Back to School

We had some school struggles this summer.  The school here are overcrowded (like many bay area schools), but it was a bit worse than we expected.  We learned a couple of weeks before school started that none of the kids had gotten into our neighborhood school.  That was frustrating but we still had hope.  Then, we later learned that Elizabeth had gotten in.  Sadly, Natalie and Nate didn't get in for this year.  Natalie got in about a month into the school year but by then we elected to have her stay in the other school with Nate so she wouldn't have to switch mid-year.

Luckily, so far things have gone well, even with dividing our time between two schools.  A new family moved into our neighborhood, and our ward, whose son also was overloaded so we've been able to carpool which has helped a lot.  And, we've had good experiences at both schools.  We've been happy with all of their teachers.

First day of school:

Natalie earned an academic award in September:

At that same assembly, she also gave a speech about caring with a friend of hers.  She did such a great job!

A closer look at that award:

Elizabeth had her jog-a-thon:

Look at her go! 

Eli and I had fun volunteering to help.  He got to operate the spray bottle spraying the kids as they ran by (it was quite hot!).  He was great at filling up cups of water, too.  

Natalie and Nate had their jog-a-thon just last week.  It was fun to get a glimpse into their school, too.  The events were so different at both schools but both were great.  At Natalie and Nate's school, there aren't as many resources or volunteers but they had so much fun still.  They had a legit DJ mixing music and I loved this recess dance party after Nate's finished up:

It's hard to see but they were having a blast shuffling, whipping and nae-naeing (sp?) and doing some other new dances I'd never heard of. Of course my kids didn't really participate (although Natalie told me she danced in a later recess).  Nate was doing what he always does at recess:

He loves the bars!  He has the blisters to prove it.

I loved this shot of Natalie running and Eli giving her bug hugs:

I love getting to see my kids while they are at school.  I need to get my act together and volunteer more!