Joey & Lillian started school today -- Joey for the first time (a.m. kindergarten) and Lillian at a new school (we're going to a charter school this year). It was a great day for both of them. DH & I both enclosed a note in Lillian's lunch this morning, and when I picked her up, she had them clutched in her hands with a smile on her face. I asked her about her day and she said, "It was great! Just like you said in your note, I already made lots of friends." She ran through them all and told me she now had FIVE friends! It was neat to see her so excited about stuff. She told me they had some math testing and that some of the math was pretty hard and some of it was "really hard. I've had my mind on so much swimming and things this summer it took me more thinking to know how to do the math."
Picking Joey up from kindergarten earlier in the day also went well. He was lined up with his class, and Sarah ran right over and gave him the biggest hug. It was sweet to see how excited he was to see her -- he really loves his family. Yesterday he told me he really wanted to stay home with me, but I'm glad he likes school. I had him dictate this story to me, which he will illustrate tomorrow:
My First Day of School
By Joseph A.
Bartholomew
August 22, 2006
Today was my first day of school. I went to school. Daddy drove me there with his car.
I like school because it’s fun. We went to the gym when I just barely got there. We waited in a boring line for the teacher to come and get us.
We went to our classroom. We went to the drinking fountain and got a drink and we went to recess at 10:00. We played around a lot and ran around. I played with some nice boys and girls.
My teacher read us some stories. They let us draw pictures. I drew a picture of me in a circle and a square.
At the end of the day, we lined up at the door and I saw the Babes. They smiled at me and ran over and gave me hugs. I’m glad I can go to school, but I missed my
family.
What made the day even better was that I got to go to Education Week at BYU (
http://ce.byu.edu/ed/edweek/). I didn't think there was any way I'd get to go, what with everything going on in our lives right now, but I did see that there was an evening only option, and DH graciously agreed to arrange his schedule this week so I could go! I had a really uplifting night. I started off with a class called "A Mom for All Seasons" -- it was a really good reminders about setting priorities and not running faster than you have strength through the seasons of mothering. It was fun to think about some of the stages I'll face in the future -- teenagers, empty nest, grandparenting, etc. I also enjoyed a humorous class about marriage, then another one about mothering (notice a theme? I promise they have tons of other classes too, but I need all the ideas & inspiration I can get in these areas.) My last class was about home organization and I got some good ideas for organizing my home better. The teacher, Marie Ricks, pointed out that the creating order is a circle -- you go from order at the top to disorder at the bottom. The bigger the circle, the more the disorder. Basically, the idea was to make your work go in smaller circles (i.e. do the job right away instead of waiting until it piles up) so that it doesn't get out of hand. She also suggested getting rid of 50% of your stuff because 80% off housework is picking up.
While at Education week, I ran into a friend from my freshman year of college -- so neat to connect after all that time. And it's so nice to talk to adults. While I was waiting for a neighbor so I could give her a ride home, I talked to several women. One gal gave me an unusual compliment. When I told her the number (5 3/4) and ages of my kids (7,5,4,2 & 2), she said, "Oh wow, I'm so jealous!" She had two and wished she could have had more. Usually, I get the opposite reaction to my family situation.
Speaking of family situations, little Eliza is kicking up a storm, and I am SO excited for her to be born. It's going to be chaotic, because we'll likely move into our new house only a few weeks before she's born (I'm due around Halloween), but what better way to celebrate our new house than to bring home a new little life into it?
Joey & Lillian started school today -- Joey for the first time (a.m. kindergarten) and Lillian at a new school (we're going to a charter school this year). It was a great day for both of them. DH & I both enclosed a note in Lillian's lunch this morning, and when I picked her up, she had them clutched in her hands with a smile on her face. I asked her about her day and she said, "It was great! Just like you said in your note, I already made lots of friends." She ran through them all and told me she now had FIVE friends! It was neat to see her so excited about stuff. She told me they had some math testing and that some of the math was pretty hard and some of it was "really hard. I've had my mind on so much swimming and things this summer it took me more thinking to know how to do the math."
Picking Joey up from kindergarten earlier in the day also went well. He was lined up with his class, and Sarah ran right over and gave him the biggest hug. It was sweet to see how excited he was to see her -- he really loves his family. Yesterday he told me he really wanted to stay home with me, but I'm glad he likes school. I had him dictate this story to me, which he will illustrate tomorrow:
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