First Day of School 2012 - 2013

Things sure got busy at the end of the summer!  School started and we have been up and running ever since!  I never even posted my back to school pictures!  I did post them on fb and sometimes I feel like that is the reason my blog has been slow.  I tend to post stuff on fb before my blog now.  I don't want things to be redundant... but I do have friends and family that follow my blog who are not on fb - so this is for you. =)

Hannah is starting her senior year.  She has become a beautiful, well-balanced young lady.  We are really proud of her and so excited for her this year! It's bittersweet of course, knowing this may be her last year at home as a "kid".  College next year... hopefully not too far away and even better by me if she stays home instead of the dorms somewhere. haha!

Taryn is now in 8th grade. Just one more year until High School! She is doing great with her grades and even joined AVID this year.  Glad that she loves school and goes to a great one!

Naomi is now a Second Grader.  She likes school enough.  I think she'd rather stay home with us, but she does pretty well.  I'm thankful for her teachable attitude and am excited to see what this year holds for her!

My little guy... What can I say about him??  He is my baby and he started kindergarten this year.  I am a little jealous that he will take all of his questions and curiosities and be able to share it with a new lady in his life - Mrs. Wilson. Ha!  He adores her already.  Marco is so tender and eager to learn.  He will do well this year.  I am sure of it.

 

My life.

The obligatory backpack shot.  Being able to get these nice backpacks for them really mean something special to me this year.  We are blessed beyond measure.  It's just that sometimes, I forget. Do you ever forget or is it just me? 

No "character" backpacks for these girls anymore. lol 

Surely, this backpack means success is sure to follow...right?

After dropping the two olders off at their schools, I drove to the elementary school and parked so that I could go in with the littles.  I caught Marco reaching over to hold his sister's hand.  SO sweet.  When I took the picture, they dropped hands and gave me a look. haha.  They turned around and went back to holding hands.   My brave boy was just a little nervous, but he had his big sister looking after him!

He found his name and seat right away.

The "new woman" in his life. *sigh*  Mrs. Wilson =)

Naomi also got settled in right away in her classroom.

This is her sweet teacher, Mrs. Hernandez.

Oh, did I mention that Marco is in all-day Kindergarten?  Yes.  They get in and start working and it's non-stop all day, no naptime, just lunch and a recess. 

I knew he'd be tired, but after giving us kisses, he climbed into the van and before we got out of the parking lot, he was asleep.  Awwww. My boy. 

Another school year is over...

Wow.  You blink just a few times and another school year is over!!  

My Hannah is now a SENIOR.  Seriously? Can that be true? I can't help but shake my head as I type.  She had some struggles in math/chemistry...but did really well other than that and got two varsity letters (Water Polo and Swim)    

 Hannah with two of her friends at their Varsity Swim team banquet.

Taryn finished the 7th grade as an honor roll student all three trimesters and is ranked #9 out of almost 400 7th graders.  We are so proud of her drive and determination to do her best.

Taryn with two of her friends at a graduation party.  They'v been friends since they were four years old.

 Naomi was glad to take an end of the year gift for her teacher.  We got a beach towel, drink tumbler and filled it with ice tea mix packets, sunblock and Subway gift card.  

We attached a free printable card (found at  Skip to my Lou Blog)

 Mr. C was such a great teacher for Naomi.  

She had a great first grade year.

This is Marco who will be 5 years old at the end of July.  He starts Kindergarten in the fall.  This mama may be just a wee bit emotional about that. *sigh*  I know he will be a good student.  He's so curious and hungry to learn about everything.  He was a little stressed when we went to pick up the girls from their last day of school.  He thought it meant that he was starting that day and he didn't know how to write all of his letters!  I had to stop myself from laughing.  He was so sincere and worried about it.  You should have seen the relief on his face when I told him that he still had time to learn. =)

Our summer is already off to a great start.  The two olders have enjoyed some time at the home of some friends, gone to the beach and have a water activity with the youth group and plans with their aunt and uncle for the weekend.  The two youngers have spent some days at the park which has a splash area and wonderful playgrounds, "lake", etc.   Today we spent the day at the park and had a picnic.  Naomi wrote a list of what our day would be: Picnic/eat, go for a walk around the lake/explore, get wet, play in the playground and get wet some more.  They completed the task.  It was an awesome day.

I asked the kids what they'd like to do this summer and here are some of the things they mentioned - big and small.

• Go to the beach
• Go to San Francisco
• Visit Grandma (their Great-Grandmother) on the way to San Francisco.
• Go to an amusement park.
• Establish an exercise routine for all of us.
• Eat healthy and lose weight.
• Read
• Help Marco get ready for school.
• Have picnics
• Grill outdoors more often
• Go to Market Night as much as possible this summer (huge farmer's market)

We shall see how it goes! We are already on track!!  How about you, my friend?  What are your summer plans?

It's summertime and the livin' is...

easy?? Well, that's how the song is supposed to go, right? School is officially out and I now have one child going into pre-school, one into first grade, one into jr. high and one that is a junior in high school. What were we thinking when we had them almost 4 years apart?? Oh, yeah. We weren't thinking. haha! Well, it keeps us on our toes that's for sure.

Here's Taryn and Hannah. Hannah curled the back of Taryn's hair for her. I thought that was very sweet of her. =) Taryn chose this dress on her own for promotion - of course we found it at TJ Maxx! Hannah got her dress at TJ Maxx too, I think. She just wanted to wear it for last day of school. My beautiful girls...

This is Taryn's main teacher. She has two others that teach different subjects. They work as a team and have a goal of preparing the kids, not for junior high, but for college! She loves them and they love her and show it!

Here's Naomi with her teacher once again. They had a fun "field" day for their last day of school. They got to play some water games, as well as the giant, colorful parachute!

I was so pleased with all three of my girls this school year. They all made incredible progress and did so well. We are now preparing ourselves for our family vacation and I just really can't wait. I feel like I can't even get excited though, because so much is going on. Once I get on that airplane, I'm going to take a big SIGH and try to just let it all goooooo....
Next time I post, it may be from Washington state!!

Kindergarten Promotion...

Here's Naomi's wonderful teacher, Mrs. Saucedo. I have had the privilege of working with her for this last school year and will continue next year as well.

This is our principal, Mrs. Ausman-Haskins. We will miss her as she transfers to a new school next year. Naomi is receiving her award here for getting A's in Reading, Writing, and Mathematical Reasoning. Kindergarten is a full day program. There is no nap-time, but they do have fun. The learning starts the moment they walk in to the class and continues - literally - until their parents pick them up. Naomi worked hard and did her best! She also received an "A" Student pin for her academic achievement. =)

Naomi's best friend is her little brother Marco. He gave her some congratulatory kisses...whether she liked it or not. =)

Daddy's girl.

Proud mama.