Caleb's First Day

Finally, the day has come when Caleb gets to go to school! He has been waiting and waiting for this day to come! He was so excited last night to lay out his clothes for the next day. We also loaded his backpack with pencils and crayons before he went to bed. He came out of his room about an hour after I put him to bed and said, "Mommy, I feel pukey. I need a garbage can. I hope I don't feel like this tomorrow!" So, he took a garbage can into his room 'just in case', but I think the real reason for his stomach-ache was butterflies from being so nervous and excited.

While we were waiting for the bus to come I asked him if he was excited. He looked a bit more reserved and said, "kind of." The anxiety wore off soon and he had a great first day of school. He had a good time, but there was a little bit of drama for me that followed....

Let me explain....

Caleb is going to a totally different school than Alex. There isn't room in the temporary school for the kindergarten classes, so they go somewhere else. Because of that reason there are 2 different school schedules for me to remember. Alex has early-out on Monday, Caleb has early-out on Friday. Plus it was parent-teacher conferences this week, so Monday AND Tuesday were early out for Alex's school. No big deal, right?

I showed up at Caleb's bus stop at 11:20am (because his bus should be there by 11:28am.) After waiting a half hour I called the school to see what the hold up was. I was told the bus was running late and that some of the kids were forgetting to get off of their stops and the bus was having to go back. So, I wait for another 3o minutes!

I finally got a phone call from Caleb's school on my cell phone saying Caleb was back at the school because no one was there to pick him up at the bus stop! WHAT?? Then they told me it was early-out and I realized that I did indeed miss his bus. The funny thing about it was I SAW his bus drive by!! It stopped a block away and let off some kids, then it drove right past our bus stop and kept driving all the way back to the school! I guess they stop at our stop first, so when it was on the way back it didn't plan to stop again.

So, I loaded up Leah and off we went to pick up Caleb. When I got there I saw about 15-20 other kids who had been brought back to the school to wait too! They were all sitting in the office playing together. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who forgot! I guess it wasn't made very clear about the whole early-out thing on a TUESDAY!

When I was in the office I saw 3 other kids from our ward there that I recognized and offered to take them home too. They could not get ahold of anyone's parents (because they were all still waiting outside at the bus stops!!). There was also another little girl who's mom they did get a hold of, but she had no transportation. I became the neighborhood school bus today as I loaded up my van with Caleb, Leah, and 4 other kindergarteners to take them home. I called one of the mom's in my ward and let her know what happened and that I had these 3 neighborhood kids so she could let the other mom's know too.

What a day! I wish it would have ended there, but my day continuted to be busy. I had to pick up Alex from school (it was his early out day too, and by the time I got the kindergarteners home it was time to head to his school). We had parent/teacher conferences. I didn't know the time the had assigned me for. I only knew it would be Tuesday. So, I was there right at the end of school (1:30pm), and found out they assigned me for 3pm. I didn't want to go home (a 10 minute drive), just to turn around and drive back 45 minutes later, so we waited at the school. Alex got his homework done, they played the "dot game", and drew pictures while we waited. By this time I realized I hadn't fed Caleb or Leah lunch so they were hungry. OOPS! We finally got in to see Alex's teachers, then we FINALLY were on our way home.... or not!

While I was telling Jon about my day on the way home he asked me to come pick him up from work because he had a surprise for me. When we picked him up he said he wanted to take us all out to dinner. We went to Fazolli's to eat, then came home to get dressed to go to the temple. Jon had arranged a babysitter to watch our kids so we could go. It was such a nice end to such a stressful day.

Let's hope day 2 of Caleb's school goes a little smoother than today!

P.S. After Caleb got to experience Kindergarten today he decided that he likes it so much and he doesn't want to move on to 1st grade anymore. So, he's staying in Kindergarten! I think it'll be better for him in the long run and I'll just have to supplement his learning with things at home.

True Soccer Mom

It's soccer season again and this year all 3 kids are playing soccer. It's a lot of fun to watch them learn new skills. Alex's practices are on Monday, with games on Wednesdays and rotating Saturdays. Caleb and Leah's practices and games are on Thursdays and rotating Saturdays. So, we are going to be so busy every week with soccer games and practices until the beginning of October! It's been extra fun for Caleb and Leah because they are on the same team together AND their daddy is their coach! No one signed up to be the coach, so Jon volunteered.

Fantastic Contraption

I have been addicted to playing Fantastic Contraption for the past 2 days. It's pretty interesting to be able to make little machines to accomplish your goal. Here are the designs for the last 3 levels that I made. I'm pretty proud to say it only took me 2 days to do all 20 levels.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=713189

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=725184

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=726028

Alex and Caleb also love this game. They enjoy coming up with their own designs and then they get to test it to see if it works. Through trial and error they learn what works and what doesn't.

Comic Relief

Jon and the guys in his shop have been laughing so hard because of this video! With the olympics going on right now I thought I would share it so we can all get a good laugh.

1st Day of School

Today Alex started 2nd grade. He took the bus to school and I picked him up at the end of the day. He told me after school, "Mom, 2nd grade is WAY easier than first grade!"

Caleb also got to go to the school today for Kindergarten testing. It's a moment we've been waiting for FOREVER it seems! He scored 204/210 on the END of year test. This is why we believe that he's ready to attend 1st grade rather than kindergarten. We still have to go through the long, drawn-out process of being tested, then he has to attend kindergarten for a week before they'll asses whether he can move ahead to 1st grade. He will be so bored in kindergarten, I hope they advance him soon. It seems like we've been waiting so long already.

The new school still isn't complete, so to make matters MORE confusing the kindergarten class is at an entirely different school than the 1-6 grades. So, Caleb's bus will pick him up at 8am, then we have to wait around for Alex's bus at 9am. Sounds like it's going to be a fun week!

The Fruit of Our Labors

This is a home grown cantaloupe from our garden! I was so excited to see that it was ripe. It tasted so sweet and yummy! All that work was worth it. We're also getting plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers, and zuchinni. The cabbages will be big enough to pick soon too. Maybe I'm impatient, but my purple peppers and red peppers aren't turning purple or red. I think I need to leave them on the plant longer before I devour them.

County Fair Legoland

My grandma told me about a fun thing at the County Fair this year that the kids would be interested in. There was a huge display of Lego's there. My mom and I took the kids so we could see it. They thought it was so awesome. There was a list of things you could find throughout the display. The boys LOVED finding all the Star Wars characters. Leah thought the ferris wheel made from Legos was neat. SpongeBob and Yoda were two of the people riding the ferris wheel.