School

Emily has been SO excited to start kindergarten. I got her a kindergarten workbook a while ago and she loves working in it. She told me a couple weeks ago that she better hurry and finish before school starts. I didn't think she needed to be that far ahead of everyone else and told her she could work on it if she wanted, but that she didn't need to finish it.
This week was busy. We met with her teacher on Monday for her assessment (she did very well) and she got to see her classroom. I also picked up a bus schedule and talked to Emily about where the bus would drop her off and where she needed to go. Tuesday evening we celebrated our 'last night of summer' and went to Tucano's (thank you Mike!). Emily LOVES that place and was very excited to go. Emily insisted on only getting fried bananas and fruit on her plate so she could leave room for all the meat. Good thing we don't go there very often! Her favorite meat is chicken heart and Jeff thinks she ate around 20!
Wednesday morning was a typical morning with waking up and getting ready. However Emily did everything a bit faster than usual and was ready and wanting to go 45 min before the bus was even supposed to come! We ate up some time by reviewing where she was supposed to go and taking some pictures.  Then it was off to meet the bus.



 

 Jeff came home at lunch so he could see Emily off as well. After she got on the bus we jumped in the car and drove to the school and met her there. I was able to get a couple pictures of Emily and her friend Mollie getting off the bus and walking over to the kindergarten playground.

 We snapped a few pictures - one with Miss Mary, all the girls in the ward that are in the same class, sitting at her table and her cubby with supplies. Then once Miss Mary had all the kids lined up, they waved to their parents, blew a kiss, and walked inside. Oh how I wish I could have been a fly on the wall!

 Emily had a good and successful first day of kindergarten and made it home safely. She sat with the neighbor girls who are 8 and 9 and they walked her home. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to tell us anything about what she did. But we finally got a little bit out of her. It took 2 cinnamon rolls and all afternoon though. Emily arrived home happy but shortly got emotional and started crying when she realized her brother was already up from his nap and she wouldn't get 'Emily Time.' (Time with just mom and time for her to play by herself). I was able to calm her down and we read a few stories together before she got to play alone and that seemed to help.
That night, per tradition, we had a fancy dinner. Emily lives for these dinners (we only have them twice a year). I made one of her favorites - cranberry chicken & wild rice. We ate on the china, had pink lemonade in goblets, and had candles burning. Jacob is still too young to handle the china so he had a normal plate and a plastic goblet from the kids kitchen. Both kids loved the lemonade and being able to say "cheers."

 After dinner was cleaned up Emily got to skype with Gma & Gpa Holbrook in Russia. The kids loved seeing them and it was good to hear updates on how the work is going in their mission.

We had a successful first week of school and I've enjoyed having the quiet afternoons to myself while Emily's at school and Jacob's napping.  And it was a bit weird for me to put Emily on a bus and just send her off. I was used to walking her into her preschool classroom and making sure she was situated before leaving. I also got to chat with the other moms and her teacher so I got to know them pretty well - plus we co-oped together. Now with my mom working and Jeff's mom in Russia, I can't really help out in the classroom much because of Jacob, so I'm not as likely to get to know the other moms and kids in Emily's class as well. It's all just different. But I'm excited for Emily and how much she's going to learn and grow this year. Beacon is a great school and Mary is a wonderful teacher. We're just all going to be going through some adjustments this fall. Today I was watching two of my brother's kids and we were all out back playing when I suddenly realized that it was early day. I ran in and checked the time the bus was supposed to come and I had 10 minutes to get Emily ready, fed and to the stop!! I rushed the kids inside and had her go to the bathroom and get her backpack while I quickly threw some crackers and banana bread in lunch bags. Then I put Jacob & Cameron in the double stroller and we all raced up the street. Thankfully we made the bus and Emily was able to get to school ok, albeit she came home more hungry than usual. So I'm not used to having a normal school schedule and having to deal with a bus. But I'm thinking/hoping we can get things figured out and get used to it in the next few weeks. But if not I've at least got the next 20 years to practice, right?