First Day of School

This may be the smoothest first day of school so far!

The boys were both asleep by bedtime last night, woke up this morning with plenty of time to get ready and without rushing out the door (like last year) and both boys were successfully dropped off at school without tears (including from mom).

DJ is now a 2nd grader and we are excited that he is now in a 2nd/3rd grade combo class. I really don’t know what that all entails, but I am glad that he will now be more challenged. Hopefully, it will not be too overwhelming for him, but he is excited about being able to do 3rd grade work.

Cody is starting his 3rd year of preschool and is very excited to have his teachers  as well as his best friends from last year.

Of course the first day of school would not be complete without the mammarazzi hounding the kids before school!

DJ proudly displayed his newly-toothless smile. I CANNOT WAIT to have his school pictures taken with missing teeth!

 

This year, DJ asked for a “non-character” backpack. He is growing up. SIGH.

His Uncle/GodFather bought him and his brother these super cool Clone Wars tennis shoes. The velcro part is the eyes and lights up when they walk. DJ has been asking for non-character shoes as well, but he couldn’t resist these!

This awesome mask came with the shoes! DJ decided to put it on while getting ready for school.

Cody still tends to be a lot more cooperative when it comes to getting photographed so I had this adorable face looking at me this morning!

Then he started taking pictures of me with my lens cover.

Then….he was done with pictures. This face says it all!

 

Cody picked out this cool backpack this year. He has not outgrown Yo Gabba Gabba at all, but the Brobie backpack was on its last leg and needed a replacement. When he saw this backpack while Back to School shopping he squealed out “EEEEMO!” I guess that meant he wanted it. 

He was eager to pose with his backpack like big brother.

1st Grade

It is hard to believe that DJ is already a 1st grader. The Kindergarten year flew by and as of August 3rd, DJ is officially a 1st grade and going to school all day!

We worried about how he would do going to school all day since Kinder was only 3 hours, but he seemed to adjust fine.

He was VERY excited about going to school and even woke up extra early that day.

Here is our big 1st grader making silly faces for the camera.

DJ is not big on eating breakfast so I was surprised when he asked for some to start his day. His breakfast of choice? Bagel Bites!!

Last year for his 1st day of school, I baked him a cake. This year, I didn’t have as much time so instead he got a Spongebob surprise….

Congratulations, DJ!

He’s growing up.

Last month, DJ graduated from Kindergarten. His days of half-day school, having a playground just for their grade, and “easy” homework are over. 

His class had a ceremony for the graduates and family and friends were invited.

The graduates were even honored with a “diploma” and graduation picture.

Next month, he will be a 1st grader. We know he is ready for it and we are SO proud of him.

Kindergarten was a lot of fun for him and he did so well in school. He boasts about his reading level (28) and that he can read at a 2nd grade level. YEAH DJ!

At the end of the program, the class sang the “I Like Myself” song. Can you tell which kid was too cool to sing? =)

 

Our proud graduate…

DJ with his BFF, Marella.

I am really going to miss his teacher. She is so patient with the kids and really motivated DJ. We will miss you Mrs. F!!!!! See you around the big playground next year!

 

Class of 2009….

A Day at the Farm

Last week was DJ’s first field trip. They took a trip to a farm!

They were most excited about riding on a bus more than anything else.

This is DJ with his best buddy, Marella. They have known each other since they were itty bitty so it was great that they enjoyed their first year of school together.

Marella’s mom pointed that you can see DJ’s reflection in the window. Cool, huh?

When we got to the farm, the kids listened to a brief presentation regarding the rules of the farm. Don’t they all look so bored?

Even Cody wasn’t feeling it.

He did enjoy sitting on the logs like the big kids, though.

The first stop was the bunny cages. The loved petting the soft bunnies.  

 

Cody didn’t want anything to do with the bunnies. 

Then they moved on to the goats…

Then to pet some baby ducks…

Then the pigs…

But got side tracked by a dog…

Then off to the sheep…

While Cody did some off-road action with daddy…

There were peacocks roaming free throughout the farm. That was my favorite part.

 

And the most exciting animal that my group saw was….are you ready for this exotic animal that captivated their attention????

