School Survivors

Everyone survived their first week of school....hooray! I'm including their first day photos.

Panda is thrilled to have Mr. Peters as his second grade teacher. The man is just a fun guy and there is something very cool about having a male teacher for once...especially one that is notorious for giving every child in his class a new nickname. (No word yet on Panda's new name.) Panda was also happy to report that he gets a bonus recess every Wednesday if he hands in his homework by Friday of the previous week. This is a good motivator for Panda...as long as Mr. Peters keeps his word about the whole deal. Otherwise, all bets are off with this guy! :)

Big-J was frustrated the first day, but the next day was better. Those pesky locker combinations were getting to him. He locked his binder (complete with schedule and combination) inside his locker during his first morning of 6th grade. It took a while to find the right person to help him open it back up. Later, he ended up in the hallway outside of a locked classroom for 30 minutes or so. Eventually a staff member found him and pointed him in the right direction. Big-J was also a bit relieved that his band teacher will be keeping track of his padlock combination. It gives him a back up just in case.

Camo is looking forward to next week when he gets to return to the reintegration process. He will be spending the later half of the day at the middle school and then he and Big-J will ride the bus home together. He also gets to try out having lunch with the general population at the middle school every Wednesday. That will be a bit of a challenge, since lunch periods are "unstructured time", but Camo says he can handle it. He's motivated by the fact that he might get to eat lunch with some of his friends from elementary school that he has missed seeing since being transferred to the AEA schools.

Moose is loving Freshman life. He is happy to be catching up with old friends from his elementary school years. I had to laugh when Moose gushed about how tall one of the boys from his cub scout den had grown -- this from the boy who is now 6' 2"! I know, it's hard to believe people change when you haven't seen them for a while. I say the same thing about my nieces and nephews when I get to see recent pictures of them. Moose was also elated that he got into Driver's Ed for second semester. This means he should be able to get his license on his 16th birthday instead of waiting to complete the class.

Stormin' loved having the perk of getting one extra day of summer break than his brothers. That first day is for orientation of freshmen, so he spent the day hanging out with friends and paintballing. Then he rushed to finish up his chemistry homework that he had all summer to complete. He's happy to be in AP Chemistry this semester with one of his favorite teachers, Mr. Ubbelohde (whose old scoutmaster happens to be MustangMan's father). Stormin' has also informed me that he's planning to go out for jazz band again this year, he already volunteered for all state and is still thinking about full orchestra.

My first week wasn't over until after a four hour sales training session today, Saturday. Of course, it could have been worse. At least that prof is kind of entertaining.

And last of all, but certainly not least, a special message for my dad:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you!