Owen goes to 1st grade

We woke up early. 

Got dressed.

Had breakfast. 

Snapped a few quick pictures. 

Woke Audrey and Ben up from their deep, snoring, slumbers,

and headed off to escort Owen in for his first day of 1st grade!

  I worried on the way over how I was going to manage first days for all of them when they are at different schools, and then I thought to myself, Owen's probably not going to let me chase him around with a camera for too much longer... By the look on his face here and the way he bolted in the class without looking back, I'm thinking he may not let me walk him in next year. 

Ben rushed behind Owen asking for a hug. They settled on a high five. 

Owen quickly found some friends to start his morning off with.

and we left 

Next week this one begins his last year of preschool and then he'll be off to kindergarten. 

Owen's first day of kindergarten HERE.

Preschool * Kindergarten * 1st grade

Meet the Teacher

We went to meet Owen's 1st grade teacher today. He has been assigned Ms. Nelson this year. She was a kindergarten teacher last year, so he recognizes her, which made him feel pretty comfortable walking in and talking to her. She is also one of Mrs. Jones'  (his kindergarten teacher) best friends. We were also surprised to find out her assistant was Mrs. Brown, who was his assistant from last year and there are 5 friends in his class. It's already looking to be a great year!

 We are very excited! 

Feeling pretty confident as he ran ahead of us. 

Introducing himself to 

Ms. Nelson

Getting his clip ready to go for tomorrow...

Ready to Learn

One of his best buddies is not only in his class, but sits across from him.

Danny leaving a message on the giant chalkboard. 

With his teachers 

Mrs. Nelson

and 

Mrs. Brown 

He found the hook for his bag.

He said the hand was just his size. 

Meet the teacher kindergarten HERE

testing

We went as a family to Owen's tae kwon do testing. It was a 3 hour event that was so inspiring! We not only watched and supported Owen as he tested for his yellow-green belt, but we watched numerous others test for their belts as well. The most incredible part was seeing a 50 year old woman and a 16 year old boy test for their 1st degree black belt. Listening to them read their heart felt essays and then seeing them break boards as if it was easy was unbelievable! If you have the opportunity to attend one of these events, you should! 

I would also like to note this would be so beneficial for our classroom teachers. So much more than putting guns in their hands! 

So proud of Owen. He is extremely confident and not afraid to try and give his best, and although you might not be afraid of him in a dark alley, he is giving it his all and well on his way!

Ninja Dude

This one gets to test for his next belt this Saturday. He has worked so hard and has spent 2 afternoons a week all summer at the Tae Kwon Do school.

I am sad to say we are pulling him out of the program for now, so we can allow Audrey and Ben to also be involved in an extracurricular activity.  Hopefully he'll get to rejoin at some point.

Breakfast date

when Ben woke up this morning, I surprised him and took him to Breakfast before anyone else was awake. I asked him where he wanted to go and he picked McDonald's and requested their hotcakes. 

He had a Target gift card to spend too, so we headed there next and picked out a Sorry game, play doh set, extra play doh and pirate booty.

It was a sweet morning with my cutie!

Does it get any cuter?

So hard to believe she'll be 3 in just over 4 months!

Helping NC schools

With the recent Education Budget cuts, I've been trying to think of ways we can all help... even those of you without children. Here are a few things I came up with (please add to this list!) 

1. Link your GROCERY CARD to a local school in your area. I'd love for you to link your Ingles Cards to William W. Estes if you do not have children and would like to help my child's school. 

 Ingles ID: 10798

 HT Vic card ID: 4020

2. Link your TARGET RED Card to a local school ( 1% of your purchases will go to that school)

 Target Red Card Id: 79552


3. Collect BOX TOPS for EDUCATION (schools receive 10 cents for every box top turned in.) If you do not have a child in school, collect these and pass them along to your neighbor who does. Mail them to me and I'll pay you for the postage! I keep a plastic baggie on my fridge and I slip my box tops in the bag. These can be collected ALL YEAR by you. I have a baggie full from this summer.

4. When you purchase your student's supplies or make a donation to the local Tools For Schools, think about supplies a teacher may also need (sticky notes, craft supplies, reward stickers, bulletin board kits, Dixie cups, holiday items, straws, Popsicle sticks, box of snacks.. ie: goldfish and granola bars (probably not best for the big donation sites, but perfect to add to your k-4 kids bag), Clorox wipes, tissue, dry erase markers, play doh, etc.

5. Maybe add a small Wal-Mart or Target gift Card to your child's supply bag for the teachers to use towards larger wish list items.

Box Tops and linking your cards cost you nothing and can help tremendously if we all participate!

Also...

-Some schools collect Campbell Soup labels, check into this for your schools!

-Order Scholastic Books online when teachers send home order forms. Teachers earn a $3 credit for each online order.

-Support a teacher and their Grant by visiting http://www.donorschoose.org/