so, school has started and the kids have been out of my hair for a few days now... wait, that's not what school is about. let me start over.

so, school has begun!!! the kids packed up their new backpacks, put on their new shoes and headed off into the unknown. G has been very good about riding the bus, which is one less trip to the school each day since we have to take & pick up M from pre-school. apparently the bus is not an option for the 4 year old. G has yet again had some trouble adjusting to the social environment that is public elementary school. he seems to have very limited social skills in this type of fend for yourself setting. i am having some trouble understanding what it is that he needs in order to thrive here. i know that attention is very high on his list of priorities. he seems to feed off of any attention that he can get. good, bad, he doesn't really care. and, unfortunately, he has become a pro at getting bad attention if he doesn't get the good attention right away. i guess it will be off to a counselor with him this year because i am running out of ideas at this point. on a good note, they have looked at his scores for math and reading and for his grade level he is in the 89th & 99th percentile. the gifted program starts in 3rd grade, so if we can manage to get his focus where it needs to be by next year, the teacher thinks he would be a good candidate for that.

M has surprised me. i wasn't so sure how she would do around other kids or adults because, let's face it, she has made herself the center of her daddy's world and has been staying home with him all day for the last 2 years. but, she is becoming quite the socialite in school and has been playing nicely with the other kids. she also seems to really like her teacher.

well, here's to hoping everything works out and we make it through the year. G has decided he would like to do cub scouts again this year which means busy times for me. i think i am going to look into another activity for him to do as well, the more stuff he is doing, the less time he has to get into trouble at home.

the last week of summer...

it is true... school starts next tuesday and the kiddos are all excited and stuff. i wanted to make the last week kinda special since we didn't really get to do a whole lot this year. so we started off in loveland for the weekend visiting james and solitare. we took the kids to the park and they played for a few hours there. CJ seems to like being dizzy as there was a thing there that you could spin on and he did not want to get off of it.

after that, we met the hubby in denver and headed off to grand junction. we got there about 8 or 9 and so the kids got to go to bed right away. on tuesday we went up to a place on grand mesa that the chipmunks are friendly and they will eat right out of your hand. the kids would have fed them all day if they could have. then we stopped for lunch and ice cream on the way back to town.

we decided to celebrate M's birthday on wednesday since that worked better for ed and rachel. we finally got to meet the baby and boy was he cute! all the other kids got to play in the little kiddie pool and also the sprinklers until dinner. after that they had cake and played until bedtime. it was a pretty long day for them but i am sure they would have stayed all night if we let them.

after coming home, we decided to have a picnic today and play at the park for a while. M got a kite for her birthday and G already has one so we thought we might try to fly them. unfortunately the breeze was not good at all and the kites did not fly. but we did get to play for about an hour and then the kids came home and packed to go to grandma and grandpa's for the night. after the last week... i needed a night off!

YAY!!! G is back from his summer break with his dad!!! i am glad he got to go and visit and all, but it is nice to have him back at home. and since there are only 2 weeks until school starts up again, i have decided to take one of them off so that we can all go places for a week and hang out. we will be heading up to uncle james & aunt solitare's home this coming up weekend and then we will be off to grand junction to visit the grandparents there as well as uncle ed, aunt rachel and the ever-so-lovely cordelia... and we also finally get to meet wyatt!! this should serve for much fun on the last week of summer break.

when we return it will be all about getting ready for school. i did get them both new shoes and M is very excited about going to preschool. it is only a half day for her, but i am sure it will prove to be quite interesting. she's not really into the whole authority thing right now. G will be starting second grade. it is nice to see that the kid who managed to get suspended from kindergarten (not once, but three times!) is progressing quite nicely through the elementary school food chain. the only other thing i have to work on is getting them both in the same school... G doesn't go to the one he is supposed to go to because, well, i don't even know where that one is. i think they changed the boundaries again and now i think he is supposed to go to the one that M has been enrolled in, but i didn't really want him to have to change schools since they already kinda know him where he is now. so i am hoping that i can get M in that school so that we only have to take them one place in the morning.