second happiest day of the year

In our house the last day of school is the happiest day of the year but the first day of school is pretty far up there. I think we were ALL ready to go back this year. Jacob is now a 4th grader (I can't believe it!!!) Riley is in 2nd grade and our little Brooke started kindergarten this year.

Jacob is totally thrilled that he now gets to change classes and teachers, they even call the different classes "periods". He has three teachers he sees everyday and two more that he sees on a rotation. Jacob has Ms. Belizzi for English and writing first thing in the morning then he goes to Mr. Majtako for science, then he sees Mrs. Lester for math and then rotates between gym and music at the end of the day. I know that Jake loves this "big kid" schedule. As a side note Mr. Metjeko graduated from the school I work at in 2003, does that seem crazy to anyone else?

Riley is in Jacob's old 2nd grade class with Mrs. Renteria. This will be an adjustment for Riley because she had a very whimsical teacher last year who really appreciated Riley and all her antics. I was always getting reports from her old teacher about how funny Riley is and how she just can't be upset with all of Riley's talking because it all reminds her so much of herself. On the first day of school Jacob told Riley that Mrs. Renteria is strict and doesn't tolerate a lot of nonsense (I think he might have heard her say that a couple of times). Riley LOVES LOVES LOVES being in 2nd grade and she has nothing but nice things to say about her class and teacher. Riley has promised me that she will be very quite in class and be the best 2nd grader ever. She really wanted to wear this skirt on the first day of school. Jeremy later told me that he thought she looked like a little Pentecostal between the skirt and hair all pulled back.

Brooke is in kindergarten every day from 8-2:15. The normal kindergarten day ends at 1:30 but the principal has put Brooke in the extended kindergarten program as a "model student/helper". The longer kindergarten is for kids that have been flagged as needing more help. I needed Brooke to stay on campus until I can pick her up at 4:00 and our fabulous principal figured out a way to make sure that Brooke is watched over until I could get there. She stays with the extended kindergarten until 2:15 and then "helps" in the office until 3:00 at which time she will join Jake and Riley in an after school tutoring program to help kids that need a little extra help. He did all this moving around and arranging just so that he wouldn't lose our family when I told him we might transfer to a school that has an after school day care program for kindergarten. What a great guy!!! Brooke is doing soooo good in kindergarten so far (it's only been two days of course). I was a little afraid that she might get all shy and sad when I left her but she has been wonderful so far. Her teacher, Ms. Kraft, emailed me today and told me that Brooke is her little "sweetie pie" and that Brooke is an excellent helper in the extended class. Brooke comes home singing all the songs she has learned and makes Morgan play kindergarten with her all afternoon. Brooke always plays the part of Ms. Kraft and she always calls Morgan "Ms. Morgan". It's very cute!

Morgan is back with Ms. Teresa. We have used her for about three years off and on. All of my girls have gone to her at some point. Morgan seems to really like going there and she always does fun stuff while she's there. I know Morgan is being taken good care of so I don't have to worry about her all day. Morgan didn't like the idea of me handing her back to Ms. Teresa for a picture. I mean I had just gotten there and now I'm passing her back to her teacher... I don't blame her. Did I mention that daddy does her hair? I just have to throw that one out because I really do try and take some pride in how my girl's hair looks.

I have some new freshman this year at school but mostly I am with the kids I already knew. I have two math classes, two computer classes, one history class, one English class, and a gym class. My schedule will most likely change another six times before the week is out but for now that's my schedule. I really love my job. I always tell people if you have to work this is an awesome job to have. I get to be around some really great (and some not so great) teenagers all day. I am always off work when my kids are out of school and you get a lot of time off (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, SUMMER). You really can't beat a school job in my opinion. Here are some of our interpreters during our lunch break. For the most part we are a fun bunch of ladies especially that Deb (this is for her benefit I know for a fact that she likes to blog stalk and never leave a comment :)).

Here's a picture of me and one of our other interpreters Chelsea. We both started together and this is our fouth year interpreting together. She didn't make it into the picture and I couldn't leave her out. We have been great friends from the first day we meet and she makes life at work so much nicer.