10th day of 10th grade

Last month- August 30th! How was it last month?! That day I almost missed taking Savanna's photos! I remembered on the drive to school- and had a momentary thought of turning around to go back home and take them. But sanity won out and we just took them after school.

Having Savanna in 10th grade is much more of an adjustment than her starting 9th grade (for me.) I keep repeating that song 100 years to Live  and the line "caught in between 10 and 20."  I am excited for the years ahead of her, but want to hold on to right now.

 

If I asked Savanna how 10th grade is I bet she would say the same thing. That it is more of an adjustment than starting 9th grade. I think that she is excited about her future too, but I don't think she feels that she wants to rush it either. I'll ask her after school and see what she says.

I love my 15 year old girl!

 

seventh day of 7th grade

The middle of the middle. Sandwiched between 6th and 8th grade. Middle school!

It is a perfect place for Jack to be! Not much drama here-If there is a problem he's got a solution, and he is not going to take long to fix it. Homework? Either got it finished or is working on it. Diligent is a great word to describe Jack right now. 
If I were to ask Jack what he thought was great about school he would probably say he loves finally having a locker. If I asked him what was not so great he would probably say he missed his friend that moved away.(I'll check with him later today and see if I am right!)

4th day of 4th grade

Last Wednesday was Luke's fourth day of 4th grade. This boy is just moving on up! He is upstairs at school now and feels like that is an exciting thing.

 I was having an email exchange with all 4 fourth grade teachers- the kids switch for the core subjects, math, science reading and social studies. I had to laugh at their descriptions and feel a little relief: "fairly attentive, He's such a great kid! So sweet and polite & sweet little Luke."

Then this just made me smile-"Bless his heart, he was very understanding when I accidentally called him "Jack." Ugh! I asked him if his mom ever called him the wrong name and he said "yes." I explained that it was a hazard of being a mom."
It's also the hazard of being a younger brother!

So far a great year at school. I am thankful for each of his teachers! They are all very capable and will help Luke so much this year!

Survey says ... back to school edition 2012-2013

I love the survey's we do on the first and last day of school. I just went through all of them- It is so fun to see how each child has changed over such a short period of time. Even their penmanship!
Here are just a highlights from the first day of school 2012 surveys.

Savanna-10th grade

What did you wear today? 

My red pleated dress from the Trunk Hippie road show. My dad really likes it. 

(I do too, it is like it was made for her!)

If I could change one thing about my first day it would be:

I would like to have had a longer lunch period. I wish I had more classes with certain friends.

My favorite thing about summer was:

I LOVED  getting to go so many places! I stayed really busy!

My least favorite thing from summer was:

I didn't finish my summer reading list or my summer bucket list.

When I grow up I really want to:

Be a music teacher and a photographer.

What do we need more of in the world and what do we need less of?

More friendly, outgoing people. More color! Less awkward silences. Less homework.

Jack- 7th grade

What is great about being in 7th grade?

Having a locker.

I think my favorite class will be:

Art.

If I could change one thing about my first day it would be:

Keaton being here.

(I'm sad for you too.)

My favorite thing from summer was:

Photos.

My least favorite thing was:

Chores.

When I grow up I really want to:

Be some form of artist.

What do we need more of in the world and what do we need less of?

Kinds of art          war

(I love how all of Jack's answers are very to-the-point-one-word answers.)

Luke- 4th grade

I think my favorite subject will be:

Science

I am not looking forward to:

Math

One goal I am setting for myself this year is:

More A.R. points.

(that is going to be tough- but I am sure you will succeed!)

My favorite thing from summer was:

Swimming

My least favorite thing from summer was:

Heat

What do we need more of in the world and what do we need less of?

More happiness, less unhappiness

Anything else?

I'm upstairs this year!

(I am so glad this is exciting for you- moving up!)

Tucker- Kindergarten

What did you get to do on your first day of school?

Got to have a tiny party and stay in school all day. We had lunch in the cafeteria.

What was great about your new classroom?

Our cubbies were hidden! (where were they?) I can't tell you.

I think this year I will learn:

When we get in our room we start playing.

(hmm- I think there will be some adjustments!)

Something I am looking forward to this year is:

Getting the playground in

If I could change one thing about my first day it would be:

Having the playground in

My favorite thing about summer was:

swimming

My least favorite thing was:

the hotness

What do we need more of in the world and what do we need less of?

I don't want any floods.

