Back to School

This is over-due, but better late than never... I guess.

The kids went back to school on August 25th. Yea! They were all very excited... I think for different reasons:

I'd say Treyson was looking forward to riding his bike to school. (The new one he got for his birthday.) Rylee made it her "goal" to teach him to ride a 2-wheeler, without training wheels, a week before school started. Both of them got up and ready, that first Monday morning, to practice riding. In less than an hour, he was riding fairly confidently, with no assistance. Both of them were totally thrilled. Rylee had only one problem, "Mom, now what am I going to do for the rest of the week???" Funny girl. Her "goal" was met much sooner than she thought it would be. --Thanks Rylee for being such a great big sister and for being so organized and goal-oriented. :o)

I think Taylee was excited to use her new school supplies and be at a new school. She loves to create and was probably excitedly anticipating the first masterpiece to be done with her new box of crayons. --We barely made the power-walk to school that first day. Their backpacks were heavy with supplies and they kept lagging behind. I was glad that I had chosen to put Abree in the stroller that morning. She's perfectly capable of walking the distance, but it would have been hard for her to keep up with our pace that day. The kids were starting to go into the school, just as we got there. We caught Treyson's class before they went in, but missed Taylee's. I had to give her instructions (from the outside of the school) on how to get to her classroom. She told me later she had gotten confused and ended up asking for help. Then she realized she had been looking in the 3rd grade hall...and she was now in 4th grade! She's a little directionally-challenged, just like her dad. :o)

Rylee had many things to be excited about. First on her list I think was her new school clothes. She had them outfitted and laying out a week before school started. (Well she did have that extra time on her hands, since Treyson learned riding his bike so quickly.) Also she was excited to be going into Middle School! --Yikes, I can't believe this. I went to Jr. High and was used to the idea of 7th grade being that next big step. In Meridian, you start Middle School in 6th grade. Jason admitted he was having a bit of anxiety for her, the night before school started. Cute, funny daddy. --She liked the idea of having a locker (to decorate, of course) and moving classes for different subjects. She told me when she got home that day, "I had my map with me, but I didn't even have to use it. I just looked at the room numbers and figured it out." She also had been a little worried about memorizing her 10-digit school ID#, but said, "After I wrote it down for the second time, I had it memorized already." Gosh, I wish I had a memory like that!

Abree is dying to go to school! We took part in a pre-school co-op last year and she totally loved it. I plan on doing it again this year, with new mommies and new kiddos. We don't plan on starting until the first part of October, but that doesn't stop her from asking, almost every morning, "Do I have pre-school today?" I remind her we're starting in October and then she says, "But that's when my birthday is!" Yep. --Abree doesn't make the cut-off for kindergarten next year either, although I'm pretty sure she would be ready. Oh well, when she goes to school I'll be a school-kid-empty-nester. I'm liking that she gets to stay my "baby" just a little bit longer. :o)

**Pictures to come in a later post.**