McKay is 6 and starts Grade 1 this year! There's seventeen kids (only 6 girls) in the class which is half first grade, half second grade, half German, half English mostly speakers. Their class has Ms. Clem as the lead teacher (love her! Easton had her last year), Frau Alvarez as the German language team teacher, and Mr. Chivington and Frau Donie (pronounced Don-yay) as full time learning assistants. I love this team, they are fabulous!
Before we did back to school Father's Blessings, Ryan asked McKay a few questions.
Ryan: What are you most excited about?
McKay: Math and my schultüte!
Ryan: Are you nervous about anything?
McKay: No, just excited.
Ryan: What are your favorite subjects in school?
McKay: Sports, outdoor play, talking, basketball, dodgeball, the teeter-totter
As it would turn out, McKay was indeed excited about his schultüte but had not really understood that SCHOOL was actually starting! That first morning of getting ready for school, he was his usual doodling self and after one sterner reminder to get going so he'd be ready, he then asked Easton if it really was the first day of school! Silly kid! Living in his own little world, he has been pretty inthralled by his recent prize for ceasing to suck his thumb - a Lego Star Wars Millennial Falcon that he, Ryan and Easton had been building together and recently finished. I love and hate that toy right now! So many little pieces, such fierce protective screams when Jake or Morgan go near it! I introduced a new standing rule last week that if I remind you once to pick up an item and you still leave it out, the item goes to jail and you have to bail it out by doing whatever chore I assign. So far it's worked for me but mixed reviews from the boys!
Sorry, off topic. Back to school chatter and my handsome new third grader!
Easton's really hard to get a good smile out of lately for pictures. I think I had to reference less-savory bodily functions to get this one. He was not thrilled at the idea of school starting with the new morning routine and disruption of his summer.
Ryan: What are your toughest subjects?
Easton: German, spelling, cursive writing
Ryan: What are you most excited about?
Easton: Friends and after-school activities (Lego Mindcraft Robotics and cooking class were fun last year)
Ryan: Are you nervous about anything?
Easton: Nothing.
Easton's teacher emailed a questionaire asking parents to tell her team about our child. When asked to describe Easton, I immediately thought: He's honest and good. He really is. Even if telling the truth shows he made some wrong choices, he is still unflinchingly honest. His class last year laminated a page where each classmate described him in one word under his picture.
Here's what they said about Easton:
good, Sonic, honest, cool, klug {wise}, creepers,
lustig {funny}, best, nice, awesome, schön {beautiful},
calm, toll {awesome}, cute, fun, harmony,
freundlich {friendly}, sehr nett {very nice},
neugierig {curious}, kind
That list just makes me so happy!
And here's the whole crew before Ryan took them off to school -- as in there's no school bus.
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| McKay 6, Easton, 8, Morgan 3, Jake 1 |
McKay and Morgan also had their first soccer practice of the season later that day. I'm coaching Morgan's Smart Start team of 3 year olds with their parents and Morgan did really well! She's a great little eager athlete and loved having my attention and praise through practice. I was pretty happy that I'd scheduled to coach Morgan's team at the same time McKay's team was practicing. Two birds, one stone = awesome! Easton wanted to play Sharks and Minnows with Morgan's team so I let all my little sharks chase him as the minnow. They LOVED IT! And Easton was laughing his head off as he ran. McKay made sure I got to play some games with him after his practice too so we didn't get home until much later than expected which threw off my dinner plan, but it was a good first day. Ryan made sure we got our scripture study in and then it was off to bed for our littles. Phew! Some ups and downs but over all, it was a good big day for us all!
