Another School Year Starts

Don't you love that line in You've Got Mail when Meg Ryan talks about getting a boquet of freshly sharpened pencils in the fall?  Every year I want one!  A new school year is always so exciting.  Maybe it's my inner geek speaking, but I love all the new school supplies and little ones excited about learning.  Ever since I quit teaching I always wax a little nostalgic about my prior job around this time of year.

Little Man misses his big sis.  He gets really excited when it's time to pick her up from school.

Sassy Pants picked out this outfit when we went back to school shopping (and insisted on tucking her shirt into her skirt-- girl has fashion skills!).

 But, anyway, our little Ruby Roo started her second year of preschool last week.  I decided to send her to New Castle this year and she is loving it.  Her first year was at a home based program, and while that was a great fit last year, I really wanted her to have a different experience this year.  I thought she needed to be in a class with kids just her age and be exposed to math and reading in different ways than she was last year, plus I thought that going to a school campus would help her make the transition to kindergarten at an elementary school next year.  I spent lots of time researching the local preschools and kind of fell in love with New Castle.  I love their curriculum, teachers, campus, and use of love and logic classroom management principles.  Ruby loves going.  She especially loves the water table on the playground because it has mermaids (shocking, right?) and her teacher Ms. Erin. She told me the other day that she really likes how Ms. Erin always gives her a hug when she sees her.  Cute, right?

She loves the little tote she helped design.  It's a ballerina princess that looks just like her and has her name on it!

Brandon also went back to school this month.  He started his second year of MBA school a few weeks ago (Sorry, no cute first day of class pictures this year).  He's back in the routine of studying and going to classes every other Friday and Saturday and we're back in the routine of missing him, but hanging in there.  I have lots of projects planned-- there is more painting in my near future and a race coming up in a few weeks.  I gotta keep busy somehow...  But, seriously, we're really proud of him.  It's a big time commitment and he's stretched pretty thin, but it is all worth it.  He's fulfilling a dream he's had for a long time and we're happy to support him.