Thursday, Sept 6

The first day of school.

Today was the first full day of school for Jamie and Rachel (finally).



Rachel and Miss Sullivan, before school.
Did you catch her outfit? It's the first time we've ever worn long sleeves on the first day of school!! It was chilly - highs only in the lower 70s.




Rachel actually had a half day yesterday. Her teacher is Miss Sullivan (a first year teacher) who seems very nice and well organized. We got to visit her classroom last week. The kids line up outside on the playground, and the teachers take them in to the classrooms. David, Jamie, Rachel, and I all went together to wait for Rachel to go inside. Then we did a test run of driving out to David's preschool at that time so I'd get a feel for how much time it would take with morning traffic. It only took about 10 minutes to get there, but it took over 20 to get back home. I'll have to experiment with the best ways to go to avoid the traffic. I let Jamie decide what to do that morning since it was his last day of summer. He wanted to come home and play something with just me (and David). We decided to play a game of Mario Party on the game cube, and, of course, he stomped me!! Then we played a rousing game of tickle monster. Jamie is really getting good and sneaky with his tickling. He's gotten to me several times lately. His reach is now almost as long as mine. During all of this crazy fun, I realized that I had no idea what the procedure for pick up would be for Rachel. So, I called the school and found out that the teachers walk the kids back out to the playground. We went back to the school at 11:30 and picked up a smiling Rachel, who had made 4 new friends. I actually won't have to worry about pick up and drop off any more, though, because she is going to be riding the bus to and from school this year. It stops three houses down from ours, so we're going to give it a try. It makes me a little nervous (having never ridden the bus before). Tim says he did in 3rd grade too and loved it. Just stretch mama's comfort zone even more!!!










Rachel after her first day.






Jamie will be riding his bike to school. We have ridden there many times this summer to play on the playground, so I'm not too worried about him doing it. I went with him this morning, becuase I wanted to check out the traffic and because we didn't really know what to do today. Jamie got a letter telling him the name of his homeroom teacher, but that was it. He went into the cafeteria and sat with the 6th grade. The kids were dismissed as a group from there. It made me so nervous to watch him go since I don't know the teachers, he didn't know any kids, and he didn't know where he was going. But apparantly he made it fine. He starts school at 7:55. So, I rode back home in time to put Rachel on the bus at 8:00 (her school starts at 8:30). Thankfully, Tim didn't have class this morning, and was able to stay at home with David during all this. By the time I made it back to the house I was really teary. I told Tim I needed a doughnut. So, I walked down to the bakery for some comfort food.

David and I had a good day. We went to play at a nearby playground with his friend Ethan. Then we went and did the grocery shopping, came home, ate lunch, and cuddled up for a rest. David didn't go to sleep, so we played with the pillows. It's a new favorite game of his to play rocket ship with the pillows. He builds a rocket, then we get in among all of the pillows. He stands up and says he sees aliens and planets, so we have to hide under the pillows. We do this over and over. He loves it!

Then it was time to ride on the bike to go get Jamie who gets out at 2:15. He said that he had a good day. He likes his teachers, but he didn't make any friends. He said that he didn't really talk to anyone today. I'm worried about him, but not paniced. Just keep him in your prayers - that he'll find his place in his new school.

Rachel came home on the bus at 3, and I met her at the stop. Tomorrow they'll both do it on their own. Sigh. . . . They're growing up so fast.

I also realize that from here on out, this year is going to absolutely fly by!!!

Tomorrow David and I get to go see his preschool classroom and meet his teachers. He starts school on Monday. He'll go MWF 9-12. So, maybe with a little more time on my hands I'll start doing a little better with keeping the blog up to date.