First day of school - 2014

Kate is in 3rd Grade in Mrs Bishop's class.  She is excited to learn multiplication and division.  She thought the first day was really fun and was so excited to see old friends.

Sawyer is in 1st grade and has Mrs Tierney.  He was also really excited about the first day and excited to make some new friends.  This year he wants to learn about planets.  He says his favorite thing so far about 1st grade is snack time.

We got home from Utah on Saturday and started school on Monday.  We had a little bit of a hard time with the time zone transition but things are calming down and getting back to normal.  These kids love school and I sure love them!

What a difference a year makes!

We had a wonderful school year at our wonderful school!  

Sawyer loved his teacher, Mrs Minnucci.  She is just the sweetest and most fun teacher a kindergartener could ever ask for.  He loved learning to count forever, how to read, how to use his writing skills to write books during rest time, and how to make fun friends.  He love building shelters and fires at forest friday and he knows all the plants and trees around Vermont.  His teacher said he was kind of quiet and would sit back and watch a lot but that if she asked the kids what it meant to be kind they would always say, to be like Sawyer.  And they always wanted him to be in their groups and play with them.  And Mrs Minnucci said he is the only student she has ever had who has said, "Is there anything else I can do to help?"  His teacher was very impressed with how he could write stories.  She would give everyone a packet of 5 blank pages to write on during their daily rest time and she had told them they had only one page a day and they couldn't get more.  She was amazed how Sawyer knew just had to create a story, with a beginning, a middle conflict and an ending conflict resolution, exactly within the boundaries of the page each time.  We love those stories and will cherish them forever!  Mrs Minnucci also said the one thing she will remember about Sawyer was one time, out in the woods at forest Friday, he was using the "Forest John" (a bucket surrounded by some sticks they set up for the kids to use outside) and she peeked in to make sure everything was okay and he was wiping off the seat.  What 6 year old boy does that?!  He is the best and I love him.  

Kate had a very successful year in school.  Her teacher would give them spelling pretests and then make their spelling lists individualized based on what they got wrong.  Mrs Connolly said she would have to give Kate lots and lots of tests before she would have enough wrong words to put on her list.  One time, after Kate brought home her spelling list for the week, she said, "Why do I have to keep practicing these?  She told me how to spell them so now I know how to spell them."  And that sums up Kate.  She is so smart and she picks things up immediately.  She LOVES learning.  She loves math and spelling.  At the beginning of the school year she told her teacher she wanted to "learn new words" when her teacher asked her what she wanted to learn in first grade.  Her teacher has spent time making sure that she had vocabulary words to pick out of the books she was reading so she could reach that goal.  Kate has lots of friends and is kind to everyone.  I really couldn't ask for a better little second grader.  

Now on to 1st and 3rd grade!  YIKES!

Sawyer's 100 day of school

Sawyer was so excited for his 100th day of school celebration!  When it was time to put together his collection of 100 things I started giving some suggestions and he told me he wanted to think of it all by himself.  So I stopped suggesting things (which were all nice and easy and small things) and he decided he wanted to bring 100 stuffed animals.  I kept telling him he might need a back up plan as we searched every inch of the house for anything resembling a stuffed animal and we made it to 100 by the skin of our teeth!  I emailed his teacher the day we brought them in to apologize for the size of his collection but he was so excited I couldn't say no.  I did squish them into 2 boxes the best I could to try and conserve space.

He came home with this hat and a necklace with 100 fruit loops on it (which Clara promptly ate all of!)  This boy loves kindergarten and I can't believe we have already done 100 days!

Sawyer's First Day of kindergarten update

The first day of school went so well for my kids and Sawyer was especially adorable so I wanted to document it.  I went to pick them up and when Sawyer walked into the cafeteria he was beaming.  From head to toe, the kid was beaming.  He told me all about how they read the story about the gingerbread boy and then made a gingerbread boy but when they opened the oven, he was gone!  They went on a scavenger hunt to find him and he was excited the note the gingerbread boy left at the end of the day that said, "I'll see you tomorrow."  He was so proud of himself for eating his lunch all gone and he said his favorite part of Kindergarten was nap time.  Which is hilarious to me because he hasn't had a nap time in a long, long time.  I guess he must just love being wrapped up in my quilt!  We had some friends over the so they were busy playing after we got home, but later that night we went out to dinner to celebrate the first day of school and on the way home Sawyer asked if I wanted to hear the 2 stories his teacher had read him that day.  He has always been able to come home from church or preschool and tell me stories in detail and that night he went on for 45 minutes telling me the stories of the gingerbread boy and the little red engine.  The funniest part was in the middle of telling me the little red engine story he said, "Wait, I forgot something....I need to start over." And he totally did.  The whole time I was just sitting there and listening to his excitement as he told these stories and I was grateful for a sweet, cute little boy who loves school.  Even if I miss him like crazy.
He has popped out of bed in the mornings and come home every day this week with the same excitement as the day before, reporting on what he had for snack time and what his "special" was for the day (art, pe, music or library).  Yesterday he told me he spent most of recess "hoolie hooping" and I just thought it was the cutest thing I had ever heard.
His teacher has told me twice that he is just the sweetest boy in the world and, although she might be saying it to every parent she sees....I think it is so true.  Sawyer is really just the best.  Last night we were playing outside after dinner and I was laying in the hammock and he asked me if he could sit with me, "Like baby Sawyer used to."  And so we did.

