Back to School

I had so much fun planning our back-to-school night feast this year. The theme was fairy tales:

Jack's Magic Beans

Snow White's Poisoned Apple Drink

Little Red Riding Hood's Bread Basket

Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage Soup

Sword and the Stone Ham

Hansel and Gretel's Gingerbread Houses

After dinner we read excerpts from this talk. Then Jeremy gave the kids father's blessings. Finally, they got all their back-to-school gear. It was almost like Christmas.

Paul had trouble sleeping and had the jitters in the morning. He usually takes a couple weeks to adjust to school again. I don't think it helps that he's in third grade and this is the third elementary school he's attended. But he's making new friends and doing well. He's always the first one up and ready in the morning and usually wakes me up to make breakfast.

 Sam started the day after Paul and he's been great going to school all day. He often needs some help getting ready in the morning, but he's doing better than I expected. I'd been having the boys read every day during the summer, but I hadn't realized how much Sam has improved until we read scriptures that morning before school. He read the whole verse with hardly any help. The other night at dinner we read our fortune cookies out loud. He read "investigate the possibilities" without any hesitation. I couldn't believe it! He's certainly ready for first grade.

Audrey has been terrified/excited to start preschool for awhile now. She started two weeks after the boys. I anticipated a meltdown at school (she still has a lot of separation anxiety and rarely lets me out of her sight even at home). She started to cling and then pulled herself together and said good-bye. I was so proud of her! She had a great first day and wishes she could go every day. She likes doing "homework" with the boys.

Our summer was so busy that I wished we'd had more time before school started, but I do like getting back into a routine and on a schedule. My house is much quieter and cleaner. Jeremy designed a new system for the kids to earn money and then buy screen time, treats,  etc. We'll see how it goes. Too bad no one's excited about chores except for me! Here's their chore charts since I thought they turned out so cute: (I know snack isn't really a chore, but I get tired of them not eating when they get home and then freaking out right before dinner.)