"I can't wait for Labor Day!"

Mamma laughed really hard at "back to school night" tonight. The children had a self portrait with a "thought bubble" displayed on their desks. Most children's thought bubbles contained things like "I love you, mom & dad!" or "Welcome to 2nd grade!" or "See my desk, mom?" or "You're the best, dad!" Leia Rose's thought ...bubble? . . . "I can't wait for Labor Day!" LOL!

But on the more serious side, standing at the back of the room (just like I did last year in first grade) I was struck yet again by my child's neat and orderly desk (as compared to all the others). Oh, she's gonna be like her Daddy, yet. : )

Daddy & Girls

Continuing the "Kissing Hand" Tradition

Annie's First Day of Montessori Preschool

But Annie's first day of school came complete with "Thumb Bunnies," our solution to stop the thumb sucking. : )

Leia's First Day of Second Grade

Leia's Second Grade Orientation

Looking forward to having Mrs. McCaslin this year! An absolutely wonderful (albeit strict) teacher who isn't afraid to keep everyone in line! (Yeah!) And don't think I didn't check the kids' cubbies for any names that we didn't want to return. (Keeping in mind the school's new policies on keeping parents out of the classroom entirely as well as the double standard for kids with behavioral problems, it simply comes down to precisely who is in the class and who is teaching it.) Looks like it's going to be a good year still with less than 20 kids and absolutely NO concerns! And the behavior due to a little bit older age of the students is a lot less rowdy! That equals easier concentration for Leia and STELLAR math grades! Yay! It's gonna be a GREAT year! Now to pray that things are just as great for Annie when she arrives here, . . .

Something else that must be mentioned is the brand new playground! Yeah, we've been waiting more than a year for this one. Remember "Bunny Bakery" in the mud beside the blacktop which was the kids' playground for over a year?!?

Annie's First Day of School EVER: Orientation Day

LOTS of excitement on this day! Note the "Kissing Hand" sticker on Annie's left hand. : ) Nothing but welcoming arms and open hearts when it comes to Mountain Sun! A whole lot of granola = a whole lot of love! : )

Leia's Awesome Inventions

Leia Rose was truly inspired by a unit in her first grade Social Studies book about inventions by kids. In fact, she was SO inspired that she CREATED two inventions herself. It was a goal of ours to take her plans for those two inventions and make them by the end of the summer in order to send them in to http://www.macmillanmh.com/ and http://www.inventhelp.com/ to get them produced and marketed. We are currently waiting for their reply. ; ) Still, today it was mission accomplished! Here are Leia's "Rain Jug" (a device that collects rain and directly deposits that water into a watering can for easy usage) and "Peony Holder" (a device that holds heavy peony flowers upright, even in the rain) as well as part of the article from her textbook that inspired her.

Morgan's "Surprise" Party

Although it is FAR from Morgan's summer birthday, Janice and I coordinated to throw Leia's good friend Morgan a special late, bunny, surprise party! It just so happened that our breeder (Hamilton's Hoppin Lops) had a few Lops and Dwarfs babies ready to be adopted, so this was perfect timing in that the Konslers had been wanting a rabbit! : ) Morgan was VERY surprised, SO surprised, in fact, that she thought the whole thing was a mistake at first. (Ha!) (And the whole thing allowed Mamma to practice her bunny cake making skills for Annie's birthday, too.) Soon it was off to the breeder to pick up Morgan's new bunny friend: Oliver! Why Oliver? Because Morgan and Will LOVE olives! Ha! And, of course, when we got home Annie HAD to snuggle with Peri. : )

Meet the Teacher at Mountain Sun

It is with great pride and joy that we announce that our little Annie will be going to Montessori School this year, just like her sister did before her, and just like her Mamma did before THAT! Today, "Meet the Teacher Day," was Annie's first experience with the Montessori method, and I am happy to say that she is THRILLED! As we looked around the room, we saw all of the familiar Montessori materials that we were all so familiar with, plus some additional areas inspired by the Waldorf method. Annie was immediately drawn to all of the "animal works" while Leia reveled in the nostalgia of it all, finding the geometric shapes as well as the infamous pink tower. It was really neat to see Annie already try her hand at the "workbench" that her sister always loved so dearly. Annie's new teachers, Shana and Tina, even used the dress up scarves to make Annie into a "bunny" while she was there. And there was no one happier than Annie when she found the bunny within the "wooden animal work" which she would continue to play with as one of her "works" every single day. (And although, yes, Annie did encounter a bully by the second week of school which I think did affect her initial impression of education, he was gone so quickly from the school itself, that her love for school grew and grew until it now rivals Leia's.)