First Day of school - 2013

Sawyer popped out of bed and ran into my bedroom like it was Christmas morning.  This boy was ready for Kindergarten!  Kate was ready too...but is getting old enough to drag herself out of bed with a yawn...she is learning to love sleeping in.  After a breakfast, as requested, of waffles, berries and cream and getting everything in order, we took a few pictures and headed off to school.  

 Kate with Mrs Connolly

 Sawyer with Mrs Minnucci

Now what are Clara and I going to do all day long by ourselves?

Walk to school day

The school sponsored a walk to school day where we all met at the Quechee Green and walked to school together. The kids loved it!  And I love to see them with their sweet friends.  I also love how Kate and her friends still let Sawyer be a part of whatever they are doing.  Think that will last forever?

Sawyer's first pre-k field trip

He rode on a bus for the first time
 
And we went and picked apples

 


He was the sweetest boy in pre-k! I love my boy!

First day of school 2012

 


 

The morning was a whirlwind and I surprisingly did not shed a tear! They were both so excited!

Sawyer's last day of preschool

We have had so much fun this year with Sawyer's preschool. We have done a co-op with 3 of our friends and it couldn't have gone any better. This is just a great group of kids with super wonderful moms that made this year just so awesome! It was a pleasure having these kids come to my house every 4 weeks to have fun and I have loved hearing about all the things Sawyer has learned at their houses. At least once a month we have gone on a field trip to different places as a preschool. For our last day of preschool we decided to visit a favorite, the Montshire Museum! We were hoping it would be warm enough to play int he outdoor fountains. It was only in the 70's and the sun would hide behind a cloud every now and then but that didn't stop the kids! They played for a while and then we headed to some picnic tables for lunch. After we were done eating the weather turned on us and it POURED! We were safe under a pavilion cover but the storm was just amazing to watch. Wind, rain and hail! Luckily it didn't last long and we were finally able to leave the safety of the shelter and head inside to play a little bit. What a fun last preschool adventure! Here are the kids drying off after playing in the water



Sawyer and I were at Walmart and we saw these graduation plates and napkins and so we bought them for our last day of preschool picnic lunch. Sawyer was SO excited. As soon as his friends walked into the door for preschool at my house on Tuesday, the day after we bought them, he told them about the plates and napkins. And then he mentioned about 20 more times throughout the day! He reminded me over and over again to not forget them and then, when it was finally time to eat lunch, he was so excited that I let him pass them out to his friends. Its the small things in life, right?




their little handprint diplomas




 cookies shaped as graduation caps

 

This cute girl was a trooper throughout the whole field trip!





This is Gunny. He's the gunny sack toy eating monster that traveled house to house in our preschool box. When it was clean up time, he would eat the toys that weren't put away. Sometimes he licked the kids toes too!




Here he is licking the kids toes one last time




What a great bunch of kids. 2 of these friends are moving this summer and they will be missed! Congrats to Sawyer on finishing this wonderful year of preschool!

Preschool field trip - sugaring

We headed to Sugarbush farms with Sawyer's preschool for a little field trip on sugaring. That week just so happened to have gorgeous weather and it was 80 degrees that day. Great for walking around a farm...not so great for sugaring! The weather has to be below freezing during the night and then warm during the day for the sap to flow. The lady giving us some samples said they had only made 70% of what they had made the year before...
They weren't boiling but we were still able to look around at where they boil, see the horses, taste some maple syrup and cheese and go on a nature walk. You can see that Sawyer is the only one of his friends not wearing boots. He had them in the car but I thought he could go without. It was fine until we were walking around in the woods and his entire foot was engulfed in a muddy mess.
After he got cleaned up (and calmed down...he was in quite a panic!) we went and bought some cheese and crackers and had a little picnic before heading home.