CMB

Abric was late for school today, and I wrote "crazy morning breakdowns" under the reason in the excuse card that I had to fill out when I dropped him off this morning. Is that really a valid excuse? It might not be, but today was one of those mornings that I know I will laugh about in future years. So, for now, I'll let the school figure out where to file that excuse. And I will go about my day, continuing to make it better and better, bar any breakdowns from a certain two year old who is on the cusp of potty training.

Photo courtesy of said two-year old.

School Project

Zane made a snake habitat for his 2nd grade project.  Silhouette to the rescue!  Andy was sweet enough to let me buy a 'tax return' present.  I've had so much fun playing with it!  We cut out the tree and the grass with the Silhouette.  We also helped one of the neighbors cut out some lettering for his project.  It's great!  School projects definitely aren't as intimidating as they used to be.

First Day of School

Can you feel the love?

Can you feel the excitement?

Zane going into 2nd grade.

Harrison going into 4th grade - and too cool to smile, apparently.

Ewan, my big boy/little kindergartener.  

Poor Ewan had an excruciating wait for his turn to get on the bus today.  He was the first one up and dressed at 6:45AM.  At breakfast, I finally broke the news to him that he wouldn't be catching the bus until after lunch.  That is what it meant to have 'afternoon kindergarten.'  His reply, an incredulous, "WHAT?!?!"
He spent the morning riding his bike, playing with Abric, eating lots of snacks, out of sheer boredom.  We were 'this close' to going to the park, but then I decided against it.  I didn't want him to be overly tired for his first big day.  Later I found him playing in the dirt hill in the empty lot next door ~ in his new school clothes, no less.  It was 10:45AM, so I helped him clean up and had him help me make lunch.

Daddy was able to come home for lunch.  (Yay!) We ate, brushed teeth and hair, and then headed up the road to Ewan's bus stop.  Then we waited. . . and waited. . . and waited.  I finally called the transportation company and the buses were running 45 minutes late.  Good grief!  First day of school wrinkles, I guess.

Finally!  The bus came.  There goes my big/little kindergarten boy -- off to his first official day of school.

Last Day of School

I found this list posted in Harrison's bedroom this morning. He must have written it last night in preparation for the last day of school.

Solution: Get the things you want

Everybody likes you

Sounds like a plan to me, Harrison!

Fight

You can imagine my shock today when Harrison and Zane came home from school and began telling me about the fight Zane was in.

You can imagine my shock today when I found out that Zane was the instigator. (Gasp!)

In other terms: the bully. (Double Gasp!!)

My Pacifist Zane.

Really?

Apparently someone tried to talk to Zane's friend on the bus this morning and that green monster swelled up inside of him. He punched this boy in the stomach.

Seriously?

I never even got a call from the principal.

Seriously.

If my kid is in the principal's office for any reason, good or bad, I think I should be informed!

To make a long story short, Andy happened to be home for lunch at the time.

We looked the boy up in the yearbook. Found his parents' names and address on-line. (Thank you, 21st century).

Andy took Zane with him to apologize in person, which the boy's parents really appreciated.

Then Zane had to write lines and was grounded for the rest of the day.

It being a half-day and all made it especially tortuous.

Field Trip

We had a field trip for Ewan's preschool co-op: a group of 6 moms with 4-year olds who rotate teaching each week. Ewan absolutely loves his 'school'. We went to a local farm that had a kiddie corn maze and other fun stuff for little kids. Better than that, it only cost $2 and grown-ups were free!

The kids really loved the 'sand box' made of feed corn and soy beans.
Abric rode that horse like The Man From Snowy River.

The kids really loved the sand box.

They played on the wooden tractor.

They ran on top of the hay stacks.

We saw Scottish Highland cows, among other animals.

But Abric liked the cows best.

It was all I could do to keep him from climbing the fence.

1st day of school

Am I the only one who felt like summer flew by faster than usual this year?
I told them that I wanted to take their picture and they posed this way all by themselves. Can you feel the love? It is actually there sometimes, believe it or not.
Harrison is starting the big 3rd grade. He asked for deodorant. I let him choose one from the travel section. (97 cents vs 3.49 is a no-brainer.) You should have seen him strutting at Target. He walked into the store a boy and came out a man. His excitement/nerves kept him from sleeping the night before. He came into our room at 1:30AM in order to tell us that he hadn't fallen to sleep yet. I told him to get a glass of milk and then go to bed. I worried all day that he would be able to make it!
Zane is starting 1st Grade this year and will go full-day. (Hallelujah! Wait. Was that out loud?) He also asked for deodorant and chose a travel-size Axe stick. I just hope the ladies can resist him. Maybe Harrison's own personal advice to 'hold his farts until school gets out' will help. Zane was up just after 6:30AM, got dressed, put on his deodorant, and went downstairs to make his lunch. When he got off the bus, he told me it was the 'best lunch ever!'
Ewan, your turn will come soon enough. I know you can't wait! For now, you are probably the cutest little pre-schooler ever.
Harrison and Zane, running to catch the bus that would never come. It came 12 minutes early and we missed it. Luckily a kind neighbor informed us that the bus had passed just as we came outside to take pictures. D'oh!
So we got a picture of them coming off of the bus instead. Just 179 more days to go, boys!

