Notes from School

Now that school's been in session for a couple of weeks, the kiddos are definitely getting in to a routine. They both LOVE school and their teachers and although I still miss their little class from last year, I am really happy with the way things are going this year as well. Their teachers send reports home each day with little notes on what they did and how the kiddos behaved. I am always so excited to read about their day at school that I often read the reports in the school parking lot!

And every time I read the notes, I'm reminded of my two incredibly different children. Here are their notes from the first day of school:

And Jensen:

 As you may remember, Jensen naps about once a week. I'm told that Brian gave up naps at a very early age and it looks like Jensen is taking after his dad. (For the record, I think this should be something that's discussed at premarital counseling. Ladies, if there's a chance your kid might inherit some non-napping tendencies, you may choose to rethink things a bit.) I like how his teacher tried to word it really sweetly: "we" had a "little" trouble at nap time! And I think "energetic" is probably teacher-speak for "wild"! Haha! The next day's notes were similar.

Charlotte:

And Jensen:

So now "we" have progressed from having "a little trouble" to just plain "trouble". Great. Unfortunately, our trouble was about to get bigger:

In case you can't read it, it says that Jensen needed help "keeping sweet hands and not scratching and pinching our friends". Yikes. I was so horrified when I read that! I am under no impressions that he is an angel, but he really has never pinched or scratched at home. He's hit Charlotte a couple times and pushed her out of his way on occasion, but no scratching or pinching. His teacher did tell me that she thought he did it out of excitement rather than just being mean, so I guess that's good?? Needless to say we have had several talks about this at home and to his credit it hasn't yet happened again. I think his teacher knew how worried I was about it because Jensen's latest notes have reported him being very sweet to his friends and have come complete with little smiley faces. Still no naps, but no use of the word "trouble" either, so I'm going to take that as an improvement!

The First Day of School

The kiddos have been back in school for almost two weeks now (clearly I am a bit behind on blogging). The first day went amazing! I am so proud of my little stinkers!

And now for the required first day of school pictures:

They were very excited to go to school. I think having them go back there over the summer (even though it wasn't on a regular basis) really helped. They have a very sweet teacher whom they seem to like a lot. Last year there were four kids in their class (so they were half the class!) and this year there are ten! A huge difference. There is a teacher's helper so it's a 5:1 ratio of kids to teachers, but the classroom is just so much bigger, and I don't know, they just seem so much old older walking into it.

Or should I say running into it...because that's what they did on the first day. They ran right into school, right down the hall, and right into their classroom. Leaving me to trail behind them, take pictures, and feel just a wee bit sad at their independence.

If you look at the very back of the pic, you can see Charlotte's arm. 

I can't forget to mention the change in Charlotte from last year. It is absolutely unbelievable how far she has come...she pretty much has zero separation anxiety and is thrilled to go to school every day. (Happily for me, she's also thrilled when I pick her up in the afternoons!) Her teacher could not believe it when I told her that Charlotte used to be very afraid of being separated from me. She says Charlotte is happy all day long and a true joy to have in class.

At any rate, that was their first day. I left them happily playing in their class and walked to my car feeling so proud of how great they did and just the tiniest bit insulted that they weren't a bit more upset when mommy left. But to focus on the positive, I am so happy that they love their school and we are looking forward to another fun year!

A Summer In Snapshots

(Aka "The Summer I Discovered Instagram")
(Aka the biggest photo dump of all time)

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a fun Labor Day weekend this year. Seriously, I had to refrain from posting a sappy facebook status update about what a perfect weekend I was having with my little family. On Saturday, we went to the lake with Brians' family. Both kids opted out of jet ski rides this time, but that was okay.

J doin' some chillaxin' at the lake.

On our way home from the lake that evening, we stopped at Braums' to get the kids (who were getting restless) dinner and ice cream. For some reason, Charlotte was compelled to sing "Jingle Bells" quite loudly while enjoying her ice cream; hopefully the other diners enjoyed their serenade.

On Sunday, Brian and I took the kids up to Creek Fever at the country club. They had bounce houses and all sorts of activities for kids...C&J are still too young to enjoy most of them, but they had a great time running around and checking everything out:

Wrong way, little dude.

Tiger bounce house that Charlotte felt with her hand and deemed "too hot" to go in. I think she was probably right.

After getting hot and hungry playing outside, we decided to go in and eat lunch. This might not sound like a very big deal, but it kind of is: We can now take our kids to eat, spur-of-the-moment, without any prior planning or packing. No bottles, no sippy cups, no special food, nothing. Not even a bib. It's pretty great to have that kind of freedom!

Anyways, we ate our yummy hot dog lunch and walked out the door...and right into a FIRE ENGINE! And AMBULANCE! The firefighters were there giving tours of the truck, and the kids pretty much thought they had died and gone to heaven.

My handsome boys.

Of course, he wanted to touch every.single.button. Multiple times.

My little firefighter girl.

My bum knee (and sundress) prevented me from climbing into the truck, but the rest of the family enjoyed it. (Actually, the kids enjoyed it, but Brian not so much. All I really heard the entire time they were in there was "Jensen, don't touch that. Jensen, come back here. Jensen, NO TOUCH!")

We spent Monday morning getting Jensen's hair cut (see previous post). After lunch and nap, we had Brian, Tiff, and our friend Andrew over to swim. The kids joined right in on the fun, swimming in their little pools and the big pool, eating their dinner outside with us, and running naked in the yard for good measure.

I like how the pics clearly go from "pre-mullet" to "post-mullet".

When we took C&J in to put them to bed, Charlotte kept talking about how she had gone swimming with her friends, and her friends were "still outside swimming!". They had a fun afternoon hanging with the grown-ups; it was the perfect way to end our summer. Brian and I can't stop talking about how big Charlotte and Jensen are getting, and how much FUN they are these days. I'm already planning all the fun things we can do with them next summer!