Hard At Work

Working on her first homework assignment in 2nd grade.

My Second Grader

It has taken me forever to do this post, but Kayla has also started school. Her first day as a second grader was on August 20th. We went to meet her teacher the day before school started. She was very excited to get the teacher she wanted, but she was upset that all of her friends are in different classes this year. Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Conway (love her!)

She seems like she is going to be a wonderful teacher. She is young, has a lot of energy and is very personable. She is in charge of the AR program at the school. I think Kayla is really going to be pushed on her reading this year. This is the teacher Kayla told me she wanted last year. She told me that when Ms. Conway had bus duty in the mornings she always said "Hi cutie". Kayla took that to mean that Ms. Conway wanted her in her class! I think this will be a good match.

Kind of far away, but here is Kayla at her desk.

The first day of school was not the best time for taking pictures. We did get a few in before it started to pour. It was so dark outside. Here is my big second grader. Notice the waves in her hair. She rolled it the night before with her American Girl doll hair rollers. It was fixed really cute, but pretty much went flat the minute we went outside.

We normally walk to school on the first day with Libby and Mallory. The traffic is always so bad, and it is impossible to get back in our neighborhood from the school. Kayla and Caroline both had school that day, and they both start at 8:30. Even before I knew it was going to rain I knew we were not going to be able to walk. When Kayla found that out she said (very dramatically) "Everything about second grade is dissappointing!" She was still upset about her friends not being in her class. So this year I gave all of the girls a ride. Here they are in the van. We could not do our normal outside group shots. It was POURING by the time we picked them up.

We made it inside, and it was time for everyone to head to their classes.
Here is Kayla's class. Don't you just love her teacher's outfit?

I was so excited to pick her up. I love hearing about the first day of school. I only wish I could get Kayla to tell me something other than "It was good." I did get bits and pieces from her later on. She found a friend in her class to hang out with and she loves her teacher. To quote her she said "I like her. I love her. I want some more of her." (I think she may listen to the radio too much!)

It was a really fun day for her. Her cousins, Tyler and Shelby, were still here visiting from Houston. They did not start school until the next week. Kayla was so excited that they were both there to pick her up from school.

The Girls


We invaded Braum's for an afterschool treat. The noise level went way up the minute we entered the building. It was me, Kayla, Caroline, Brigi (Caroline's friend that comes home with us 2 days a week), Tyler, Shelby, Robyn, Libby and Mallory. They had a great time!

Kayla rode the bus the next day. There are 8 kids that catch the bus in front of our house this year. Here are some of the girls.
Second grade is off to a great start. Kayla is excited to be back. However, she is not so excited about having to do homework again.

Second grade already...I just can't believe how fast this has happened!

Caroline's New School

Caroline started a new school at our church on August 18th. She will go to this school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She will still go to her old school on Wednesdays. The day before school started we went to the open house. There were kids and parents everywhere. It really was a zoo. Caroline was the only child there that refused to get down and play. She had her little hand as far in her mouth as she could make it go (the hand goes in the mouth when she is nervous or uncomfortable - not just a finger, the entire hand!). I was not sure how things would go the next morning.

Tuesday morning she was excited to go to her new school. She was hesitant because she thought none of the other kids would play with her, but she was ready. She insisted on the princess dress and braids. I can't believe she already has such strong opinions on her clothes and hair. We are in trouble! It was finally time to go, so that means time for pictures. So I say "Caroline, stand up nice and tall so I can take your picture."

This is her version of nice and tall.

I try to correct myself by saying "Not on your tip-toes. You need to put your heels down.

I guess she did what I asked of her!

Here is what we ended up with. Such a big girl!

She was very excited about getting to wear her name tag necklace. We must have tried it on a hundred times the week before.

She walked right in to her classroom. There is a baby gate across the door so the parents don't actually enter the room. You say goodbye in the hall and the child goes on in. Once she was in she did turn around and look at me with a look that said "Wait a minute. How did I end up in here." She was not crying, so I took off.

She finished her first day. Here she is being walked to the car by one of her teachers. She had a great day!

Quack, Quack

I just looked at Jenny's facebook page. She put something on there about going to see the "chick flick" Julie & Julia. It reminded me of a funny story. When we were in Waco over the weekend Andy and I started talking about what movie we should go see. Andy's dad said we should go see Julie & Julia. Andy was very quick in saying he did not want to see that because it is a chick flick. I said "Hello, I am a chick!" Caroline quite frankly replied "Hello, I am a duck...quack, quack." It was hilarious. She is a funny little girl. We all got a good laugh out of it!