Last Day of School 2010

For an entire 2.5 hours, Harrison will be celebrating his last day of school. . . at school. I'm not sure why he has had to go to school for the last 3 days, for half a day, unless all they needed were warm bodies in the building to mark off that last '180th' day checkmark. Either way, he is pretty excited. Harrison kept asking me, "Has summer started yet?" Meaning, summer vacation, of course.
Zane's last day was actually on Thursday. He had a nifty kindergarten graduation, complete with Pomp and Circumstance, along with B-I-N-G-O and a new song Who let the 'A' Out! A-A-A-A-A! (That song had 26 verses, if you catch my drift.) Here he is, pondering life as a 'cool' 1st Grader.
My Zaner, with his trademark Popeye wink, on his last day of Kindergarten.
On a crafty note, I made these boxes for the boys to give to their teachers on the last day of school. You can read the tutorial HERE. Amazingly clever idea! Both cute and functional.
The boxes were complete with hand sanitizer, office essentials, and chocolate! The boys made a great transition to their new school and I know their teachers did an amazing job making them feel welcome.

Ewan's 1st Day of Preschool

Ewan began his long-awaited first day of preschool today. A group of women from my ward got together and we are doing our own version of 'Joy School' one day a week for two hours. With four kids, we will each have to teach only one class each month. Ewan was beyond excited to start school.
We picked out his clothes, he brushed his teeth, and wanted hair spray in his hair to 'make it cool'. We took pictures by the tree, just like we did with his older brothers. Ewan inherited my crooked smile.

But he likes to make his own funny faces.

When we got to the door, he was so excited to see this welcome sign with his name on it.
His teacher printed out the lesson today, so I thought I would note it down:

Today we learned about the letter "A" and that it is Autumn time.

They talked about the weather changes that will start happening.

The watch a Johnny Appleseed cartoon.

Read the book Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson

Sang songs about apples hanging from a tree.

Help make homemade applesauce for the snack.

Made trees with autumn leaves.

I love his cute little autumn tree.
It is my turn to teach in three weeks. I have the letter "D" and can basically do anything I want. Anybody have any cute ideas?

Official First Day of Kindergarten

Here are my two big boys walking down the street to the bus stop together; ready to take on the world. (Harrison made sure that he and Zane wore matching clothes today. I think the only thing that didn't match was their underwear and their backpacks.)
Zane, when did you grow up?
I am really going to miss my big helper during the day.
Good bye, Zaner Baner! See you in 2 1/2 hours!
For the record, Harrison sat with Zane on the school bus. Plus, their classrooms are right next to each other in the K-2 wing of the school. We couldn't be happier!

Watch out MG Elementary, here come the Coy Boys!

First Day of School

Can you believe this boy is starting 2nd grade?

And this boy will be starting Kindergarten?

The excitement is contagious! Ewan wanted to be like his big brothers and wear his backpack to the bus stop.

Bus buddies.... waiting for the bus!

There they go! Harrison and Brennan (our neighbor) are off to their first day at 2nd grade. (Kindergarten actually starts on Thursday, but Zane has his meeting with his K teacher today.)

"What? I don't get to ride the bus today? I never got that memo."

"I'm chucking this bag and stomping home."

Poor Ewan.... sometimes it is hard being the little brother. You want to grow up so fast.

Zane had a great one-on-one meeting with his new Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Heilman. He is ready for Thursday!

School Assignment

This is the school assignment that Harrison brought home from school last month that prompted us to finish the attic bedroom sooner rather than later.  He had to draw a map of his bedroom.  Note the bunk bed diagram:  my bed, my brother's bed, my other brother's bed.  It just kind of screams white-trash:  either that or Newhart. 

(You have to click on the picture to be able to read it.)

We Know A Lot About...

Harrison's 1st Grade class wrote a book in order to practice their new 'brainstorming' skills. They had to write a main idea down, then write down four supporting ideas in boxes surrounding this main idea. From these 'ideas', they had to write a five-sentence story. Each child got a turn to bring the book home for their parents to read it. This book was a really cute project, so I thought I would share some of the pages with you. Most of the kids wrote five sentences.

Most of the kids wrote about their pets.
A few wrote about Ben Roethlisberger or the Pittsburgh Steelers. (This is Pennsylvania, after all.)
A few kids wrote about their favorite food.
And then our son wrote about.....
.....himself.
And he didn't stop at the five sentences. He wrote an entire novel.