The First Day of First Grade

…and third grade and seventh grade and ninth grade!!

School began on Tuesday, August 28 and while were were *almost* ready for it to start, we were a little sad to say good-bye to summer. It’s the first time I can remember in my entire life that I have not been anxiously awaiting the first day of school! I think I was just enjoying the girls too much (most of the time, anyway) and was definitely not looking forward to projects and papers and homework, etc. We WERE however, looking forward to routines and friends and cross country meets and all the other FUN stuff that comes along with school starting up again. Oh, and the new pencils and pens and markers and crayons. Oh, the sharp crayons. They make me so happy.

Anyway, time for some pictures!

Here we have the first grader!! She was very ready and loves school, of course. She’s been pretty tired – going 5 days a week, all day long takes a little getting used to.

This year I printed up these little papers for the girls to fill out on the first day of school. Hats off to you if you know what Elise wrote for “favorite food.” I think everything else she either had help with or did pretty well “sounding out.” I LOVE that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. What first grade girl DOESN’T?

And there’s my third grader. She was MORE than ready to see her friends again, but wasn’t super excited about having to do math again. Thankfully, in our school, Saxon Math starts in 3rd grade and it is taught in such as way as to give kids confidence and to continually reinforce ideas and so far it’s going pretty well!

Isn’t it just awesome that she loves her freckles? I must also explain why she wrote “neon purple & Rebecca” as her favorite colors…well, neon purple is self-explanatory, but Rebecca? It’s the name of the lavender-ish color on the walls of her room. Thanks Wal-mart-paint-naming-company!

Seventh Grade. Junior High. Changing classes and teachers. Lockers. Electives. School Sports. All sorts of wonderful things happen in 7th grade. She’s ready.

Just so you know, she already got a 7:45 for her mile time, so that goal has already been surpassed!! Way to go, Bethany! It’s good to know she has a handle on what she doesn’t like, and I love that she’s still a little girl. Look what she likes to do: turn cartwheels in the lawn on a summer day with bright sun. Okay, a little girl with many, many words!

And there’s the high schooler. Ninth grade. (It’s the photographer’s fault there’s only a close-up picture of her…the full-length shot was blurry. ) She was only a little nervous, but she didn’t get lost and her locker worked, so the first day was a success! So far high school has mostly been about XC, but it’s also been about finding her place with some new friends, getting out of her comfort zone a bit, and a LOT more independence. That last part kind of drives the mother crazy, but the mother will just need to find the balance between parenting the high schooler and controlling the high schooler…

Her goal of publishing a book hasn’t changed since she was 6 and she already accomplished the “not getting lost” thing, so this is good. I love the 1XX for her weight – that’s what I would put, too, girl!!

This was apparently the year for stripes and/or dolman sleeves for tops and jean capris on the bottom.

And black or gray shoes. I promise, none of this was planned. Everyone picked out these things independently of one another and I didn’t even realize it until we put their feet together for the photo…

That was taken after school, after cross country practice, when no one was around. I certainly wasn’t going to ask my high schooler to pose in front of the high school sign before school on the first day. Nope. Wouldn’t think of it. I told her that, hoping she would say, “Oh, that’s OK, Mom. You can take my picture there.” But she said, “Thanks.” So then after XC when I suggested the picture she protested because then she was “sweaty & gross.” But I don’t think she looks sweaty and gross at all. I think she looks strong and like a high-schooler.