First Day of Sampson Elementary 8/25

Grant is in 3rd grade, Alyssa is in 1st grade, Kate is in 5th grade:
(Clark starts Pre-K on Wednesday. I'll post pictures of him soon after that.)


Kate - 5th grade. She loves her teacher. That was a big God-thing... here's the story...

She was clustered into the Horizons program (gifted & talented) in 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade. So, each of those years, she took the test and just barely missed actually being in the program, but she was high enough that she was put in the same classroom as others that were in the program. For 4th grade, she was in a regular class with WONDERFUL teachers and really great friends. (Of course, her other teachers and friends are really great, too. But, she had an especially great 4th grade year.)

Well, I just automatically signed her up to take the test because I knew she had almost made it so many times. When she found out I signed her up, she told me she really did not want to take the test. I said, "Sorry. I will not sign you up for it again." Which was all great... until she passed the test and got into the program officially. I was more than a little worried about telling her. I thought she would want to be with the new friends she had made.

When I told her what had happened, she told me that she was bummed... mostly because she wanted Mrs. Tolls as a teacher, but now couldn't have her as a teacher. Of course, she wanted to be with her friends, but she was really bummed about the teacher.

In 5th grade, there are 3 horizons teachers and they were all set ready to go by May of last year. They had to replace one teacher and they knew who they wanted. But, then the school district had budget cuts and they couldn't hire the teacher they wanted. Things were switching all around even into the last week of school.

On the last week of school, I was up there sorting out yearbooks to be passed out and Mrs. Tolls stopped me and told me she ended up being put into that 3rd place and was the 3rd horizons teacher. I literally jumped for joy. I was so excited.

I knew Mrs. Tolls because her oldest daughter is in Alyssa's daisy girl troop. And, I knew her husband in college. In my freshman year of college, I hung out with her husband's sister. So, since he hung out with his sister, we all knew each other.

I was really excited for Kate because I knew that Mrs. Tolls would have just the right temperament for Kate -- pushing her forward, but with gentle encouragement, not too much pressure, but just enough to get the job done.

Grant - He's excited about his teacher because he has only had language arts teachers each year, never the math switch teacher. He has Mrs. Hubbard, she's the language arts teacher. Yeah!

He says he hates math, but he qualified to be in the Horizons program only in math. Funny.

Alyssa - She ended up with the teacher I started hoping she would have. I had her tested for the Horizons program because as she started kindergarten, she was reading the same books that Grant was reading in 2nd grade. She missed the program by one question -- probably one that I marked her lower on. There's one question I hate... it says "Is bored easily." I always mark that one low because I teach my kids how to find something else they can do before they get bored. So, they really don't get bored very easily.

Anyways, I found out that one of her friends that has food allergies like she does was going to be in the Horizons class. So, I was really hoping that they could be in that class together so that the other mom & I could work together with the food allergies.

And, that teacher has diabetes, so I thought that part might go well, too.

But, I don't even know if I like the Horizons program, so part of me didn't even want to go there. I know I have the kids tested, but that's mainly because I don't want a door closed to them that could be open. I figure if they are in the program, we can choose to pull them out. If they are not in it, there is no choice. There are some things I like about the program, there are other things I don't.

So, I just felt like it was really a God-thing that I even wanted Alyssa in the class. Well, she got in to the class and has Mrs. Engle. That's the same teacher Kate had in 1st grade. We're looking forward to a good year.

Here's the kids riding their bikes to school. We rode bikes every year until last year. Last year we rode the bus. This year, the kids may end up riding the bus, but I will not put them on there until I know that it won't take forever to get to school or get home. I was traumatized when I made Kate ride the bus with Grant his kindergarten year. She wanted to ride bikes. He wanted to ride the bus. I asked her just to do it on the first day. Well, that day, the bus didn't get to school until 9:30am. School starts at 8:10am. I felt horrible. After that, Kate rode bikes, Grant either rode bikes or rode the bus, I didn't care which.

See their new backpacks and lunchboxes?

Apparently Clark decided to take some pictures from the bike trailer where I'd put the camera. Hah! I thought it was funny. It also reminded me of something funny that Grant said. I was taking the kids to school and going straight to the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" for parents with kindergartners to talk about the yearbook, so I was dressed and ready to go. It wasn't until I got to the bikes that I thought, "Hmm... I'm wearing heels." But, then I thought, "Hmm... I'm not going back in to change." So, I wore the heels. Grant said, "Wow, mom... You are amazing. I didn't know you could ride a bike in heels." It was so funny because he went on and on. Really, riding a bike in heels is easy because the pedal fits in the middle part, so it's the same as flip flops.

It was in the afternoon when we were going to visit friends down the street and were in the garage when Clark decided we were going to ride scooters... and i had the same thought, "Hmm...I'm not going back in to change."... that I was impressed. Scootering on heels is a little more challenging. Grant wasn't even impressed at all. That's my life... I'm truly only wonder woman when it doesn't matter. Hah!

Oh, and just for the record, all bikers were fine. The only one that got hurt was me -- and not because of the heels. I took Peanut (our 90 pound Golden Retriever.. I know, the name doesn't fit her, I didn't name her...) on the bike ride with me. She was so excited because she knew something was up that she was harder to control than normal. At one point, I tried to pull her closer so she wouldn't go on the other side of the fire hydrant, but something happened and I lost it. I fell straight to the ground. Thankfully, as Kate pointed out when I told her the story, Clark did not flip over in the bike trailer. He just called out, "Bad dog. You hurt Mommy." So, I have a nice looking 4 inch rash on one leg, an even nicer looking 4 inch bruise on the other leg, and some nice raspberries around. I especially like the one on my collarbone that looks like a hickie. I mean, really, if I have a hickie, I would like to have really earned it fair and square. Hah!