Ben's First Day of 3rd Grade

It's hard to believe that Ben is a 3rd grader this year. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was looking at preschools for him? Time has certainly flown by. After a fun summer that also flew by, it was time for him to head back to school.



This year, he was was able to ride the bus with a friend from next door. There was a new bus and a new bus driver this year.



When he came home, his brothers and sisters were waiting for him to get off of the bus...



A yummy snack was waiting, too...



Here he is!!



Ben had a great day and he loves his teacher!!



Now he's ready for a snack! All of that hard 3rd grade work made him hungry!



So far he is doing GREAT in school! His grades are great, he loves his teachers, he trades silly bands with the other kids at recess...the only thing he doesn't like is that there is a little girl who chases him around the playground trying to kiss him. When he's older he will probably hate me for putting this on the internet, but I think it's a little bit funny...and it's something I'll want to remember in the future! So in the blog it goes!!!

Another Blast from the Past

While I was looking through my pictures the other day, I realized that I have not mentioned basketball...so since I did not blog about it last year I'm going to do it now.

Joe decided that he wanted to play basketball last year. He had never picked up a basketball in his life, but he wanted to play so we signed him up. He was able to play on the kindergarten team because he was 5 (even though he was not yet in kindergarten). He will play on the kindergarten team again this year.

Joe is tall. However, I do not realize just how tall he is until I stand him with a bunch of other 5 year olds. Or when parents and coaches from the other teams comment on how tall he is. So I can't even imagine what they're going to think this year when he's playing in the same division...or how tall he will look compared to everyone else. It should be fun.

When Joe started he could not dribble and he could not make a basket to save his soul. However, in a few short months he was dribbling and making baskets. A huge improvement.

Without further ado, here are some pics from his first game..I think.

Before getting on the bus...

I survived..and so did he.

On Tuesday, I had to do an extremely hard thing. I'd done it before, but it didn't get any easier the second time around. I had to put Joe on the bus to Kindergarten. I had to put him on the bus and trust that he would get to school and that he would come back to our house (not an easy thing given past bus issues). I was doing OK until I saw the bus turn the corner and start to stop in front of our house. My heart was pounding and I was doing my best not to cry. After he got on the bus, I got into my van and followed the bus to school, crying a little bit the entire way. When I got to school, I was not the only one who followed their child (there was a group of us there to help with buses) and I wasn't the only one who admitted to crying. He made it to school and found his teacher perfectly fine. When I asked him if he knew where to go when he got off of the bus he replied with, "Well, I got there, didn't I?" After 4 days of helping with buses, the kids are definately getting the hang of the system. So on Tuesday, I will again put him on the bus to school and this time I won't be following behind the bus.

Here he is waiting for the bus in the driveway:






On the bus...



Waiting outside of school with his class:







Walking into school..Bye Joe!!!