First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. The first day of middle school for Robert and the first day of Kindergarten for Joshua. Robert decided to head back into public school a couple of months ago ... when we realized that our family would not be able to continue to afford the Liahona enrollment fee. We really enjoyed the past year, but Robert was definitely ready to jump back into the middle school life. He has been nervously excited. He went school shopping with Byron because Byron decided that Robert needed to have more input into his clothing selections than "Mom" allowed him. The result? Robert picked out clothes on his own that I have been trying to interest him in for years. Go figure!

The decision to send Joshua to Kindergarten this year was only arrived at this week. J We had previously decided to keep him home at least one more year (if not permanently as I have been really enjoying the "homeschooling" I was working on). When Robert started to get ready, Joshua really wanted to be included. Also, his friend Will was really excited to go to Kindergarten this year. So between that and Daddy's conviction that Joshua was too old for naptime, we prayerfully decided to allow him to attend. Although he is really tall for his age, his birthday is only 2 weeks before the deadline, so he is literally the youngest in his class.

This morning, the boys were up and ready to go! I got the camera out and Robert groaned. Still, I told him it was obligatory and he submitted with reasonable good grace. Thank you to Ilene who came to play with Ben and Ginny while I took Joshua and Robert to school for the first day. In the future, Robert will take Joshua to the kindergarten courtyard right from the bus ... this is the part that I am nervous about.

When we got there, Robert got out his map and headed off into the unknown world of middle school. I took Joshua to the kindergarten courtyard and we got signed in and his teacher put a nametag on him and told him to pick a cubbie for his backpack. It was probably good that I went in with him because he thought he got to pick a new backpack and there were some pretty cool ones already there! After he put his backpack away, he got to go to where he has wanted to go ever since he learned he might get to go to school ... the playground. There are three kindergarted classes, so there were a fair number of kids there and Josh was in 7th heaven! I didn't see anyone I knew, so after complementing Joshua's teacher on her courage (she grinned), I moved to the side to watch. I saw several mothers (and grandmothers) in tears, but none of the kids seemed phased. When it was time to start, one of the aids blew on a whistle. About half of the kids (mostly the girls) stopped what they were doing and looked up. The other half (mostly boys ... and including Joshua) didn't even flinch but kept on doing whatever they were doing. I waited to see if they had some plan for those who hadn't heard the whistle and therefore missed the instruction. Then I moved over to Joshua and asked him if he had heard the whistle. He looked at me like I was an idiot and said "Yep!" (think ... Duhhh mom, are you hard of hearing?). I told him that when he heard that whistle he needed to stop what he was doing and look to see if there were instructions because he just missed the call to class. He looked to see the kids lining up and immediately jumped over. I had to explain the "stand in line" concept too because he was just ready to walk into the class. When the kids were in the correct line (some kids just joined whatever line was closest) and she could get their attention, Joshua's teacher told the kids to wave good-bye to their parents and go into the class. Joshua waved when everyone else did, but I don't think he really got the concept ... he was just ready to get into the classroom. Off he went without a backward glance. When I picked him up this afternoon (they go all day), the teacher said he had a so-so day (never a good sign and certainly not on the first day of school). She said he needed to work on following directions and that he tended to wander around when he wanted to. Hmmmm we have things to work on. When I asked Josh what he did today, he told me that he got to play outside three times, there was a rest time, and he got to eat lunch. That's my boy! Oh, and remember that him outgrowing napping was one of the reasons to go to school? He was out before we got home ... but he is more than ready to head back tomorrow!!!

Robert just walked in the door from the bus stop. He said that he went to the wrong 5th period (the husband in stead of the wife - same last name) and that he things he is going to like everything but math and english. He also informed me that EVERYONE else had a cell phone. I told him to talk to me when he brought home straight As ... On the plus side, neither one of them came home and told me exactly how many days it was until Christmas vacation!