Anything else?

My teacher was going to call you. I was sort of mad in the middle of school. The helper was giving me a lot of orderings. My teacher should be the one to do it. 

(Oh boy.)

one whole hand-

Today this boy turned 5!


One whole hand!


Dear Tucker,
You were so fun to celebrate with today! You had such fun requests. The easiest meals to make for your special day.
For breakfast you requested: hot dog buns with honey
For lunch you requested: hamburger buns with jam
For dinner you requested: scrambled eggs with bacon
For dessert: " that yummy red cake because its so good"
Like I said the easiest requests!








When you woke up today you were excited thinking about getting to wear the birthday hat at church and being sung to in Primary. When you opened up a present before we left for church you were thrilled to get your own box of orange tic tacs. You always want your own box when we go to the store, and I don't buy them. You were so excited and said "my own pair of tic tacs!" By the time church was over the box was almost empty.
We let you pick where to sit in church and you picked the very front pew. That turned out surprisingly well!
Today you changed clothes many times- I stopped keeping track after outfit/dressup #8.
You and I had gotten out the size 5 box of clothes this last week, and today you wanted to wear everything that was in the box because as you said "now I am 5." You also added many items from the dressup bins to your clothes. You were variations of many different things- cowboy, batman, there were a few swords, and weapons of different kinds mixed with odds and ends from the bins.
You were so much fun to be with. You took all of our birthday traditions seriously. You made sure that you were the first one to take a bite at all the meals. All day I have thought about how much joy you bring to me and to the whole family. I am so glad you were born.



Last night I was thinking about the day you were born and how you got your name. All throughout your pregnancy we would talk about different names. We liked the name Quincy a lot. Luke picked up on the name and said that you would be Quincy P if you were a girl. If you were a boy we really liked the name Clarke. So right after you were born and we knew that you were our boy, I held you close and stared into your sweet face and questioned the name. I looked at Dad and back at you and said that I did not think you were Clarke. It was so funny, the name just was not you. So we took a day or so to think about it. The hospital raised a fuss about us leaving without naming you. But nobody was going to rush me into naming my son!
On the drive home we decided on Tucker. Tucker James. It is so you. I can't imagine you as anyone else.
I am so glad that you were born.
Love, Mom

Back to School/Summer Reading Dinner

A month ago today (oops-2 days ago) we started school. Can't believe it has been 1 month.
We started on a Friday. I was not sure about starting on a Friday, but in the end I loved it. It is nice to have one day to get over the first day jitters and work out the kinks in the family schedule, then have a weekend to recuperate and get ready for a full week ahead.
We had our family Back to School/ Summer Reading Dinner/Father's Blessings that Sunday.

We started off with Father's Blessings. I love this tradition. I think that next time I will make sure everyone has a little food in their tummies. We had only a few moments of grumpiness. And that was mostly for the pictures. I was really proud of one of these photos that I took. The child gave me only 1 shot to get the photo. And I did it.
And the shot of me and Jay? Savanna took it. It is now our favorite current shot.


















That weekend we pulled together our list of all the books we had read outloud together and made our menu. I was feeling a little sad that we had not read more books outloud together. But then realized we had only read one more outloud last summer than this one. I just decided to feel good about what we did do. We made some fun memories with a nursery rhyme book. There were so many that we had never heard of before. The funniest being, "Aiken Drum." This became our favorite and the kids memorized it pretty quick.

Our book list:
Mr. Popper's Penguins
How to Eat Fried Worms
The Nursery Rhyme Book
More About Paddington


The kids helped compile the menu from the food they could remember in the books.

Our Menu:
Mr. Popper's Penguins "advertising lettuce"


Mr. Popper's Penguins "canned beans"


The Nursery Rhyme Book- Aiken Drumm "good roast beef"



The Nursery Rhyme Book- Aiken Drumm"penny loaves"


The Nursery Rhyme Book- Aiken Drumm "good cream cheese"
More About Paddington "marmalade"





How to Eat Fried Worms "gummy Worms, popcorn & licorice"



More about Paddington "hard candy"


I love our back to school dinner- and it is a tradition that I will try and keep going. (Luke just saw me typing and said "even though we have only done it two years.") As long as I have children at home that will listen to me read I will keep doing it.

(I have a recording of the nursery rhyme Aiken Drumm- but I can't get it to load. As soon as I get a hold of my technology wizard I will get it loaded.)

9th day of 9th grade