Summer is Done, School has Begun!

And just like that, summer is gone. I was so dreading the end of summer, and not just for the normal reasons. I knew that once we hit Labor Day, we'd have no choice but to start this new chapter of life with a SCHOOL KID, and I just wasn't ready! Lockers, lunch accounts, take-home folders, PE shoes (Ack! The stress those stinkin' PE shoes caused me! Who knew that finding size 13 Velcro shoes would be SO difficult!?!?), backpacks, orientation nights, etc etc etc. Those things are all fine and good when I'm a teacher, but as a parent?! It's just crazy!! But thankfully, 3 days into the school year, I do believe we might just survive.

AND, before we get too much into school- we did finish up the summer with some fun!

We stopped by the 28th street car show/cruise night for a bit. Adam and J loved checking out all the  different kinds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. And J even got to sit in the driver's seat of a real race car!!

Hope turned 10 months old! Sigh.

A tribute to Hope's hair.

We were just marveling at how much Hope has grown and changed over the summer. In May, we could set her on a blanket outside and she wouldn't move. By September, she's walking along furniture and pulling out drawers to use them as steps to climb on! Aaagh!

At least she has cute shoes for all that climbing, crawling, standing, etc!

Adam's work had an outing at a Whitecaps game- tickets, dinner, parking passes, and even shirts provided. It was a great time!

We had Kindergarten orientation night at J's school. We got to see his locker, classroom, playground, etc. And of course got tons of paperwork to fill out- fun times!

Labor Day weekend was hot and humid, so we took advantage of the pool one last time. Not sure if it is closed yet, if not it will be soon! :(

On Labor Day we went to the Zeeland/Holland Truck Parade!! You can imagine how excited Jeremiah was for this (and Adam, too)! I think there were a total of 67 trucks in the parade, and at the end we could walk down to the Civic Center and see all the trucks up close and get free ice cream! (The ice cream part was CA-RAZY!! You can imagine, here in Dutch land, what happens when anyone says the word FREE. WHOA.)

So, we didn't realize that all of the trucks would be blaring their horns like crazy through the parade! It was so loud! Poor Hope- every time a truck honked she nearly jumped out of her skin. :( Oops, parenting fail. I ended up walking further away with her, and she did finally stop trembling. And she doesn't seem to be scarred for life or anything.

J got to pull the levers on a garbage truck! After he was done he said, "And that was just a dream come true!"

So of course, the day after Labor Day was Jeremiah's first day of Kindergarten!!! I was dreading this, actually, because I knew I was going to cry and I knew how much I'd miss him all day! 

He had a wonderful first day! And that made it a little easier to send him back for day 2. 

I LOVE hearing what he has to say about school! Some of my favorites:

~He was telling us that on the first day, he asked a girl in his class to play and she said no. :( And he said, "I have no idea why! The fun never ends when you're around me!" Ha!

~He has made a new friend named Garner who also sits by him (that might not last long!), and they play together at recess. He was telling me about another boy who sits at their table, and I said. "Oh, do you play with him at recess too?" And he said, "Well no, not really. He's more of a relaxing kinda guy. And I'm more of a playful kind of guy, and a workish kind of guy."

~He had PE today! He said he got to run around a lot and "it was exhausting!"

~He tried the school lunch the first day, so I asked how the chicken nuggets were. He said they were "mushy but good." Yum.

So the rest of the week his choice has been cold lunch!

And I don't mind making them! :) He's planning to try some of the school lunches next week, so we'll see how that goes.

 Hope and I really do miss J so much when he is at school! We try to find things to do to stay busy.

Trip to the library!

She was so proud of her very own library book!

 And on the hunt for the elusive size 13 Velcro PE shoes.

Thank heavens Kohl's came through for us since Meijer, Target (twice), Payless (twice), and Shoe Carnival were all major fails!

We're so thankful that Jeremiah is enjoying school so far and making friends. That has been my prayer for him! And we're also thankful that the transition into this school business has been (relatively) smooth! :)