First week of Fourth, Second, and Kindergarten

It's that time of year again....the beginning of the school year.  Three weeks ago I was literally hyperventilating over, and nearly in tears because school was starting and I felt completely unready for it.  After having a pretty good week under our belt, I'm feeling much better and less stress.

The girls were so excited to find a matching skirt.  They wanted us to match at church....awe....

We started with our annual "When I grow up..." pictures

Nathan got two pictures this year because his first answer was so crazy.

Let's face it...the second answer was crazy too!

Even I got a picture this year.  Yep- I'm that old!

I don't really have a lot of  pictures from our week.  Everyone started back in Cycle 1 of Classical Conversations.  Nicole is starting the Essentials program for the first time.

 She has been very excited about.  I'm not sure if it lived up to her expectations or not...but she did great.The girls made "bottomless shoes" this week too.

We now have a book basket and I am working hard to implement "Tea Time" a few times throughout the week.  The kids love it...but I've always had a "it's another thing to clean" attitude.  However, I want to focus on spending time WITH them and this is something they all three really enjoy.  So, we will have our snack, or um...tea time like this.
I was praying for the Lord to help me find a really cute, inexpensive tea set.  After going to several thrift stores, I found this one...and it's perfect.

We read poems, silly books, chapter books, science...whatever during our tea time.  It's a special time.

This is what Nicole looks like after an hour of Essentials and math ;)

Oh...and....as a bonus to our first week, Grammy and Gramps came down.  We got to spend a bit of time with them in the evenings.  The kids were thrilled!  We even had an impromptu "belated birthday party" for Gramps.