Summer? What summer?

My last post was about Chipmunk's kindergarten graduation. Today I'm posting about the first day of school. I laugh to myself at the lack of posting all summer long. Let's just imagine that we had this wild summer with all kinds of crazy antics and chock full of activities that there just was not even a moment to put up a new post…

Not the case…but we can still imagine, right?

Anyway, back to the first day of school. I cannot tell you how many happy parents there were at coffee hour this morning after drop-off. There's something about dropping all your kids off that makes your insides squeal a bit. Well, maybe not for the newbies…you know, those dropping their kindergartners off for the first time with a sad look in their eye. The rest of us ran out of there as fast as our middle aged legs could take us.

Also, I kind of envy those parents who prepare ahead of time for those cute and posed first day of school pictures. You know, the ones where the child is holding a sign that says what grade they're going into and what they want to be when they grow up. They make for such nice memories and go great in scrapbooks.

This is what I get for first day of school pictures:



Lovely.

So long, Kindergarten!

Stage fright. It comes in many forms. Apparently for Chipmunk it expresses itself as "anger."



Chipmunk was a bit upset over having to perform in front of parents with his classmates. Just a bit. Can you tell?

As long as the performance was going, Chipmunk had this glower going. Once the performance was over, however, the glower melted away and a smile lit his face.



Congrats, buddy!

First day of school 2013

The birds are singing, the sun is shining...and the kids are both off to school!

It was getting a bit iffy there at the end of summer vacay...both kids were starting to really rub each other the wrong way, easily picking fights, pushing each other buttons...needless to say, I was ready for them to go to school.

The biggest change this year is having only ONE DROP OFF! Can you tell I'm excited about that?

Yup, Chipmunk is finally joining his big sis in elementary school.



I was taking this picture of him and his cheesy grin and I heard laughing behind me. I turned to see the principal and another parent walking past us watching Chipmunk "pose" for the camera.



Bear was excited to see her friends again. She was excited to learn that a good chunk of her girlfriends were all in the same second grade class with her...a good thing for her...I don't know how her teacher is going to feel about all the chatty girls.

We shall see what happens...

Here's to a good school year!

Teacher Talks

It always worries me when a teacher needs to pull me aside and discuss something that happened during the day. Of course, I've been finding that the types of things I'm told are really different from one child to another...I won't name names, but you can probably guess which child is which...

Child A

"...had a little argument with a friend which resulted in some tears...not sure what happened, but just wanted to let you know so you can discuss it with your child."

"...got a little frustrated and teared up during the art project."

"... maybe might have been a bit tired, but still did...best to participate."

Child B

"...was standing on a ball and fell face forward into the ground...and that's why we don't stand on balls."

"...was a bit upset about the art project not turning out right and stood up and threw away the artwork. I pulled it out of the trash in case you wanted to keep it and perhaps encourage your child."

"...has been spitting here and there onto the carpet, outside on the cement, and I don't know if spitting is allowed in your home, but...shouldn't be doing that here."

Now, I have to ask...why is it that for all the teacher talks for Child B, it makes me feel like a terrible parent?