First Day of School

It's here! The first day of school is here. Hurray! Lunch packed, new clothes and smiles are on. Time for pictures! Now they're ready for VPK and sixth grade!

Mike rode his bike with Isaac in the morning, but Isaac rode back home on his own. He reported that the day was "Great!" They spent most of their day in homeroom doing icebreakers. Later in the day they went to gym and someone got elbowed in the eye when someone else spiked a beach ball, volleyball style. It was a big to-do and his group had to sit out after that. He must have gleefully recounted that tale ten times. He got to see a lot of his friends and was relieved that they didn't have a rope in the gym. I told him that I think that's just in the movies because I've never seen one. Have any of you been made to climb a rope at gym? One odd thing, he came home completely empty handed not a single solitary piece of paperwork. I bet I get buried in forms tomorrow.

My poor dog always has a rough time on the first day of school, but she wasn't the only one. It wasn't easy for me waiting for 4:00 to hear about Isaac's day. Speaking of waiting, I was anxious to pick up Miss Roo as well! She hadn't batted an eyelash when I dropped her off in the morning. She helped me put all of her things away and then skipped merrily off to the art center. She drew me an amazing alligator swimming over curly seaweed! When I was ready to go she had to be reminded to say goodbye. I did get two goodbye hugs at that point though.

When I got home there was a post on Facebook from Riley's teacher from last year who was wearing the apple earrings we gave her in honor of her "original twelve" and wishing them a great first day of VPK. That's when I cried for the first time today. She was the absolute best and we miss her very much. Later in the day she got the flowers I sent her. When she thanked me she said "I promised myself I wouldn't cry today...and then these showed up." So, we're even.

When I went to get Riley she was very busy playing. I started packing up her things and heard the teacher tell her twice it was time to go before she looked up. Mrs L had to promise that the toy cash register would be there in the morning before she would agree to leave. Roo was also paperwork-less, she brought home some drawings she'd done that morning though. There was a note on the white board by the door to let us know what they'd done that day. When I asked her how the day went she said "We didn't sing any songs, but we played on the playground!" She also told me she had a new Greek teacher. The preschool's director reported that Roo "was making sure our new Greek teacher knew everything that they learned last year. :)" in an email later that day. Miss Roo told her grandma on the phone that her teachers "were very nice, so nice she could love them."

For fun I had the kids fill out these sheets when they got home. I thought they both did a great job. I adore all the enthusiasm. Miss Roo insisted on writing a lot of her answers herself. My favorite Roo responses: Favorite Food: Broccoli, Favorite Subject: Bugs, Activity: Pinball (WHAT?!?) and the best I think...(Roo Wrote) VPK is Awesome.