Thompson Reunion

We went to the beach for the Thompson Family Reunion over the weekend. I was going to stay home with my sick children, but Ben responded so well to the antibiotics, we decided to go anyway. The drive there was very long - at one point, road work shut the highway down. After about 10 minutes, Byron decided to head back and try a little parallel service track next to the highway to bypass the construction.

This little track was designed for ATV and, of course, the line started to move before we got to the front, but we managed to not wreck the car AND move up a couple of spaces in line, so a fun little adventure.

The beach was overcrowded and it was impossible to find a place to park. I did not have high hopes for enjoying the afternoon, but once we got there it was a blast. Josh surprised me by taking right to the water. He is our timid one, but once he got in - he was in ... right up to his chest. He wanted so badly to try out the boogie board! However, since he can't swim, I wouldn't let him get near one. I have promised to get him one just as soon as he learns to swim without a life jacket ... as it was, I had a really hard time letting him play "on his own" in the surf. At one point, I managed to stay about 15 away from him ... but not for long. My mommyness just wouldn't let me. Robert was out in the water up to his neck and that was bad enough - but he is 12 and can swim, so I just contented myself with looking for him every 45 seconds or so. Thank you to Uncle David who stood in the surf to keep an eye on the older kids. Ben and Ginny didn't think much of the waves at first and they stayed in the sand with Daddy. Just before dinner, Byron brought them down to play with Josh and me and THEN they loved it. It was especially hard to keep Ginny away from the water once dinner started - she just doesn't take no for an answer. Dinner was great and even my picky kids ate plenty. Byron was convinced for two days before we left that we were going to loose someone, but we managed to make back with the entire family (and half of the beach). I can't wait to take them again ... but maybe to a beach that is a bit less crowded!

Sick, Tired, and Maimed

We did not have a fun week (two weeks ago now). Ben had a fever all week. It was a very responsive fever and he was eating/drinking and running around, so I just kept an eye on it. By day four, he stopped eating and drinking and so I made an appointment to see the doctor. The doctor took one look in his mouth and pronounced Strepp throat. I asked why he thought that and he said, "because there is pus on his tonsils." Eewwww! The doctor took a culture and put Ben on antibiotics. On a side note, the culture came back negative, but Ben responded instantaneously to the antibiotics, so whatever it was is gone and we are going on a yogurt fest to return all those lovely healthy bacteria to his system. Yummy!

While on the phone with the dr's office, I watched Ginny run and trip over her feet and hit her face on a heat register that is in our dining room. This is the only floor register in the entire house and the ONLY reason we haven't pulled it up yet was the fear of dealing with an open vent of some sort. We figured we would fix it when we redid the floors at some point.

She hit her face pretty hard and bit her lip in several places. The biggest concern was the fact that one of her front teeth was twisted at least 45 degrees from center and bleeding profusely. The bleeding stopped pretty fast, but I was worried about that tooth. Also, it was of course a Thursday and our dentist was just back from a vacation and not open until the following Tuesday. Luckily for us, they are wonderful wonderful people and Jenny and Krissy got Ginny over for an x-ray. That was fun ... not. My normally outgoing little girly only needs to have direct attention to duck her head and stop smiling. I ended up having to sit with her on my lap and Jenny had to hold the x-ray film still for a decent picture. They showed me the picture and mentioned that there is a likelihood that the tooth might die ... which is to say turn all black and yucky, but there didn't appear to be any abscess or emergency. I was soooo mad at my floor, the first thing I did when I got home was to rip up that stupid register, and would you believe it - there was NO vent under it at all!!!!!!! Not that Ginny couldn't have hit her face on just about anything. But to hit her face on a stupid piece of metal that serves no useful purpose and was probably just screwed back into the floor to cover a tiny hole in the carpet was maddening beyond belief. In the meantime, the swelling has gone down and her tooth looks to have returned to its normal place. And the dentist will look at it next week - just for Mommy's sanity. On the plus side, there are no more binkies in the house and since it was so painful for her to suck on anything for the first day or so, the transition wasn't so terrible either.