School schmool

     I am so mixed about starting school, as usual.  I hate seeing my kids leave everyday and spend more time with people who I don't know than time with me.  That part stinks!  I love that they get to go be social and make new friends and hang out with old ones.  I love that they get to learn so much - that they are pushed and challenged more than they will allow me to do for them at home.  I love that they are excited to go, to have more adventures, to see what is coming next for them.  BUT,  I hate not having them with me, I hate that they are growing up so fast, I hate that there are so many evil influences out there that I can't control.  So, every year, I am sad and retrospective wondering if we have done enough this past summer to last them through the hard times of the next school year.  This year is no different - plus it has been such a crazy summer with baseball going sooo long and Jared having back issues and me being in the hospital and then weak and not able to do much.  Sometimes life throws you curve balls. . .  I don't like curve balls.
     However, it seems to me that the kids know when school is about to start and so they start getting excited, nervous, happy, unhappy, you name it, a gambit of emotion until they are so wound up about school, that I finally am thinking, "Fine, go to school, I need some peace and recuperation time anyway."  Plus, we need a schedule again.  And, this year our dishwasher broke about a week before school started.  I do not enjoy doing dishes by hand - it stinks!  Especially the cups, because you have to reach your whole hand in there and it starts hurting my knuckles after about 50 cups.  And, if you have kids, you know that they each use about 50 cups per day.  That's 250 cups in my house!!! (That may be a slight exaggeration).  Anyway, it's a lot.  We finally went in to get a dishwasher and it would take 2 weeks to get here - sigh.  Then, the day after school started our dryer went out.  All I can say is, thank goodness for new, clean school clothes.  My kids have been clean everyday.  (Just don't look at their socks - I refused to buy new ones until they match the 4 bins in the basement full of socks.)  Thankfully, Earl came today and fixed my dryer for a very small fraction of what it would have cost to buy a new one!  Yea!!!  So, I guess I should be doing laundry.  :)  Anyway, you can see there were some reasons I was ready for them to go back.  A few.
     Anyway, this is about their first day - their thoughts and feelings about it.  And, some details.  Oh, and by the way, how did I get so old?


     So, Jaxon loved school - big 8th grade!  He loves that he has grown so much and is one of the tallest ones in the school now.  He absolutely is in love with his new Puma tennis shoes.  One of his teachers told him that he loved them too and it showed him how different Jaxon was and how great it is to be different.
     One of his favorite things about the day was that the girl he has a crush on is in almost all of his classes!  Oh, how exciting!  And, her locker is by his too.  Isn't life great?  As long as it stays innocent and one-sided, it is fine with me if he has a crush.  :)  He also has a few good friends in each class so that is great too.
     He did have homework - the normal parent paper work plus homework in Algebra.  Which he was fine with so that was good.  All in all a good day for him.  He was ready to go back, he loves school now.  Yea!!!
     His classes are:  Chorus (which he is taking because there are cute girls), Speech, Algebra, Language, Science, lunch, History, and PE.  Can you guess which is his favorite?  Yep, PE.  It's good for boys to go get aggression out - go PE.
     Jaxon has been the perfect oldest child as far as school goes.  He is so easy going about it but does so well.  I usually never even know what is going on - he just gets stuff done and is very independent about it.  And, he is pretty adventurous so he likes being the oldest who finds out how the system works.  :)

Pretty sweet and bright!  He loves bright colors right now.

     It was Josie's first day in Middle School.  She was excited but pretty nervous - most nervous about PE.  Would she have to change in front of other girls, would she have to shower, how would she remember the combination lock that was different from the one in the hall?  Oh, the drama.  She made it through though.  And, she LOVED it!  She loves all of her classes and has friends in all of them.  She loves that you can sit by anyone you want at lunch, she loves that she has a locker, even though hers is a small one, & she loves how you go to 7 different teachers and classes.  It is perfect for her socialite personality.
     Her classes are:  Social studies (she loves the teacher in this class so she is glad it is her homeroom), Science, Math, Language (which she doesn't have really too many girl friends in but a lot of boys that she has been friends with, but is now saying that they are so immature - what will she do?  Who will she talk to?  Aahhh! the stress.  Luckily, she loves the teacher so she thinks it will be okay), lunch, Reading (she had homework in this and was very worried about it - we got through day 1 - whew!), PE (she decided might not be too bad), and Band.
     We had to have a talk about not complicating things - homework, specifically.  She wants to go above and beyond on everything, which is admirable, but not necessary.  I told her that is what I learned from Jaxon.  When your teacher says you can either write it or type it, choose the easiest option for you.  Not the one you think the teacher will like the best if it causes you and everyone around you more stress.  Jaxon has straight A's and has barely typed anything in his life, plus he never has homework.  He does get most of it done at school, but doesn't obsess over it being perfect.  Good lesson for both Josie and me.
     And, Jaxon only teased her at the end of the day.  She said she is glad that she is so little because then she could sneak through the crowded halls in between the tall people and the 8th graders don't notice her because she is so little.  :)  She gave me a run down of each class and who she sits by until she saw 2 of her friends and she was off - much too busy to finish filling me in.  Wow - they grow up so fast!

