Ella's First Day Of Kindergarten 2.0!

 Ella's first day of kindergarten 2.0 was Monday September 12th. 

She was so ready to go to school. She was counting down the days and did not like that she had to wait until Monday....she wanted to go to school with Owen and Jack on the 7th!

Goofy Girl!!! 

She wanted to hold up 6 fingers since she's 6 years old! 

So big in her new graduation shirt! 

She's going to totally rock this year!!! 

  

My treasures! 

And these next two picture are what almost make the yelling and fighting fade away in my mind! 

Buddies! 

They can be really sweet when they want to! 

Due to the parking lot being a complete zoo we were almost late for Ella's first day! Plus side was she didn't have to wait in line for the bell to ring. Sunflowers are my favorite flower so I was so excited to see that Ms. Davidson had a giant sunflower on the inside of her door! 

There were no assigned seats so the kids just walked in and found a place. Now that the kids have been in school for a bit they do have name cards on there desks. Ella is actually sitting at the table on the right that's just out of view of the camera. 

Later that day Zeke and I waited at the bus stop for all the big kids to come home. Zeke's first day without any siblings was pretty rough. I was worried that was going to be an indication of how our weekdays were going to be for the whole school year, but thankfully we've gotten into a good groove now. 

Here comes the bus! 

So far this year the bus route has just been all screwed up. At first they had our kids being the last stop in the morning....which is the way it should be since we are only 2 minutes from school. But then instead of doing the route backwards after school they had the route the same as the morning so our kids were the last stop instead of the first stop. Instead of the bus coming around 2:54 it wasn't coming until 3:15!!! The bus driver said she was trying to get it changed and thankfully it did get changed. Now our kids are the first stop in the afternoon so that's means they are only on the bus for 5 minutes or so, but they also decided to alter the morning route as well. So now instead the our kids being the last stop in the morning they are the first. Instead of being picked up at 7:54 they are getting picked up at 7:32!! We literally live 2 minutes from school and school does start until 8:10 so I could walk the kids all the way to school and back during the same amount of time they are on the bus. I have no idea why they decided to mess with something that has been working just fine for 4 years. You pick up the kids furthest away from the school and work your ways towards the school in the morning and then you drop the kids off that live closest to school and work your way out in the afternoon. Seems simple to me! Can you tell I'm a bit peeved! 

I have tried to talk to the lady in charge of this whole thing....I have left her two voicemails to which her message says that "your call is very important to me" and she has yet to return my call. I've stopped by the Federal Way Transportation building to see if I could speak with her in person...I know when it comes to maps and such it would be easier to actually be looking at the same thing together....but she wasn't in the office at that particular time. Finally I have talked to another person there that is going to hopefully get me a meeting with this person. I understand that my kids aren't the only ones on the route and there are other things to consider such as traffic and bus safety. I really just want to know why....why was the route changed when it seemed to be working fine for 4 years!

Anyways....

Ella had a great first day of school! 

She even came home with a note saying so! 

I'm so happy for my Ella girl! I'm so happy that she gets to have this extra year of kindergarten to really nail down all the basic educational information that's she's going to need in years to come. She is so excited to learn and honestly I think she's more socially ready to learn than she was last year. She already knows some of the things they are going to be covering especially right off the bat, but that's okay. I think that relearning those things will just cement them even more in her brain. I did tell her that she would be the only kid in the classroom that would know the rules for walking in the hallway and all the rules for recess. She said she would help her classmates by letting them know the rules like no running on the cement only on the track and no jumping off the wall. 

My sweet girl I'm so excited to see the wonderful growth you're going to have this year. You are truly an inspirations with how you never get discouraged and you never give up. I hope you carry those traits all throughout your life....they will serve you well! 

Here's to a fantastic school year!!! 

This Is Our New Normal!

Everyday my alarm goes off at 2:45 telling us to head down to the bus stop to pick up Owen.

 

 

Jack enjoys riding his tricycle and Zeke gets pushed in his car. The next day Jack rode his tricycle and ended up flipping over the handlebars on his way down the hill. The tricycle was on top of him and all he said was, "Ouch...Mom can you help?" He's such a tough kid!

 

 

Here comes his bus!

 

 

Owen always sits in the front seat on the right. He likes to smash his face into the window when the bus is driving up and then once it stops he jumps up ready to get off.

 

 

Hi Mom!!!!

 

 

After a quick hug and kiss he's off running for home. He loves to beat Jack and I to the door!

 

Then we begin our afternoon routine of emptying his backpack and lunch box and then packing his lunch for the next day. After that Owen and Jack get a snack and get to watch a couple shows on Netflix!

The Wheel On The Bus Go Round And Round!

When we first decided to put Owen in public school I was sure we would have to take him to school each day. Our house is less than a mile from the school, but there is a main street that we would have to cross so I'm thinking that's why they pick up in our neighborhood. For Owen's first day I knew I wanted to take him...actually I thought I would take him for the first 3 days and then on Monday he would start taking the bus. Then at the orientation on Tuesday we found out that they only write the kids bus number on their hand for the first 3 days.

 

The day before school started we had a practice school day at our house. I woke the kids up at 6:45, we were finished with breakfast at 7:10 and then they brushed their teeth and got dressed. Once we were all ready we loaded up the stroller and walked to the bus stop. We are literally 2 minutes from the bus stop. I told the kids unless it's pouring down rain we will always walk to the bus stop. Of course it would be pouring down rain for the first day of Owen taking the bus!

 

 

Since it was a 30 second drive to the bus stop I let Owen sit in the front seat with me. Also I took Logan's car seat out of the car when we went camping and I haven't put it back in. Actually I'm thinking about just leaving it out. Logan has been sitting in Jack's seat and Jack has been sitting in Owen's seat. Since Owen's gone during the day we won't actually need another seat. Since Zeke is now 20lbs I think I might move him into the seat Logan was using so he can face forwards.

 

 

The bus is supposed to get to Owen's pick up at 7:56, but it was late. This is Owen's "the bus is late" face!

 

 

 

We waiting to hop out of the van until we saw the bus coming...yeah I know we're weanies! That and Owen doesn't have an actual raincoat yet!

 

 

I think the bus was late because the windshield was all foggy. While the kids were getting on the bus driver was having to wipe it off. It looked like he was having to do that at every stop! Darn rain!

 

 

When it was time to get on the bus I had to kind of herd him on since he was being a bit timid!

 

By the time I got back to the van where the other kids were Ella was crying her eyes out. She wanted her Owen! So I asked her if she wanted me to follow the bus and she said yes! Turns out us having to drive to the bus stop was a good thing after all!

 

 

We followed the bus around the corner to it's last stop before heading to school. When we got to the school the bus stopped further down than I thought it would. Also since it was raining they were leading the kids into the main entrance and then they were coming into their classroom from the hallway. That was completely different from what Owen did yesterday and from what we told him would happen. I was a little freaked out he would get turned around and get lost so I went to the exterior door of his classroom and waited to see if he made it.

 

 

 

He acted like he'd been doing this his whole life! He walked into his classroom and hung up his backpack on his hook and that was that. I snapped a picture of his classroom and got out of there before he saw me. It was fun to spy on him! I can't wait until I can volunteer in his classroom! I'll need to do that as much as I can before he gets embarrassed by me! :)