First day of school

Well here we are, the 6th day of school. About time I put up some pictures of it eh?

This year we have Baby Boy in PK3 and I must admit that our mornings are now at least 5x easier. He wears the same uniform as his siblings, gets the same lunch and snacks and is with all 4 of us on campus daily. He was so eager to start school too...He LOVES LEARNING, I mean soaks it up. Many of his teachers have already emailed me to confirm his love of learning, of singing, of repeating, of stories, of playing!!! He has also confirmed that he is the COVENANT BABY! I vividly remember getting the phone call for him during inservice 3.5 years ago that another baby, one who had the same mommy as my other two was in the hospital, detoxing and would be ready to come home to us soon. DID WE WANT HIM? YES!!! We had just recently turned down another little boy to adopt because we didn't feel a peace from the Lord...and that is why. Therefore, this child has grown up in front of everyone at CCA and just like us they have all been waiting for him to join his family here. His teacher has 11 years of experience with 3 year olds and is actually Ribbit's sunday school teacher at our church. HE LOVES HER!!! In fact, he loves her so much that when he had a sub yesterday he threw an every loving fit that resulted in lots of snuggle time with mommy while chowing down on pretzels...those two things seemed to have work miracles :).

Ribbit is repeating kindergarten this year and didn't show any signs of being upset about it until she was in the classroom. She has a wonderful caring teacher who I could already tell would be a great fit for Ribbit's sometimes emotional personality. She came home and told us that she was embarrassed to be the oldest but then big brother reminded her that she would be the first to drive a car. She also told us that she didn't want to get to know the people in her classroom, that she would just wait until next year when she was back with Claire again, her beloved best friend who went to Pre-1st so next year they will be back together in first grade. It was heart breaking but we knew that the Lord had given us peace about our decision. Then on Tuesday of this week I got a LOOOONNNNGGGG text message from a sweet friend of ours. She had a long conversation with Ribbit about how God had kept her back in kinder so that her own daughter would have a best friend and so that Ribbit could be a leader and helper. It put me in tears again...that another parent saw my upset daughter who was pointing at the first graders and saying how she belonged with them...that parents stopped, took time out of her day and comforted my kiddo. She didn't blow her off, she made her feel heard and important. It takes a village and I am so glad that CCA is my village!! Since then Ribbit has been cheerful each day to go see Mrs. Whitten, who she had been calling Mrs. Olsen?????

Goober is such a big kid now. He is in another NEW building and gets to walk himself to and from class every day. He has his own locker out in a hallway, he has homework on the computer, he changes class multiple times a day, he gets to take strings as a subject (thus the buying of a violin)...he gets to play sports with Covenant teams and he gets to change out for PE!!!! Watch out, a BEARD IS NEXT!!!! I get to see him a WHOLE LOT MORE. In fact we sat close in chapel the other day, not side by side heaven forbid, but two rows apart. He has done so well this year too behavior wise, already earning a merit for the first merit wear this Friday and I also received an email that he loves to volunteer to pray in class. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE. Looking back, I am glad to know that his behavior was based on several things that he and our whole family went through last year. I am glad to know that it wasn't based on how he feels in his heart. He is always smiling, always ready to learn and as I have already noted he "want to stay in 5th grade for forever"!!!!!

Here our some of our first day pictures!!!!
**Disclaimer, I admit I dressed the kids up the Sunday before school started and took them up the school for some 'first day' pictures. I know how crazy the real first day of school is, especially when both of your parents work there and how crowded it is!!

Unfortunately this is the REAL first day and that is his REAL first day hair do...I may have gone overboard the night before with the argo oil...LOOK AT ALL THAT EXCITEMENT!

2nd day of school....there are BIG perks to having a Daddy who is the facilities director!!!!