Hugs and Kisses

Back to School. I wish I could say I was the mom that wished summer could go on forever and ever but I am always just a little bit excited about being able to get back into some sort of routine and structure. I do miss having the big kids around and have realized this past week that life hasn't seemed any easier with 2/3 of the kids in school all day. There is a lot of adjustments with returning to school-- waking up early, headaches from still feeling tired, grouchy, hoping for a nap, trying to be more responsible with getting things ready to take to school first thing in the morning, figuring out clothes to wear the next day, etc. and then the kids have their own adjustments too!

I sent each child off to school with a baggie full of hugs and kisses and a little note saying that I hoped they have a great first day at school and since I couldn't spend the first day with them I was sending lots of hugs and kisses to help them through their first day.

Jack is my big 7th grader this year. He is loving being in junior high and having his own locker. He couldn't get it to open the first day (7th graders worst nightmare) but he didn't act like it bothered him. Apparently they had given him the wrong locker combo and got it all taken care of by the 2nd day of school. His favorite thing so far has been his 3-ring binder. He has had this binder for several years and always wanted to use it in elementary school but didn't need it. Now he finally needs a 3-ring binder and apparently his is PERFECT!!

Ryan is in 5th grade and loves his class and teacher, Mrs. S. There is a big group of boys from the neighborhood that are all friends and work really well together and they are all in the class together.

Hadley is in 3rd grade. Our school lets parents request teachers for the upcoming year. I requested a certain teacher for Hadley because Ryan had such a great experience in her class when he was in 3rd grade. They post the teacher's lists on the school doors the day before school starts. Ryan and Hadley were so excited to go over there and see who their teachers were and what friends were in their classrooms. Hadley was so disappointed when she saw she had a different teacher and only knew 2 kids in the class. All (and I mean ALL) her girlfriends were in the teacher's class that I had requested, but for some reason she didn't get. I debated over just leaving her in the other classroom and talked to Hadley about how this could be a chance for her to spread her wings this year and get to know a lot of new kids at her school. But I know how mean girls can be and wanted to avoid having her feel left out at recess and other things because she wasn't in the same classroom as all her friends. I spoke with the office that morning and they were able to move her into Mrs. J's class and she is loving school so far! She came home from school the first day with a Hershey's kiss in her hand and as she gave it to me she said, "I saved the last kiss for you because the last kiss is always the best!" What a sweetie! Y'know I think she's right. The last kiss is always the best!

We have a new school district this year which I think is one of the main reasons Morgan's classroom experience on the first day was such a disaster. We used to be part of the largest school district in Utah but voted to break away from that district and create a new school district. My biggest concern/worry was how the new district would work with special education. Since the district is so new they still have not created all the job positions that they need to run the special education department, one of them being the transitional team. That explains why no one has been around to help us with getting everything in place for Morgan. Apparently we couldn't have picked a worse time to be transitioning her from the cluster classroom to our neighborhood school. I am hoping it will just get better and better from here on out.