And Another Year Begins....

While still playing a little catch-up game with our blogging, here's our first day of school pictures for the 2013-2014 school year!  Hard to believe that they only had 4 1/2 weeks of summer before heading back to the daily grind of school.  They seemed eager to get back to seeing friends and being at new schools that they barely noticed they got robbed of an extra 2 weeks or so of summer.  I guess it's okay since when you live in the valley of the sun, that you can still swim til 8 o'clock at night, that makes it still summer-ish, right?  At least, it was incentive for them to get their homework done quickly!

Our little Lizzie is our first out the door to Ms. Nikkii's preschool, just in the next neighborhood with a few other girls she knows.  She misses the Kindergarten cut off date at Benjamin Franklin by a mere 27 days, but that does mean she gets a year at Ms. Nikkii's - and we are excited about that!  At first, she was very nervous and scared and cried as I left her in the good hands of Nikkii.  But don't worry, she was all smiles coming out!  I love that about Ms. Nikkii...my kids go in grumpy, and always come out smiling!  Now she is eager to go and do all the fun things that Nikkii has in store for her!  Love it!

 

 How could you not just love this face?

 Then it was out the door with the two big kids.....hard to believe that I have a fourth grader now!  I can still see him dancing around ready to go to preschool with his backpack and flip flops.  Now it's polo shirts and tennis shoes and "I am so embarrassed of my mom."  He'll just have to get used to it....that's just who I am!

Cole was excited to get back into Benjamin Franklin, and knew just what to expect, but Kate was a little more nervous.  Her smile may not show it, but she was scared she wouldn't have any friends or know how to make friends since she doesn't ride the bus like in New York, where there was 20 minutes to find a friend or be assigned to sit by someone.  Thank goodness at back to school day, we found a friendly face from before and her daughter, Sailor, was in Kate's class and Sailor was there to be Kate's friend for the first day of school!  Love you Sailor!  You were an answer to a little girl's prayer!

 We were also very grateful that Kate's teacher is soft, kind, and very loving.  Firm but loving and willing to help.  She is so great with Kate and just what we needed this year!  Thanks, Mrs. Johnson!

 Cole was lucky at got Mrs. Malfitano this year for 4th grade.  His twin cousins are in a different class this year, which I know he was bummed about, but he's made new friends and seems to be adjusting just fine.  He says he doesn't like how much homework he has, but I guess compared to Tesago this does seem like a lot!  I keep telling him that he's got 2 years of catching up to do and he just rolls his eyes at me.  I think the teenage years are going to come faster than I think!

 

 Every morning at Benjamin Franklin, they do a flag ceremony where they say the Pledge of Alligience, announcements, and the theme for the month and then skip count off to class.  The principal is so great and doesn't make us sit out in the 95 degree weather too long at 8 o'clock in the morning and gets these kids in class quick!  Love that about Principal Lee!  Hopefully the last two years of skip counting to the bus every morning helped them feel right at ease!

 Of course, Cole is again one of the tallest kids in the class.....

And Kate got smooshed in so she could be right by her friend.

As they all headed out the door, it was sad to think that all I had left was little Max.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with the rest of my two and half hours with just little Max.  But don't worry, now that we're three months in school already, that time seems to fly!  Max still misses having his siblings around but sure does enjoy having the rule of the roost!  And with that, there's another beginning to a great school year!