First Day of School

Tyler's first day of 3rd Grade. He's growing up so fast and getting so handsome these days! He's been labeled as the "class clown" the past few years. Not because he goofs off all the time but because he always makes everyone laugh. The only problem is that when he discovered this "talent" he would sometimes use it when he was supposed to be reading or it was quiet as the kids were studying. We worked with him a lot on recognizing appropriate times to make people laugh and talked to him a lot about his leadership skills and how people respond to his moods and decisions a lot. Each year in school and at church his teachers ALL tell us the same thing, "when Tyler is good, everyone is good, but when Tyler is silly, everyone is silly". We've really stressed a lot with him that "with great power comes great responsibility" (spiderman quote) and that he has the ability to influence a lot of people and he really needs to be aware of that and think about his actions even more than other people do. Anyway, we were thrilled when his teacher this year told us that she has designated "Joke Time" and she told him if he wanted to prepare a stand up comedy routine she would let him have a little bit of the time every week at joke time. So there's no question about appropriate times to make people laugh and it's eliminated that problem for us this year... so far! :)

Maddie's first day of 2nd Grade. She's growing into such a beautiful young lady and it's all happening WAY too fast for me! She came home on the second week of school telling me how a boy in her class told her that he has a crush on her and she didn't know what to say. Finally she said, "I like you too, but we should just be friends." *HUGE SIGH of relief* I guess she's been listening at least a little bit to some of the things I say! She really is such a sweet girl and even though she's had some separation issues since just before we left for Hawaii she's working hard to be brave and remember that no matter what we will always have each other and always be together.

And this beautiful girl started Kindergarten on the first of this month! What a sweetheart! She's been so excited about it she could hardly wait!

We took her into the backyard and did some pictures and she was hammin' it up big time!

She INSISTED on having a picture where I could see her tag that said she rides the bus home. She was SO excited about the bus! We drove her to school on the first day so we made sure she got to her class okay and she was SO independent and wanted to make sure we knew she didn't need us there. Peter gives the kids priesthood blessings as they start each new school year and Emily said she didn't need a blessing because she wasn't nervous about school at all. She really is so independent and did a great job on her first day of school!

I was excited to see her face as she got off of the bus for the first time and I was SO glad I was there or I might have missed her enthusiasm! She LEAPED off the bus...

and then did a little leaping dance all the way home!

I did manage to get her to hold still long enough for a picture in front of the bus! It was a great first day of school and she hasn't stopped smiling since! We love you beautiful girl! You are going to have a GREAT school year!