Back to school...Back to early alarms!

I had very mixed feelings about today. I was tired of the constant teasing bored kids ready for more structure but not ready to be tired from the early morning alarm clock!

I thought it was spendy to get two kids ready for school until I had to get three ready! I am so glad I planned ahead this year. In May and June, I bought all 3 kiddos new shoes, new backpacks, simple school supplies like crayons, glue, etc..., and some basic clothes like jeans. I am lucky that they all grow at a slow but steady rate so I felt safe buying everything. Then when we figured out where the kids were going, I bought the rest of the supplies. It was easily $400 and this was not buying anything name brand! This was all Pay-Less, Ross, and Wal-Mart! I dread the day when they discover name brands and pray they will be confident enough to not care!

We recently moved to a new city. We chose a small community to live in for 2 reasons. Justin is working out of two cities and our new home is in between them and we had heard amazing things about a charter school in the small city we moved to. We had been under the impression that if we lived in this community, the kids would automatically get in. We started communicating with the principle; Jaco even e-mailed her a couple times, so they knew we were coming. One week before school started, we found out that the charter school had room for Jaco and Care Bear, but not La-La! She was devastated and I was ticked! The school she would be sent to is 20 miles away where the charter school is literally .6 mile away. The district would bus her but of course she didn't want to go by herself! We toyed around with sending Care Bear with La-La so they could be together but then Care Bear would lose her coveted spot and what if later in the year, La-La got in and Care Bear was left alone at the school! I was so frustrated and did not know what to do. La-La cried and cried and decided she did not want to go to school at all. She suggested I home school her but I am hoping to get a job and I would not be able to with her home. When the secretary called to tell me La-La would not be able to go, she had mentioned that the same thing happened to another family. Their 5Th grader got in but their second grade daughter did not. One afternoon when I was so frustrated I was crying, I had the thought come to me to somehow find out who this other family was and see if the girls could meet before school started. I truly believe it was an answer to my prayers. So I called the school and asked them to call the other family, give them my information, and ask them to call me. The other Mom Lisa called me within a couple hours and she was so happy to get the girls together. We met that night and Emily and La-La hit it off immediately.

La-La and Emily ready to go on their long bus ride together

The next day they played for 6 hours and had a ball. We found out Emily is in La-La's class and they will ride the bus together! All of a sudden La-La was happy about school again and she knew it would be OK! I also bought a small notebook that La-La will keep in her backpack. I will write her notes and she can write notes to me while she is on her long bus ride. She really liked that idea!So today, all 3 kids started a new school year with Jaco and Care Bear in a charter school and La-La off to another school until an opening comes up at the charter school.

Jaco started 6th grade! He was disappointed to go to a "little Kid" school again as he had been looking forward to middle school which he would have gone to if we had not moved. I know he will do so well here and I will admit I am so glad he gets a few more years in a "little kid" school!

La-La is off to second grade! She was excited but nervous and I know she will do great!

My little Care Bear is not so little as she started kindergarten today! She will go all day. When I dropped her off, I was worried she might cry but she was so brave and acted so mature.

She has to deal with her cast just this week at school and hopefully by Friday it will be a thing of the past!putting her things in her very own cubby

La-La getting off her bus at the end of the day. She said she had 5 recess breaks and loved the morning because there was no math!

Jaco and Care Bear getting off their bus! Jaco solved his teacher's Rubik's Cube and is already known as the class genius and Care Bear claims she already did math on a computer.

Last night for FHE, I interviewed each of the kids. Here are their answers!

Jaco=J La-La=L Care Bear=C

What is your favorite book?
J: The Hunger Games series
L: Juny B Jones
C: That's Not My Frog

What is your favorite song?
J: It's On (Camp Rock)
L: Phantom of the Opera
C: I Like to see the Temple

What is your favorite food?
J: Supreme pizza and banana cookies
L: Meatloaf & sour cream potatoes with ice cream for dessert
C: steak and cupcakes

What is your favorite color?
J: green
L: pink and purple
C: red and pink

What is your favorite outfit?
J: anything comfy and not stiff
L: dresses
C: sparkly shrug, tank top and jeans

What is your favorite thing to do?
J: anything electronic ie...DS, computer, TV
L: explore
C: play barbies

What are you excited for school this year?
J: after school clubs, extracurricular activities
L: meet new friends and learn more things
C: doing crafts

What are you nervous about school?
J: making friends
L: everything about the 1st day
C: having to go to time out

What will Mom do while you are school?
J: read
L: job and clean up the house
C: be on the computer

What will Dad do while you are at school?
J: work
L: work
C: watch TV

Anything else we should know about you?
J: Wishes he was still at our old house so he could go to middle school
L: funny thing; she was wearing my bra during our interview!
C: She loves snuggling with her mom