Yes, a cat!!!!!! And because this cat was sitting in the green house in a tray with plants that are for sale, there was a sign behind the cat that said “$2”. DJ asked us if he could buy the cat because it was only $2! HAHA

When we asked DJ what his favorite part of the farm was he said “petting the cat”. Ya, DJ, that is what a farm is all about…the cats! =)

100th Day of School Celebration

Tuesday was DJ's 100th Day of School celebration!



When I picked him up from school, he was wearing this cool hat and had a huge $100 bill that he said I could have to buy a house. So thoughtful! =)

He said he had a fun day counting 100 pieces of popcorn (he also added that the popcorn was gone in no time!), writing to 100, and having a great 100th day of school day.

Best part is that he expected there to be a 101th day of school party the next day!

Crazy Hat Day

Today was Crazy Hat Day at DJ's school.

When he found out about Crazy Hat Day yesterday, the first hat he thought of was his Pirates of the Caribbean cowboy hat. BUT he did not want to wear it the right way because he says it had to be "crazy" looking. Instead, he wore it sideways. He's such a funny boy! :)

Grandparents Day

A couple of weeks ago, DJ's school had Grandparents Day. Fortunately, Mama already had the day off so she joined DJ for the day.

DJ was very excited about Mama coming to Grandparents Day. He wanted Papa to come, too, but he had to work.

Here they are on the way to the cafeteria for lunch.

After stopping by the cafeteria to grab a nutritious lunch of nachos and cheeseburgers, they headed to DJ's class to enjoy their meal and spend the rest of the school day.

After lunch was time on the carpet. The kids get to take turns practicing their reading and finish their show and tell.

DJ's teacher wanted the kids to show their skills to their grandparents, so DJ had a chance to get up there and show Mama his reading skills.

It's amazing that after only 2.5 months in school, he is reading!!!! He is doing great with the 1-4 letter words and is trying to read the bigger ones. He LOVES reading and his teacher called him the "King of the Reading Log" at school because he tries to bring a reading log (of 10 books read) each week. They only need to submit one a month, but so far, I think DJ is up to 10 for the school year.

We are so glad he is enthusiastic about learning! I hope he keeps it up!!!

And here's a picture of the supportive baby brother. :)

Cody's Turn.....First Day at Pre-Preschool

Why do kids grow up so fast????

This past Monday, Cody started his pre-preschool. For 6 weeks, he and I will attend preschool together so that he can get used to the new environment. After the first 6 weeks, he will go to the actual preschool class and I will slowly let him become more independent (well...that's the teacher's plan, but don't be surprised to hear that I stay with him all day every day! - I already lost one kid to school this school year and I'm not ready to lose the other!!!!).

He is only 2 and that is young for school, but with the early intervention program for special needs, they have them attend preschool early so that they can slowly transition them to the preschool environment.

The best part is that Cody LOVES school!!! I don't think he will have a problem transitioning at all after these first 6 weeks. I, on the other hand, will have a VERY hard time transitioning.

Cody also now has speech therapy and (warning - proud bragging mommy coming up...) today, his speech therapist said that Cody is the most proficient signer (in sign language) that the teachers have seen in a long time. We are SO proud of him!!!!!

We are constantly introducing new signs to him and he learns them right away! The therapist was impressed last week when he picked up a couple of new signs right away and actually started putting together 2 sign sentences (e.g. more cars, want blocks). He usually signs one word at a time so it was great to see him put together 2 signs to relay what he wanted.

And now to the school pictures....

First...he had to pick out shoes for the school day. Too bad those weren't his shoes. They were DJ's. :)




Look how happy he was on the car ride! He was so excited when we turned on the street for school!



His excitement increased as we got closer to the school!



Doesn't he look like a big boy?



There he goes...entering the school on his first day...



And he's off! As soon as we opened the door, he took off running to the toy area.



When we went to his orientation on Friday, this was his favorite toy. I guess he remembered it because he went straight to it.



Who doesn't love a trampoline?



Concentrating on blocks.



At recess time Cody couldn't wait for them to open the gate. He stood at the gain signing "help" until his teacher opened it. :) I think he is like DJ and recess is his favorite part of school.



OOOO...his favorite....CARS!!!!



After driving the truck around for a bit, he realized there were more cars at the back of the playground.

I like this picture because it looks like he is car shopping in a car lot.



FOUND ONE!



Cody did not cry at all at school. The only time he complained was when we started walking out of the school. He wanted to go back in!

I am so glad that both boys are so enthusiastic about school!