First Day of Kindergarten

Ben & Gavin were excited to head back to school this fall, a week after Carson started.  They get to have the same teacher, Mrs. Lee, and have their buddy, Isaiah, in class with them upstairs this year!

First Day of School!

Neighbor friends, Alissa (1st) & Will (3rd)

Happy to sit with friends in his row: Nathan, Brandon, Alice

Walking home with Gavin, Tyler (4th), & Will

Awesome! Cupcakes! Carson, Fred (2nd), Will, & Tyler

Carson started his first day of 2nd grade today.  He looped up with his 1st grade teacher, so it was an easy transition.  Lots of familiar faces and we both knew first day expectations. 

The weather is gorgeous today, but a bit on the hot side.  Ben and Gavin were struggling on the walk to pick up Carson, but made it home to have popsicles.  The boys and I made cupcakes for Carson and the other neighbor kids with a school decor kit from Grandma Joanne.  Fun to make and fun to eat!

Sounds like everyone had a successful day back!

Preschool Pajama Party!

School's Out for Summer!

Taking off to school for the last day.

Carson's 1st grade teacher.

1st day of summer-off running errands with Mom.

Then OMSI for some fun!

Cool exhibition at OMSI.

Light Up the Laps

This year's jog-a-thon was called Light Up the Laps with a 4th of July type of theme which was a little odd since it's May, but it was perfect since the day's weather ended up beautiful and sunny, as it should be on the 4th of July in the northwest. 

Carson was in the first groups with the other first grade classes.  They started at 8:20 AM and ran for 20 minutes.  He jogged most of the time, walking a little, and ended up doing 10 laps!  I was so proud of him.

Science Fair

Waiting for it to turn back into a rainbow.

Testing acidity.

Lego Robotics

Ewww.  I did not know the snake lifted his head like that until now.

He loved the turtles.  Can you tell? :)

And great fun with Flubber!

So proud of this huge bubble.  He worked hard at it.

Carson and I attended his school's science fair last night and it was a big hit!  When I was teaching, I started the science fair at my school due to inspiration from the school Carson now attends.  (Yes, Brian and I attended an elementary school science fair before we had kids.  To be fair, I was a teacher and made him go with me.)  This school puts on quite a nice fair to say the least.  The gym was full of the students' displays and a few experiment stations on pH.  Classrooms were filled with displays from the community.  There were rocks to take home from the Rice Rock Museum, dentistry tools were out for kids to play with, reptiles large and small to squeal at (that was me), a Lego robotics team and cool demonstration from a neighbor district's middle school, flubber/goop (where we hung out for an hour during my volunteer shift), and even a mini planetarium set up in the cafeteria!

First Day of 1st Grade!

Ready to walk to school.

Inside his new classroom.

Successful first day.  Ready to walk home.

Started pouring rain on the walk home.

Mmmm.  Hot chocolate to celebrate!

Carson had a great first day at school.  I was anxious about whether we'd be able to wake him up and get him to school on time, but he jumped out of bed, quickly dressed, gobbled down his breakfast, and was super excited to get to school.  The walk is such a nice change from the long drive we did for three years to his preschool, pre-K, and kindergarten.  I'll still take the twins there every day, but Carson was definitely ready to move on up to elementary school!  And we've enjoyed the early morning and afternoon walk.

Last Day of School

Giving Ms. Sarah a BIG hug.

The school director/kindergarten teacher has been such a lifesaver for us.

Ben's now writing his name!   (He's not feeling well, but he couldn't be prouder.)

The school year ended almost the same as it began, with someone ill and missing out.  Gavin missed the first day and now it was Ben's turn, but not only did he miss the last day of preschool, he missed the last week!  Poor Ben was sick Monday through Friday and still trying to recover over the weekend.  In the span of 1 1/2 weeks, all three boys have had pinkeye, two had ear infections, one stomach bug, two with allergy symptoms, and all three have been quite tempermental which I guess is to be expected.

Ben was feeling a bit better at the time we picked up Gavin from his last day on Wednesday, so I was able to get a nice picture of both of them with their teacher. 

Carson had Pajama Day on Thursday for his last day of school and I was finally able to get a picture with the director, his other kindergarten teacher.  Sheryl has been a great resource for all child/parent issues that arise.  Her knowledge of  Love & Logic and their follow through with it at school has really helped our family out quite often over the last couple of years.

We are so thankful we found this school.  The twins will enjoy pre-k next year while Carson goes on to first grade at our local elementary school. 

First and Second Day of School

First Day of Kindergarten and Preschool for Carson and Ben.

Errand number one with the "Big Boys"- Target and Starbucks waters in hand.

Errand number two-Home Depot. Carson & Drew in front of the "Robot."

Take Two-Monday, the official first day for all three boys.

Carson and his buddy, Kade.

Gavin & Luke intrigued by the magnify glasses.

Isaiah & Ben cleaning dishes.

I cannot believe they all stayed still for this picture!!

Last Friday, Ben had his first day of preschool from 9-noon, and Carson had his first day of Kindergarten from noon-3, a half day. Gavin was still getting over a cold and fever, so Brian stayed home with him in the morning.

The boys were so excited to see their friends at school! Isaiah and Luke are joining Ben and Gavin in the 3's class MWF, and Garrett will show up for lunch every Monday, so Carson is excited about that. We'll get to see Drew at drop off only, but we did enjoy a fun morning out on Friday with just the big boys and moms. Carson was happy to see his preschool friend, Kaden, back at school as well. The other kiddos in the Kinder class are all girls, only four, I think. There are a couple of other boys upstairs with the "big kids" in Pre-K as well.

This will be an interesting year with a lot of driving on my part, but I know Carson will benefit from the full day of Kindergarten. All three boys will be together during drop-off and circle time downstairs, then split up for the rest of the time. I pick up the twins at noon, then we go back for Carson at 3. When we arrive home, the cul-de-sac kids are out and we've been enjoying the weather outside, hearing about everyone's new classes or experiences.