Back to School

This has been a fun and exciting last few days of summer for all of us. It's hard to believe that Joseph only has one more day of summer vacation before real school begins for him! I think he's really excited and a little nervous, but we are both very glad that he knows so many kids that are going to his school too.

 

Our friends Katie and Doug organized a kindergarten dinner party Sunday night, which was a great way to start the week. Katie made school bus cookies with the kids' names - they were a hit!

We decided to hop on the trend of putting your kindergartener in a large tshirt with the class year, so we can take a first day of school picture each year until they are seniors. I offered to make freezer paper stencils so the kids could paint their own shirts. They seemed to have fun and didn't mind the break from playing in the backyard too much.

Monday morning we all met up at the front of the neighborhood to take group pictures in the shirts. They turned out so cute! It's hard to believe that they'll be filling these shirts out in no time. For now, they look adorable.

 William and Jordan are in the same kindergarten class this year, and while Ellie and Joseph are in two of the other classes, they will be on the same bus. So glad there will be a few familiar faces on the bus for him!

 Of course the little sisters didn't want to be left out! We'll be doing this all again in a blink of an eye for them!

 The obligatory Jeppson kid picture. This makes me smile. Could they be any cuter? I don't think so!

The little sisters really wanted to stand on the rocks. The moms really didn't want the little girls falling into the waterfall, so we compromised (as if that can be done with 2 year olds!) and let them take one more group shot on the rocks, next to the waterfall.

 

Tonight was Back to School night. Joseph got a chance to meet his teacher, Ms. Mehwald, put his supplies in his desk, check out the lunch room and gym again, and get a shaved ice afterward. He was super shy around his teacher, but was excited to see all of the fun things in her room.

 

 

We stopped for a quick picture in front of the school sign. Too bad the back to school information was posted on the other side, facing away from the building! His school is just under one mile from our house, which will be so convenient. He'll only have 10-15 minutes or so on the bus each morning before getting to school.

 

 

After Back to School night, the kindergarteners who live in Riss Lake all met up at the neighborhood playground to take a big picture. I helped organize this and was so excited to see so many kids come out for it. It's hard to believe, but we are actually missing about 5 other kids! Hopefully we will still be here when it's time to repeat this as they graduate from high school and will be fun to look back on how little they all were.

 When I asked Joseph what he wanted to do on his last day of summer, his response was: Go to Disneyland! Oh, I wish there was some way to make that happen! Maybe someday. But for now, I think we are going to settle with a day spent hanging out with friends, at the pool and playing with our new water guns that he is really excited about. To be a kindergartener again!