First Grade Pictures

Link has been bring home the most hilarious drawings! I just thought I'd share some here. I love it! He is so funny!

He really does love to play with is sister and has a fabulous imagination!


This one says, "I can play dead". What a nut.

I have a dream...

We are public school advocates! There are problems with the system, but I firmly believe that most of the problems with the schools are actually societal problems that the public schools have no power to change.

I love Luke's kindergarten teacher. She is so great with the kids and does a wonderful job! I help in class one day a week, so I get to see some of this first hand. Luke has learned so much and loves school!

On Tuesday, he came home with this drawing:



It says, "I have a dream that people will share everything."

This got us into a discussion about Martin Luther King, Jr. We asked Luke what he knew about him. He had learned quite a bit. We were able to talk about intolerance and how it was really ridiculous for there to be differences in law and customs due to the color of a person's skin. It was really neat to get to talk to him about this!

Thesis done, More school?? Probably not...

Aaron has finished writing his Master's thesis!!!! He just has some minor revisions and then it is done. We aren't sure if he'll be able to defend it this semester, but we hope so. If he can't, we'll have to pay for another semester and we have other places for that money to go.

This semester has been so stressful that we are really glad that he is done writing, even if it does stretch into next year! It has already gotten easier.

I think we are done with degrees for a while! We really need a break. Aaron doesn't want another, anymore and if I go back for more, it won't be until all of our kids are in school.

We both love to learn, so we'll probably take some classes at the applied technology college. There are lots of vocational things that we'd like to know how to do. Those are a lot less stress and commitment, so I think we can handle it.

It has been about a year and a half since I've taken a class. I haven't missed it. I guess since I graduated, the "finished" feeling is still here. Thinking of taking a lot of classes again, with kids, keeps the feelings of wanting to go back at bay!

I do wish I'd kept myself up on a lot more of the things I knew. It is so easy for me to forget. I need to read my horticulture books more often. I pretty much take them out if I need something.

That should be a goal for me. To read and remember the things I learned during my time at school. It is fun for me, so I should do it more often!

It is embarrassing, when people find out that I have a degree in horticulture, and then I can't remember the answers to their questions. I can usually find it, though.

The First Day of School!

I was a bit worried with the way the morning was starting. Luke was upset by the silliest things and was just on edge! I wonder if it was just nerves. After breakfast, things got a bit better and he calmed down.

I got him ready for school and took some pictures of he and Belle.


We picked up the carpool kids and then parked so that I could walk him up to the door. There is a playground for the kindergarten right in front of the doors, so he got a chance to play for a few minutes before the bell rang. When the bell did ring, he came right over and got his backpack from me. I gave him a hug and the tears started. I was trying to hide them from him, so when he said, "See you later", he had to say it again to get a response from me. It was really high-pitched, so I hope he didn't notice that anything was wrong. He went right in and is hopefully having a great day!

Belle and I went to the store after dropping him off. It felt so weird to be without him! I felt like I was forgetting someone! I'll get used to it. I hope I don't cry tomorrow, too!

We Met the Teacher!

We met Luke's kindergarten teacher and I think he is going to have an amazing year! She is the teacher I wanted him to get. (Though truthfully, I only knew who two of them were.) She is fun, energetic, organized and she expects a lot from the kids. She is the one who tested him on Monday, too. I think he'll have a great time with her.

He is really excited!!

I am too, but I am also teary anytime I start to think about letting him go out into the world.

Oh, and I was SO excited when his teacher told us the only school supply he needs is a backpack!! Woo Hoo!!! We just bought one for him!

It is amazing to me that he has to know so much going in and that he'll learn even more than I had to in kindergarten. (And I'm not that old...future post about that...) I remember learning my colors, how to tie my shoes, numbers, letters, etc. He's going to start basic math, reading and has to know how to count to 30 by the end of the year. (He's already most of the way there. If I get him to 20, he can get to 29 on his own. And he is most of the way to 20 on his own.)

So, since I just kind of babbled about kindergarten, I'll stop now and I promise to post first-day-of-school pictures!! I'm so excited for him...If only I can get through it without him seeing me cry!

It's Getting Closer!

Today, I'll take Luke in for his kindergarten assessment. I have prepped him for it. I hope that helps. I'm also getting him to do things that help him be brave...Right now it is his video game. (He said it would help. But he probably just wanted to play it.)

Anyway, I hope that he does well. He tends to be very shy with new adults. He also has some speech problems we've been working on. So, he tends to clam up and be hard to understand. He is really smart and knows a lot. I just don't want them to place him too low and then when he is comfortable, he needs to be somewhere else.

Belle is going to stay with a friend, and that should help me be there for him, more. She can be SUCH a distraction for me. The last time he had an assessment and got signed up for kindergarten, she got lost for several minutes and we found her in someones office and the school district building!!

So, wish us luck!