8/28/09

First week of school

Can't believe it's behind us already! But we're praising God for a WONDERFUL week! Things really are going quite well. Nathan LOVES school! Well, really, they all do but Nathan especially does. He found out today that he got 91/100 vocabulary words right on a quiz! Yay, Nathan! He also said that moves him up a level although I can't quite figure out what that means. We go to meet his teachers on Tuesday night. He has 4 teachers -- Mrs. Lomonico is his homeroom teacher and teaches language arts and social studies; Mr. Wallick also teaches language arts and social studies. Ms. Macedonia teaches math and Mrs. Thomas teaches science. From what he says, it sounds like they're really looking out for him. He says he has an "Inexperienced Student" card that he can raise if he has problems with his work. Today was the first day he tried to eat in the cafeteria and they're supposed to punch in this 6 digit code, like a student ID number. It didn't work no matter what he tried but he said they did allow him extra time to eat his lunch afterwards. Some of his first assignments were to be about him and what he likes. For his favorite book, he took in his Bible (yay!). Another assignment was to fill a bag of 5 things -- he chose his DS, a computer (taking a picture of one), a picture of one of his good friends from church, Jonah, a stick to represent playing outside, and a sketch that he drew. The downside is that he's already had to change binders, his first one not big enough, and he left his paper that went along with his bag in the old binder and so he got an incomplete on that one. :( Hopefully things like that won't become habit! I'm thinking it's all part of the adjustment and we're just going to keep moving forward.

Don't really have much to say about Caleb and Elizabeth. They have a friend in their class that we used to go to church with, Isabella. I've heard them sing a song about weather and have seen lots of coloring pictures come home. They've also made a puppet. There nightly homework folder says homework will start next week and that they'll have one piece of homework every night, Monday through Thursday. That should be interesting but at least with them having the same teacher now, they'll have the same homework. That should help a little. They'll also start a color system for next week. Every night, their homework folder will either be marked green (good day), yellow (not-so-great day), or red (very bad day). Since I can't say much for them, how about a picture? This is them in their new glasses. Caleb's glasses really does fit better than they look in the picture -- he was goofing off while I was trying to take the picture.As for everyone else, Timothy's the only one showing real signs of struggling to adjust. He's become quite the screamer and throwing tons of fits. He has been on ear drops since Monday for an ear infection.... Lydia's doing quite well, although she was up at 2 this morning which is something she's not done for a while. And I'm enjoying myself. There's a part of me that really likes being the school mom. Wasn't too much fun today getting drenched while loading the van in a downpour but we knew it'd happen one day sooner or later. I'm sure the cold weather will bring out a different story -- none of us are real fans of the cold. In fact, the kids have already wanted to wear coats to school! But, for now, we're looking forward to week 2....

8/25/09

First day of school!

We've all happily survived! Tomorrow will be another big challenge for several reasons. First of all, Jonathan was home today to "celebrate" with the kids so I had a 2nd set of hands with me while getting everyone ready and out the door (BTW -- if you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I'll let you know that, thankfully, Caleb & Elizabeth got moved to the morning kindergarten class; they are together, now). And, with him here, I didn't have to worry about the fact that Lydia & Timothy both were still asleep when I needed to leave to go get Nathan. Secondly, no one really "had" school today, meaning no one really was taught much of anything. You know how first day of school usually goes, right? Everyone woke up really excited and everyone came home really excited. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that things aren't always going to be this way. Getting up will get harder, especially on Mondays and Thursdays after church the night before and in the winter when it will be so stinkin' cold...school work will get harder, especially for Nathan...and I'm sure a million other things will suck the excitement out of my eager beavers and, if not them, I'm sure John will protest! But, I AM thankful no one came home today scared out of their wits about going back tomorrow.

*Any readers out there not currently doing so who are willing to do so, we are now actively clipping Box Tops for the kids' schools. If you wouldn't mind collecting for us or want to know what in the world I'm talking about, let me know by mouth or email (sing2praisehim@hotmail.com). Thanks!

*Anyone interested in placing MarketDay orders? If you do or want to know what in the world I'm talking about, let me know. Kinda short notice this month but orders are due on Friday.

I think that's it! Here's some pictures....

Our schedule (although I took this picture when I put up the
schedules when I thought Caleb & Elizabeth were still in afternoon kindergarten)!

8/23/09

New school do's!


And just 'cause she was SO stinkin' cute this morning, here's Lydia!

8/15/09

You can do it, Caleb!

Come on, Caleb!
You can do it!
Almost there....
Just one more....
You did it, Caleb!

He's just so stinkin' cute!



At COSI recently. He had, at one point, about a dozen balls or so and was trying to hold onto them all at once!
I love this shot!

Catching up

Not much to blog about lately....been kinda busy getting the kids ready to go to school. I (Karen) did a friend's baby shower today. Here's a picture of the diaper cake I made.
Last night, the oldest 3 boys spent the night with their grandparents. Elizabeth went with me to the grocery store and picked out a "girly" movie to watch so everyone was up really late last night. Guess it wore them out! (Daddy covered Elizabeth's immodesty with the towel.)
Only other news is that Elizabeth's lost her first tooth!