First Day of School

First day of school pictures! "Okay Zachary, time to take some pictures!"

"Um...I'm not sure about that "smile", let's try something...can you show me a scary face?"

"Ooh, good scary face! Now show me a...silly face!"

"THAT is a very silly face. Now show me a sad face."

"Oh dear, you look very sad. Now show me a happy face!"

Zachary started "school" last week. To tell you the truth, it really didn't feel like a big deal. Not like it did last year. Over the summer we took advantage of a ministry our church offers to members of free Mother's Morning Out days. It's only once a week, you have to register a week ahead of time, and there's limited space, but it was a fantastic way for them to do something fun, stay cool in the heat, and I got some time to myself (granted I tended to schedule my OB appts for those mornings, but at least I didn't have to drag two little boys to very many appts!). We also did VBS at the church, we started going to to Wednesday night suppers and staying for discipleship classes, and of course we've been going to Sunday morning worship services. So dropping Zachary off for "school" didn't feel any different than dropping him off for any of the other various activities. And even though he's not in the same classroom he was in last year, it IS the same room he's in this year for a couple of the activities.

Speaking of activities, I counted up the other day and realized that we have Zachary in SEVEN different things this year!! Sunday school, AWANA, MOPS, MMO, Children's Choir/Mission Friends, and The Little Gym. Four of them at our church. Daniel is in three: Sunday school, MOPS, and The Little Gym. Crazy. When we moved to Huntsville two years ago, the boys (well, boy. D wasn't born yet) were in nothing. Then we added MOPS and MMO. We did Kindermusik for a semester, then added The Little Gym. It was very manageable with a new baby. This time, the baby is just going to have be adaptable because we've got a lot going on!

Anyway, Zachary's first and second day went well (he goes twice a week, so we've only had two days so far.) He already knew his teacher - one of his best friend's mommy. (the end of that sentence sounds terribly awkward, but I'm not sure how to reword it and frankly don't want to spend the effort on it.) Some of his friends from last year aren't in his class this year, but he still gets to see them at other times (AWANA, Children's Choir/Mission Friends, or Sunday school). It will be interesting to see if his "best friends" change this year or not. While Z is in school, Daniel has his Little Gym class one day and the other day I reserve for any appointments or errands I need to do. Those things don't usually take up the full 4 hours that Z is away, and my goal is to spend that extra time just with Daniel. It's hard to get one-on-one time with Daniel when Zachary is home, because they each want to do what the other is doing. One-on-one time with Zachary isn't as hard to do because Daniel still takes a lovely 2 - 3 hour nap in the afternoon. But time with Daniel was hard to come by this summer.

So, our 2011-2012 school year had begun. Almost everything has started up, except for MOPS which will begin 9/5 (though we have a Steering Team meeting this month, so it's almost started up for me.) We'll see how we do with so many things going on (though not nearly as many as some - we haven't even started sports yet!) or if I need to scale back on anything. I've kept my jealously guarded Tuesdays free, and I dropped organizing the playgroups for the school year, so half of my Mondays will be free too. (well, unless someone else picks that up. But even so I won't be going to the playgroups in Oct and at least part of Nov because of the new little one.) Oh, and Z's Little Gym class is in the evening, so that frees up Friday. It should be manageable. (am I trying to convince you or me...?)

Maybe with such a manageable schedule, I'll be able to blog a little more often! (ha. I think everytime I've said something of that sort I disappear (as far as this blog is concerned) for months at a time.) This is the second post in a short period of time, right? So maybe I'll be back again soon!