Next in line

Never a dull moment here...we had a week to get into Josh's school routine (i.e. figure out how to get out of the house by 8am - yikes) before Brielle started VPK.  She's attending Community Presbyterian Church 5 days a week from 8:30-11:45am.  We were sad to say goodbye to Christ United Methodist Preschool, which had been a great little school for us the past two years, but the schedule at CPPK was going to work out better for the family in the long run.  (i.e. Mama keeps her sanity because Coco can still squeeze in a nap before elementary school pick-up!)

We've always heard great things about CPPK, and so far it's lived up to it's reputation.  Brielle has been in a great mood after school every day and her teacher seems really sweet.  This past Friday was Show and Tell for the Letter A.  Brielle decided to bring apples.  On her own, she thought it would be a good idea to give them to Ms. Papke and Ms. Stanford for a gift - she must have somehow known apples are a teacher thing!

Other highlights of school so far seem to be snack time, puzzles, new friends, and the class guinea pig, Charlie.  CPPK wears uniforms...here's a peak at our cute little school girl on her first day of class!

 For a back to school treat, Brielle and McKenna got to go get pedicures for the first time!  They enjoyed their trip to the beauty shop and the frozen yogurt treats afterwards!

The beauties with their toes - Brielle picked pink and McKenna picked red, both with sparkles, of course!

The start of a new era

Whew...it's been a long time, too long, but I'm BAAAACK!  This blog has been such a great way to journal our family adventures, that I just can't let it go!  Time will tell whether I catch up from the missing years or just go on from here, but for now I'm posting about this past week - it was a big one! 

Our big news this week...Josh started kindergarten!  After much prayer and conversation, we decided to enroll him at Seaside Community Charter School.  This school just opened it's doors in Jacksonville Beach, and Josh has the opportunity to be part of the first graduating class to complete all of elementary school there.  It's loosely based on Waldorf educational principles and will involve (we hope) a lot of hands-on learning.

Once Josh heard that this school took weekly trips to the beach, he was sold.  His biggest concerns about heading to school had to do with being gone all day (I don't like that part either!) and getting lost.  He was worried he might lose his teacher during recess and not find his classroom or that they'd give him to the wrong mommy at the end of the day!  I assured him there was no way I was letting that happen!

As the ultimate extrovert, he's been counting down the days until he got to go to kindergarten and woke up Monday morning chanting, "I get to go to school today!  I get to go to school today!" Once we got to the school, he had just the right amount of hesitation...excited and happy, but wanting to hold my hand until he found his class.  He bravely walked in line with his new teacher, Miss Hohman, and came home all smiles.  His first words when he got home were, "I had fun at kindergarten today."  Music to my ears!  He's been eager to go back each day, but is TIRED!  It's a little emotional around our house from 3-8pm!  I'm sure it will even out a little bit as we all adjust to our new schedule...I just hope it doesn't take too long!

About to say good-bye and walk bravely to his classroom

The girls and I baked some cookies for an after school snack

Enjoying life after a successful first day