First Day of School: Extremely Late Edition.

 The 7th Grader: This is the only picture she'd let me take.  

She had to hustle to get to the bus stop on time.  She rocked the new Vera Bradley bag.

 The 3rd Grader:  Much more willing to pose.  

She's wearing her hair clip from Pirate's League in Disney.

Here's the annual picture with Daddy.

The requisite Getting on the Bus Shot.

The 4 Year Old Preschooler: Pretty excited for his first day back at Preschool.

What you don't see in this picture is all the weaponry he brought.

 Shooting at the photographer with the flintlock pistol.

Here are the others, tucked away into his cubby: two swords, two ninja swords (or whatever they're called), the pistol, and a spyglass.

School Update:  The kids have been in school for about 7 weeks and all is going well.  Seventh grade appears to be more rigorous than 6th, which I am thrilled with, and it keeps Michaela busy.  A busy Michaela is a happy Michaela.  She is (thankfully) completely disgusted with all the boys in her grade and has met some nice girls in her classes.  She tried out for the school musical and made it- we were really proud of her.
Jenna is having an amazing year and we are all in love with her teacher.  Jenna seems to have the perfect amount of homework- enough to challenge her but not too much that she's overwhelmed. She has nice friends in her class and goes to school happy each day.
Alec was excited to return to school and then after about three weeks decided he'd really just rather be home with me each day.  He started crying each morning he had school, would cry through getting dressed, cry through brushing his teeth, cry in the car, cry as we walked in, and then as soon as he said goodbye  to me, he would pull it together and be fine for the rest of the school day.  In the last week he has reduced the crying to a few whimpers when he wakes up.  And I am okay with that.  He loves his teachers, has great boys to hang around with in class, and in general, is doing good.

For now, we are all settled into the fall routine. Amen.