Josie loves her new Tom's and her matching lunchbox.

     Josh is our only Pahvant Arrow.  He isn't too thrilled about it, he likes having siblings around even if he pretends he doesn't.  He was very excited to go the day before but it all ended that morning.  Josh is not a fan of change, he thinks it might not be too bad and gets caught up in everyone else's enthusiasm but he just couldn't fool himself for long, he is not ready for summer to be gone.  He wants to play with friends, play baseball, go canalling, go swimming, not be on a schedule.  But, those days are over for a while.
     Anyway, he has a great teacher who is going to push him and keep him on track.  It will be good for him but will take him awhile to adjust.  Every year Josh has to make new friends in class.  He never gets to have any of his former friends in class with him.  It is really weird.  I think it is so he will have to meet others and make new friends.  But, he dreads it, what if they don't like him?  What if he isn't cool enough?  smart enough? funny enough? etcetera.  He worries a lot.  He is always fine and makes new friends, it just takes him awhile.  He has some darling boys in his class too, I was excited about it, but he just wants to feel comfortable.  Hopefully, that will happen soon.
     So, he came home pretty unhappy.  He has one girl in his class who he says is very annoying and asks stupid questions and makes comments that make no sense.  :)  She really gets on his nerves.  Oh well, you always have one, right?  We had a long talk about how that is what school is for, learning to get along with different personalities, learning how to cope in the world and learning how to make new friends with people we don't know or who are different from us.  I hope he got something out of it.
     All in all, Josh will have a great year, he is a good kid and tries his best at everything. It will just take him a bit to adjust to the change.  :)

     Oh, Jake Jake, what do you say about Jakey?  He is in 2nd grade and has an awesome teacher.  I think she will be perfect for Jake.  She likes technology and exploring and seems to be pretty high energy and fun!  That is just what Jake needs.  He has a short attention span and doesn't like traditional book learning.  He is more visual and hands-on, which I think his teacher is too so hopefully it will be a good match for him.
     He doesn't have any previous friends in his class, but does have his cousin, Emma, which he is thrilled about.  But, she is the only person he really even knows.  It could be rough socially - not sure yet.  I don't know many of them either.  I think Jake's grade has been pulled from some other planet that I don't know anyone in.  Weird.  Hopefully he will make a friend or two so he will be excited to go to school.
     He did lots of fun things the first day - took pictures, made marshmallow feet (used graham crackers, frosting and marshmallows to make feet to remind them to walk down the hall with soft, quiet marshmallow toes), did a few papers, and played some games.  He had 2 recesses, one he played with Emma and the other he played with a 1st grader who came and asked him to play.
     Overall, I think his day was alright.  He is very clingy right now and wished I would have stayed with him but he was a big boy and did it on his own.  He is definitely my hardest as far as school is concerned, he really doesn't like it at all - not socially, not the physical aspect (is there one?), not emotionally, and definitely not academically.  :)  Could be fun with him, right?  Good thing he is such a sweetheart.

     Miss Jainie hasn't started yet but did have Kindergarten testing on the kids first day of school, which was great.  We got to get in school clothes and go to her school anyway.  She insisted on wearing this shirt because it smells like apples and she knew her teacher would love it because teachers love apples.  Coincidentally, the teacher she tested with (and actually got for her teacher) was named Mrs. Chappell, which Jainie couldn't remember her name until she looked at her shirt and said, "It's something that rhymes with apple."  She is quite clever.  She did a great job on her testing and thinks she is very ready for Kindergarten.  I, however, am not!  She and I also got to go to McDonald's with all her Thalman cousins and moms and Gpa and Gma during the day so they would have something fun to do.  Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for this fun idea and for lunch!  She had a blast and it was great for me because it made the day go by so fast!

I always go pick the kids up on their first day of school so Jainie and I picked up Jake first, then Josh, then headed to the middle school for the other two.  This is when I usually get pictures of the middle schoolers - the school isn't as busy and everyone won't be making fun of them for their mom coming and getting a few shots.  

We also, luckily, remembered to get one of all them together.  :)  Then, we headed to the dairy for a treat.  YUM!

All in all, a great day for everyone.  I even survived it and it wasn't so bad.  I do have a LOT of catching up on housework to do, I am sure it will keep me busy for their entire school year.  Probably longer! I guess we'll see how I feel about it when Jainie heads to Kindergarten and I am left all alone.  I keep asking Jainie who will take care of me when she goes, she just shrugs and says, "I guess dad," while implying that it isn't her problem.  Kids. She did tell me that whenever I miss her, I can just go in her room and look at her picture while I rest.  I think that would make me more sad.  But, a sweet sentiment.