First week reflections and looking towards Fall

Here are three happy kids after the first day of school!

It's been a long week, but everyone seems to be on Cloud 9 after the first few days of school!

Matthew:

I am so happy for him right now. He is absolutely loving his new school and being with all his friends from other schools in the area. He loves the independence of having his own locker (with lock!) and 9 different teachers. His math teacher last year was less than ideal, so I am most pleased with the fact that he has a fantastic math teacher and Matthew is thrilled that he has a 6th grade math textbook and will essentially be skipping over most of 5th grade math.

Something that will be glaringly absent from our Fall schedule is soccer for Matthew. He loves soccer so much, but this fall, we made him decide between select baseball and soccer. It is getting so hard to chose between different loves, but we know that having three active kids makes doing it all rather impossible. He hasn't completely given up on soccer, as he loves it so, but for now, he's a base baller.

Matthew made his select team again, and decided to play baseball. He has never solely played baseball, so it will be good for him to get to focus only on baseball and not having to skip practices to play soccer games. He has spent the summer doing P90X and speed clinics. Bryon and I are amused that we have somehow produced a gym rat, as we are most decidedly NOT that way! Matthew has added tons of muscle this summer and he is pleased to say that he is much stronger than me! He also surpassed me in foot and arm size this summer and he keeps asking how long it will be until he is taller than me!

In other Matthew news, the tooth fairy visited him for the last time this week! As disgusting as I think losing teeth is, I am glad this chapter is closed! He does have to get his 2 top incisors extracted this fall as his adult ones erupted in front of the baby ones, but he is through losing teeth and enjoying grossing me out by wiggling them close to my face!

Thomas:

Our T-man is loving 3rd grade and feels so grown up changing classes. In our school, one third grade teacher in a block teaches language/reading and the other teaches math and science. He adores his teachers and has a huge smile on his face each day.

For the first time ever, I did not recognize a single boy's name on his class list. This was a little distressing to both Thomas and me. However, I am continually inspired by Thomas's optimism, and he looked at me after the reality that all his friends are in other classes and said, "Well, at least I don't have to worry about which friend to talk to in my class!" So far, he is doing fine without his friends, and is getting to know a few sweet girls in the class.

This fall, Thomas will play soccer and piano again. Nothing new. We love his soccer team so much and they are so much fun to watch. He also cannot wait to get started playing piano again!

Mary Beth:

Mary Beth, who decided this summer that she was going to stay home with me instead of go back to school since she "didn't know any 1st grade stuff", is loving life as a 1st grader! She has decided that she ADORES math, and her teacher told me that she continues to ask when they would get started with math problems! During her bath each night, she wants me to ask her math problems, and judges her school day by how many math problems she gets to do.

She seems much more independent these days, and loves to get her own snacks, pack her own school snack, and pack her own lunch. She is also loving her big class upstairs at church and even has church homework to be completed next week.

The biggest change for Mary Beth this year is that we have dropped ballet/tap. We try to only have the kids involved in two extracurricular activities, and with the introduction of piano, something had to give. Ballet/tap was so much fun when Mary Beth was in preschool, but we didn't enjoy it as much last year as it was just another activity right after school when we were all ready to be home. So, we say goodbye to the pink fluffy tutus, tights, leotards, and tap shoes/ballet slippers. She will start soccer again in a few weeks and is loving piano!