First day of school

Today was the first day of school. My kids were so excited. Anna has been preparing for a few weeks now, brushing up on her multiplication tables and reading. Rachel and Jimmy were also anxious, but spent every final minute of summer playing Wii. And Jacob just wanted to have Mom to himself again. This morning came and everyone did a wonderful job of going to their classes. I have a little job this year at school as a playground monitor so I had the chance to see all my kids half way through the day. It was fun to check in with them and see how they were doing. So far so good.

Anna really is excited for her year with Mrs. Patton, who also likes Broadway plays. She is looking forward to her last year in elementary school and being the "top dog". She can't wait to learn about different countries and the Civil War.  I cannot believe she is in 5th grade. I remember that grade!

Rachel is happy because she has Anna's 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Hatch. Two of her good friends are in her class. She is looking forward to learning how to do cursive writing. I think this will be a good year for her.

My 1st grader! When did that happen? He had a great first day of school and did well being gone all day. It helps that his best pal Spencer is in his class. He is doing the dual-immersion program, learning Mandarin. Half the day he spends with his English teacher Mrs. Thorton and the other half is all in Mandarin with Mrs. Chen. He told me he didn't learn anything today, but then started to tell us the Mandarin words for different colors at dinner. Go Jimmy!

Jacob gets Mom all to himself. He is excited about this and kept me running all day playing games with him. But he did periodically tell me that he missed "his" kids and that school takes too long. Hopefully things will be better for him once he starts preschool in a few weeks. It's hard to be the one left behind!