1st day of school

Ha!  people ask us all the time if we homeschool and frankly I commend those that do but my children hardly listen to me when it comes to brushing their teeth.  Also our littles REALLY need to be out in the world as much as possible we believe.  Advocacy for them will perhaps be the greatest tool we can teach them.  Brahm not so much - but Fei will be little as in her adult height will be similar to her current peers (1st graders).

We are so blessed by our school - and most importantly we are blessed by our teachers - they LOVE our kids.

So although it is a whole new year, we have all the SAME teachers except Brahm.  Everyone else moved up into last years teachers.

For littles this has been amazing, I didn't have to coach the 1st grade teacher about Fei's needs, she had Brahm last year.

The kindergarten teacher knows we don't treat our children as disabled - we expect them to do the same as their peers to the best of their ability.

It was amazingly an easy morning, especially since the 1st grade teacher took me aside and warned me the bathroom locks hadn't been changed (fei can't reach them to close the door.)

So we have a freshman, a 6th grader, then 2nd, 1st, kindy and preschool (who starts next week but didn't want to be left out!!)

Tao starts next week but we didn't want to leave him out!

Gorgeous girl ready for 1st grade!

Handsome 2nd grader!!

Cav had issues this morning about taking pics, and it was past time to leave

But I was able to snag a phone one from class!

The lose of a mind and school

Before I tell you about the kids starting school (ok I recognize no one cares LOL but I keep this for my memory!)

It is very important to note that Cav has lost his mind LOL!  Truly, I didn't see it coming.  We had back to school on Monday.  All 5 kids bringing their bags of crap supplies, meeting teachers, etc.  I worked hard to be organized and make this seamless.  Yeah NO!  Everyone and I mean everyone seems to know atleast one of our kids.  ABout the time I was adding money to school lunches Cav no longer could filter the noise, the chaos, the activity.

HE LOST IT . . . for TWO days.

Like in back to the first months home.  Ugh I was so not ready for this.  But now I know, now I can try and be prepared.  DUH, that is why he loses it everytime we went to a school function.

Oh and encase you don't know it's a preK-12 school and I'm not talking small!

Ok sorry for the public service announcement LOL!

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On to the First day of SCHOOL!

It was actually oddly nice, we have a staggered start so I only had Brahm and Morgan.

Brahm is starting FIRST grade (apparently passing on he is a dwarf with chronic pain wasn't deemed important.)  I always have a hard time with the beginning of all day school (yes we still have 1/2 day kindergarten!)

Morgan is going to FIFTH grade - she was at a different specialty school last year so she was nervous too.  Luckily, one of her friends from 3rd grade is in her class!  She worried for a week what to wear - I thought she looked so grown up!

And yes we have a giant triceratops in our yard.  The kids love it - and well what else do you do with a crazy birthday present for hubby!

And come back later for FeiFei's Kindergarten pictures - cuz I know you really care. . . less LOL!

First Day of Preschool

She did it!

Our little FeiFei was used to going to Half the Sky preschool twice a day everyday while in China.  She was content being home while the kids were off for Christmas Break, but once they all started going to school she jsut was so sad and every morning would point to herself.

When we would go drop off little man (late as always) she would stand in the back and jsut look so longingly at the class.

Of course our illustrious school district (ok the district is great but the child find focuses primarily on speech delays,) decided she was to "perfect" to qualify for one of their preschools.  Wait 6 months until she acquires language and then we will see if she qualifies, they said.  Really that will put us six weeks before kindergarten.

Anyhow, our fabulous church's CDC agreed to take her despite speaking Mandarin, and needing help on the potty (due to dwarfism).  We asked her all last week, using our fabulous iPhone app Jibbigo, if she wanted to go to school. Each time she would shyly nod but with her big grin.

Man, was she so excited this morning, and of course our big princess had to make sure she looked perfect for her first day.

All this sweet little girl could say was xie xie mama (thank you mama) over and over again.  I could have just cried.  Not just because she is as sweet as honey, but because in China all school is paid for.  It means you have a family to go to school.

She was thankful for something that most of our kids take for granted.

I was a freak of course, I hardly slept last night worried about how she would do.  I had a full page of notes about her including phonetic spellings of her most important Chinese words she might use.  

With one last xie xie mama she hung up her backpack and went right to the activity table!

AND SHE DID AWESOME!

If someone before we traveled had said that she would be in school less then a month after we got home, I would have told them they were insane, but as with everything adoption, I guess taking my cues from the little ones is the best idea.