noah was getting a lot of attention (new back pack, clothes, shoes, picture taking), 3) he just wasn't ready to go back to his daycare/school because he'd had a fabulous time all week with my dad enjoying playing in the garden and taking it easy...

After dropping him off... i made it to the car without tearing up...and i didn't cry too long... he was ready... he was prepared... he was our rock star :)

And with that - the first day came and went... every day he is excited to go and try and learn new things.  We had 'back to school night' and his teacher seems and sounds wonderful - totally with it and ready for the kids to learn and grow - she is highly into positive praise and ensuring they understand the consequences when necessary.  Its going to be a great year for Noah and all of us...