Middle School

Maura has started Middle school.  She goes to TE Middle School.  I was not thrilled, okay, very nervous, about her going to middle school in fifth grade.  I love our school district.  This is the one thing I do not love.  I thought she was surely too young.  I could not imagine Maura, who typically lacks organizational skills-like her Mama, being able to handle 7 different teachers and all the scheduling that goes along with it.  I also was not happy that she would be mixed in with 8th graders!  Well, she could not be loving it more.  And, wow, is she doing so well.  The hardest part, for me, is getting up so early (she has to be at the bus stop at 7:10am).  Maura loves to sleep, so I thought she would have trouble getting up too.  I was wrong, again.  She learned to set her alarm and is up, dressed and downstairs before I even get out of bed.  She is loving the "freedom" that comes along with middle school.  She has met new friends and loves most of her teachers.  Apparently, one teacher "hates" her.  This is something she is not used to!  Her grades are great too- our first experience with real grades.  In elementary school we don't have real grades.

I am very proud of her and love how happy she is.  I can't wait to meet some of her new friends and meet with some of her teachers and see how she is in school.

The other three are still at Beaumont.  This is my first year having all day to myself... which really is a game changer.  I am trying my best to slow down and not take on any new volunteer 'jobs'.  Mags is flying high in fourth grade as the oldest in the school.  She has Ms. Senior and loves her.  B has Ms. Fisher who she just thinks is so fun and nice.  Kerri has Mrs. Joers (who Maura also had) and is so similar to Maggie in that she loves doing homework and studying for her spelling test each week.  So far she has scored all perfect tests.

B has a tutor this year that we got for the summer to help her with her reading.  Sean and I were a little concerned at the end of first grade.  She is reading a little below grade level, and we just did not want to see her struggle.  I know how hard she works.  I am happy this year with her progress.  She is loving pretending she is a teacher and reads me a book or two every night from her teacher chair.  She sits in such an interesting way with her foot underneath her, almost like she is posing for a picture.  This is her teacher pose.  She also likes me to sit like that when I am the teacher.  It is adorable.  I really hope this love continues, and she does not get frustrated as she continues to learn.  

Skiing

What a fun weekend we had this past weekend.  We went to Camelback Ski Resort with the Smiths for some skiing and sledding.  Our girls love skiing, but we usually only go once a year to a small ski mountain near us.  This would be the first time the girls hit the bigger slopes in the Poconos.  They did great.  It was only Kerri's second time skiing and just third and fourth for other girls.  We arrived at the mountain and headed right up the chairlift.  First run down was bumpy.  I think everyone fell at least once.  Kerri declared that she was done skiing for the day.  Luckily she gave it another shot.  By the end of the day, they we all doing great.  They had the most fun when they got to ski with the Smiths and do the longer runs together.  It was a really fun day for everyone.  Dinner and a movie finished out the day.

The next day we headed back to the mountain for tubing.   I had never been tubing and was not that excited about it.  But boy, I am glad I did.  It was fun for everyone.  The kids had a great time linking up the tubes and going down together.  There were lots of racing involved too.  Some trash talking also!  I wish we had the chance to go more often.  If only we did not have school all the time and it was not so expensive.

I think the kids will remember weekends like this for a long time!