First Days...

Before I start writing about the first days of school and dance, I just wanted to write about one thing. After we put our backyard in at the beginning of the summer, Maggie had gotten some seeds from school. She didn't know what they were, but wanted to plant them around our patio to make a flower garden. So, she planted them all by herself and every day she watered them. They had started growing kind of tall, but there weren't any blossoms on them yet, so I just thought they were a bean plant or something. Then we left for England and we forgot about them. The night we got back, Garrett was looking out at the backyard to see how dead our grass was and got a big surprise. These are the flowers that Maggie grew:

















They are such beautiful sunflowers and they go all around the patio. It was a nice surprise to come home to.

Maggie and Lydia are going to a brand new school that's just 5 minutes away from us. Their school is called Free Orchards and thier mascot are the foxes. Maggie started 3rd grade on Sept. 2nd and Lydia started kindergarten on the 4th. Their school starts at 8 am and their bus comes at 7:30. This is so different from last year, when school started at 9. We're still trying to get used to getting up earlier!

We'll start with Maggie:

This is Maggie on her first day. Like I said, she's in 3rd grade this year and her teacher's name is Miss Harvey. She's a really nice teacher and already Maggie is one of her favorite students. She uses Maggie's work as an example and Maggie helps her in class. (We just had back to school night.)


Maggie did extremely well on the first day. It's usually pretty hard for her, but she was very brave and didn't cry when I left. She didn't know any kids in her class, but now she's got four or five friends. There's also a lot of kids from our church that go to her school, so she gets to play with them at recess. Her and Lydia get to ride the bus to school which they both love. I love it too! It is so nice to not have to take them and pick them up everyday! What a time saver. She usually sits with Lydia in the morning, but in the afternoons, she loves to sit by her friend Ashlee, who lives down the street from us and is in our ward. (The girl in front of Maggie is Kayla, Ashlee's sister.)

Also this year, Maggie was finally able to start acrobatics. She wanted to do it last year, but the classes were full by the time we got to register. So this year, Miss Patty, the teacher and owner of Forest Grove Dance Arts, opened another acrobatics class and Maggie got her chance. Maggie is loving it and is learning to do all sorts of fun things. Somersaults, backward rolls, cartwheels, hand stands, etc.

Here's a video of her doing straddle rolls.


Lydia's First Day of Kindergarten:




Lydia is absolutely loving kindergarten. She goes in the morning (starting at 8) and is done at 10:50. Her teacher is Mrs. Bayley who is really nice and according to Lydia, does funny things. Lydia is so funny--she didn't even have a problem on the first day of school. I dropped her off and was planning to stay awhile, just in case. But she didn't need me at all. She just sat there and colored; wasn't even worried about a thing. I kept saying, "I'm going to leave soon" trying to prepare her, but she'd just say, "Bye mom." I'm glad she's so confident! She has two little boys in her class from our church, and two kids from her preschool class, so she had friends to start with. Plus she's told me that she has some other friends now, too. She doesn't tell me a lot of what happens at school, but she does tell me that they read books, color and have a lot of fun in the gym. They got to ride around on scooters the other day. Does anyone else remember those things from gym when they were little? Garrett doesn't, but I really liked them. They're just square things with wheels that you sit or lay on and scoot around the gym. Okay, enough about that.
Here's a picture of Lydia on the bus:
Lydia this year, started to take tap dance lessons. Last year she was taking ballet and quit halfway through the year. I don't think she really liked her teacher--she wasn't as fun as the other teachers there. But, the tap teacher there is a great teacher. She's fun and energetic and a little silly, which Lydia just loves. They put her in a tap one class, even though she's never had pre-tap, but the teacher said she'd do just fine. Most of the other girls have had pre-tap and I can see a big difference. So, Lydia is a little behind, and gets frustrated easily, but she's doing great. It really is cute.



Here's a video from her first class:



Paige's First Day of Preschool:




Paige is going to Wonder World Preschool in Forest Grove. This is the preschool that Lydia went to. We really love it there and the teachers are wonderful! She started on September 11th. She did so great the first day. I was really worried that she'd be all clingy and not want to go in, but she walked in and did great. The teachers say that she's quiet and observant, but will talk to them and she does participate in stuff. She really likes it! Paige also started dance this fall. Technically it's called creative movement, but we call it ballet. She was very excited to start, and she jumped right in.


There was another cuter video, that showed more "stuff", but Maggie took the video and it's all over the place and you have to tilt your head to the side to see it, so I'll try to get a better one, next time.
Bella
Bella's not in school, but she has a first too! This is her first time eating rice cereal. She did pretty good for the first time. Once again, Maggie is behind the camera. (And I apologize for sounding like the Soup Nazi in it) :)