Back to School x3

Whew! Back to school week is finally here. Is gets up first and turns on the Star Wars music to awaken her boys. They pop right up. Dale and I split up the kiddo drop offs and begin our day. So far, so good. C seems to really love his new school. There are only 16 in his class so that is a huge change from years past. They had an opening day ceremony which had a lot of pomp and circumstance type music, prayer, charges, honor code reciting, alma mater singing and introduction of classes (not individual students) by graduation year. C's class is the "honored" class as they are the oldest ones of the Lower School campus. Everyone stood for their entry. There are 64 of them. No wonder these kids feel special. Wasn't he just in the 3rd grade?????

M and Is started the day before C. It was kind of sad to have the pic with just the two of them. M has only 17 in his class due to No Child can get ahead .. er . . . I mean, No Child Left Behind. 3rd grade is a pivitol year in FL. Literally, the students must make a certain score on the reading portion of their FCAts to progress to 4th. He adores his teacher and apparently he has already used his magic powers on her b/c she thinks he is the "sweetest thing" .

Is seems to be doing just fine. Although she is the third child so I really wouldnt know how she is doing. Kidding!

Work . . . SLAMMED. That's good. I'm not complaining. Just pooped. One closing this month and three so far next month. I love momentum. But I love spending time with my kiddos more.

I have a couple pics of the back area of the house. Consider them the before shots as we will paint, plant and play. Sliders to the left are to the Master Suite. Sliders on the far right (just out of the pic) go to Is's room. The black net around the pool is a child safety fence. Since the house is vacant, it is a liability if a neighborhood child roamed into the yard and fell in. Happens all the time down here. Ugh. I am so thankful for strong swimmers and kids who understand that no adults on the pool deck mean no kids in the pool. Period.

We are still here!

Ahhhhhhh . . we are down to the wire with our Summer vacation. The two younger ones had their back to school/meet the teacher/open house today. Our little community school is growing. We have a new elem. school that will open next school year. It will split up the classmates but this town loves the idea of the community school aspect. So do I. We don't want anything that resembles what we had in Farragut. Is got a fabo teacher for first grade. Old school marm type. Her kindergarten teacher had a role in her placement, I'm sure. Also, M got a wonderful third grade teacher. She is the one that all the teachers own children are placed with . . same with Is's teach. M is with his special friend J and the teacher is already in love with his heart. M was impressed with the stack of books on his desk. He has been ready to go back to school around the middle of June . . . no kidding.
Connor was with us and really received mixed messages and reactions regarding his new school. Interesting . . yet kind of sad at the same time. The local middle school had a dry run for the sixth graders this morning. 400 plus. We were told it was a zoo but I am sure the admin is used to that and all will settle down in a couple days. C has 15 in his class. Most people he responded to and shared where he was going looked at me with the "Why !!!!" look. His fourth and fifth grade teachers were super pumped and said , "what a perfect fit!!!" He was encouraged by that. His fifth grade teach had to fill out forms on him so she was in the loop. I explained to C that if people don't have a common point of reference,they don't know how to respond. I also explained that if they thought his school was never a possibility for their children . . they may not react positively. Also, if we are going down a different path than them . . they seem threatened by it to a certain extent. He seemed to understand all that and was really happy to just to see some familiar faces.

Any advice from Mrs. King would be appreciated. I have to say I love that he will still be at the lower school. Although his peers are going to Middle school, I am praising God for the gift of another year. We have a "welcome back" reception for parents tomorrow night. Actually it is a cocktail party with an Island theme. I have no Island theme outfits. We'll see what we can find in the morning.

We are uber swamped and can't catch our breath. We are keeping the townhouse "show ready" and pulling out bedrolls for the boys each night and rolling them back in the morning. Only a couple more weeks of that. Work has been beyond swamped. I really like it though. Funny how perspective changes. I turned in two contracts today which I represent the buyers. One is a foreclosure for 160,000 and the other is a new construction for 320,000. Those are both small to me. My partner has lots of zeros on the end of his deals. Some day.

Gotta run. As I am writing this, we are into the second hour of High School Musical 2. All three of mine are totally into it.

Stay well.