First Day of School!

School started early this year!   The first day of school for all the kiddos this year was August 3rd, and none of us were ready for this!  It was a new school year with big changes for the two oldest, but the continuation of a lot of the same for the younger two.   They were all smiles that morning though, despite feeling like summer was cut way too short!

This year Eden will be a freshman at Volcano Vista High School!   She had lots of choices for school this year, and got accepted to several charter and magnet schools she applied for, but in the end decided to go the traditional route to the public high school with her friends, attending seminary, and opportunities to play in the school orchestra.   She is nervous and excited.  I can't believe she is already in high school!  Time is flying too fast!

This year Bentley also had some hard choices to make as he was entering into middle school - 6th grade!  He has been in a class with lots of friends these past couple years, but that was no longer an option for him to stay at CWFS in the regular middle school program.  So he had to choose between getting accepted at Cottonwood Classical Prepatory School, or staying at Coyote Willow Family School, but moving to Ms. Adrianne's class in the 50% program.  After running all the pros and cons, he decided to stay at Coyote and do half days so he could have Ms. Adrianne (the principal) as his teacher.  He is bummed to not be in the same class as his buddies, but super excited to get out of school every day at 12:30.  This will be a big adjustment for me this year, but I am excited to get some extra time with him.

Olive was probably the most excited to get back to school this year - another year with Mrs. Fox - 4th grade here she comes!!  She also has her best buddy Magnolia in her class this year and she is stoked.  It's going to be another great year for this little lady!    Karly and Olive were both very excited to wear their Taylor Swift concert t-shirts on the first day.  They were excited to tell people about the concert being a highlight of their summer.

Karly was excited to go back to class with Mrs. Stephanie for 2nd grade!  She was wishing she could be with Olive and Mrs. Fox again, but that wasn't a choice this time so she was happy to go back to Mrs. Stephanie so she knew what to expect for the coming year.   I can't believe my baby is in 2nd grade!

The most exciting news for Karly was that she would have Lola in her class this year!  Lola is starting Kindergarten so Karly is excited to be there to help her and show her the ropes!

After Erin said goodbye to Lola, I watched as she looked a little scared and nervous and then Karly grabbed her hand, and Lola snuggled in.  They are going to have a fun year together.   I reminded Karly that when she was in Kinder, she had Olive in her class to give her "hug breaks" when she was missing home, so she was excited to help Lola if she needed any "missing mom hug breaks."    I love the family school for fun and memorable experiences for these cute cousins to be in class together.  I'm sure they will have many funny stories for us in the months to come.

Later in the day Erin and I got this picture message from Mrs. Stephanie of Karly and Lola eating lunch together.

Best of luck to us all for a successful year of schedule adjusting, environment adjusting, character building and learning!