New Beginnings...

I love the start of the school year, with all its new beginnings and promises of growth and learning. With the beginning of the school year, life has gotten a little busier around here... but I am enjoying the beginnings of a routine and schedule.

We've had many "first days" around here lately... here are a few.


Abby and Bekah started Preschool on Tuesday. They are so proud of their backpacks, and talk about their school all the time.

Abby

Bekah

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, they go to preschool with Miss Katie... who has a preschool set up in her basement, and is in our ward and lives close to us. They love Miss Katie...

At this age, it is so much about the social interaction and discovery. I am glad they get to interact and discover together in this new setting.

Abby and Bekah also started "Let's Play Music" classes each week. They LOVE this class, the music, and the "homeworks" and practices. I love that they love it. They have already learned so much. I love, love, love the program... and love, love, love Melissa Lunt, their teacher. We drive all the way to Spanish Fork... 2 times in one day... for her to teach Abby, Bekah, and Michael. It makes my Tuesdays a little long-ish with lots of time in the car... but still a really fun day.


And here is our Mr. Kindergarten, Michael. Anyone who talked to me this past Spring knows what a dilima we went through trying to decide whether to do kindergarten or 1st grade for Michael, whose birthday is at the beginning of July. Should he be the youngest in his class or the oldest??


Strong feelings have led us to have him do another year of kindergarten, making him the oldest in the class. My only reservation has been that I don't want him to get bored this year... I want him to have fun and be challenged. After meeting his teacher, I feel like she is a perfect fit. She talks to him in a very grown-up way, waits for his thoughtful answers, and has a sense of humor that matches Michael's. She's already given me many good ideas about things I can be doing at home, and talked about how she can focus his classtime toward his strengths. AND she's a major Cougar fan... which is a major "plus" in Michael's book. He was really looking forward to starting school. It is fun to see him go into this year with confidence and excitement.


He loves his football backpack, to which Paul attached a BYU patch this morning. Of course.

Michael is also doing Let's Play Music each week. He started cello this summer, and loves it a lot. I'll have to post more on that later. And last Saturday he had his first soccer game of the season... pictures to come! He is enjoying each part of his days... and we are enjoying this new, fun, busy time of life.

I guess this is just the beginning of the "taxi mom" phase of life as the kiddos get more involved with various things. It is fun to see my kids enjoying more of the joys of this life. I love to see them learn and grow in different ways... it brings them so much joy and their confidence shines! I love that music is filling my house with happy songs and rhythms. I love the girls kick the soccer ball with Michael, and that Ella rolls it while exclaiming "baaaaa!" I love that they are all so excited to do little pages of homework, to read and read, and that they have so very much to tell me on the way home.

And my fall resolution?? Go to bed before midnight. It would help to have some extra energy to make it through some of these long-ish days...