Back to School

Owen and Reilly took the plunge last Monday. Both boys were excited to put on their new shoes (if not their uniforms) and head back to NAPS and their school friends. Of course they would not be Joyces if they were not sad to leave behind the daily wiffle ball routine, but at least they still have the poison ivy, scratches and bug bites all over their faces, arms, and legs to prove it was a great summer.
Owen's entire 3rd grade class, including the teacher, all moved up to 4th grade together this year. I think the lack of "transition" has been nice, but Owen is most pleased to have his best friend Hank in his class again. He pretty much doesn't care about the rest of it. Except recess, where his aim for the year is to score 50 goals in soccer. For the first time ever, he was the first in the family to complete his summer reading program and I am expecting great things from him in the classroom this year... in between recesses, of course.Reilly is about to have the best year ever. He is in 2nd grade with Mrs. Regier, my favorite elementary school teacher in the universe. She is like Ms. Frizzle on The Magic School Bus. She is wacky, funny, musical and truly young at heart. She often dresses in costume, complete with enormous, colorful earrings based on the unit the kids are studying, uses the piano in her room all the time, and lets the kids do their spelling tests by tracing letters into shaving cream she squirts on their desks. She is from Minnesota and believes in outdoor recess, no matter what. Of all the boys, it was high time for REILLY to go back to school. He has a hard time keeping up with the bigger boys all summer and we are all glad he gets to go be 7 years old again.

Connor and Graeme had one additional day of summer to savor, so while Owen and Reilly were trying out their new pencils and crayons Monday, Connor and Graeme were hanging with friends at the beach and the pool, catching crabs, and definitely squeezing in a little more wiffle ball before packing lunchboxes for their first day on Tuesday. Since they are both middle school veterans already, it was the easiest first day of school for me in quite a while and, I admit, I'd gotten anxious to turn the page on our crazy summer and start a new chapter.
Everyone was grateful that Connor received medical clearance to start 8th grade on time, even though it required two trips to Hopkins the week before to jump through the proper hoops. His recovery is all but over now except for 2-3 more weeks of sports restrictions. He found that in every class, when one student was brave enough to ask what happened to his head, he quickly had a captive audience and pretty much won the "What I Did This Summer" contest. I hope his teachers were listening and don't think I let him have some weird punk hairdo. He gets lots of well wishes from former teachers and friends who learned about the accident through the grape vine during summer and continues to appreciate the nice things people do and say. His favorite class is Stock Market and he has the most homework in Geometry, which he is taking for high school credit. Peter and I are in absolute shock that this is his last year before high school.
Graeme can now say "Nihao" (Hello, pronounced Knee-How) in Chinese, but that's it. After just one week, he begged us to drop Chinese and take French instead because his class has only 4 students and the other 3 are girls, which makes him very uncomfortable. (Should I be insulted or relieved?) Also, I met his teacher and had to agree with him that her English was not very good. So, instead, we say Bonjour to the 7th grade. Graeme is otherwise very happy and well adjusted, seeing lots of familiar faces from last year sprinkled across all his classes and finding himself well liked enough to be sitting at a really rocking lunch table, with no effort at all. Starting 6th grade fresh out of NAPS was a whole different ballgame, you may remember. Also very unlike 6th grade when he had only 1 teacher who Connor had, this year he has ALL the same teachers Connor had last year, including the very cool Mr. Deen for social studies. He can't wait to play Trashketball for current events review.

Hey Guys! Where are you going? What about me?

I guess I'll just climb in my toy basket and watch some Sesame Street by myself for a while. Boy, it sure is quiet around here.