saying goodbye and starting over is hard

cami is returning to school without 

several of her friends this 4th grade year.

many friends are starting new schools/homeschooling.

this was the first time she was not looking 

forward to starting school.

cami and her friend giving her a friendship necklace

i told her that this was going to be a great year for her.

god always brings new friendships into our lives.

but, in saying that, school is for learning and 

friends are the icing on the cake.

friends forever

carigan, on the other hand, has been 

so excited for her 2nd grade experience!

but, we walked into her new classroom during open house on friday

and she could not find her best-friend's name anywhere.

the disappointment flooded all over her face :(

she had brought her little pictures and things to give her.

(her friend's parents haven't made a final decision 

on where she will be attending school this year)

saying goodbye to friends is always very hard

no matter what stage of life you are in.

i guess it is because icing is so sweet!

here's to a great year of learning

and making new friends and

strengthening old friendships!

"god's girls"

since kindergarten, my children have attended a small private school that they just love.

in our search for the "right" school, it became pretty clear that there are no perfect schools.

we did, however, find the right school for our children and family for now.

there are things i would like to change about the school, but there are also many things we love.

one of those things we love is a high percentage of parent involvement. i know all the teachers and faculty pretty well and they know my children. it is a christian school and values and character are held high. if my child is having a rough day, their teacher will pray for them. i can always get a personal explanation of anything that happened that day, whether it is good news or bad. our school experience ends up feeling like we are all apart of a big family. the smaller classrooms allow for those personal touches.

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my oldest daughter, cami, entered the 3rd/4th grade classroom this year. before the start of the school year, i felt god put those girls in that class on my heart. i have watched cami and her friends become a little more ruthless to one another over the years and i didn't like what i was seeing.

cami's new teacher won the "teacher of the year award" last year. she is wonderful in every way! she was open to the idea of me starting a girl's club and maybe meeting with the girls every quarter to encourage them and teach them things about friendship.

in september, we met for the first time. i learned all 12 of their names and they got to learn a little bit about me as well. i brought them little treats and gave each one a special friendship bracelet to wear. they promised to value each other and treat everyone with respect. i taught a quick lesson and we discussed some things about respect. we even came up with a name for our club.

since then, the girls have been really excited to meet again. so much so, that the teacher has suggested that we meet each month now. there seems to be a unity between them and their excitement has run off on me. i think something like this is very important. girls need to learn early on to encourage and uplift one another. friendships should be valued and we all need tips on working things out.

i can't wait to meet with them next week! maybe i will start to share with you our lessons :)

school days

my kiddos started school last monday 

and since kindergarten we have taken their picture

in front of our front door to document their first days and keep track of their growth :)

here are camille's first day photos

 

2008 - kindergarten

 2009 - first grade

 

2010 - second grade

 2011 - third grade

(notice my beautiful pots - yuck! i will be replacing those soon)

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here are carigan's first day photos

 2010 - kindergarten

2011 - first grade

i already have the pre-cut mats for these pictures and the future pictures to come. it is hard to believe how much my oldest has grown in such a short time and i know i will be surprised with my youngest as well :)

....CHECK!

i happen to love checklists and use them quite often to try and stay organized. 

i came across this one the other day from imom and decided to go ahead and print out. 

i was happy to see that i am right on track...and in some ways ahead of the game :)

http://www.imom.com/tools/seasonal/back-to-school-checklist/

i wanted to share if anyone else was interested.

i think it is really cute and very appropriately on notebook paper, which is something we bought for the first time on our school list. it was a big deal to my oldest!

it is really hard to believe that i have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader this year...

well, happy checking everyone :)