Hannah's first day of 4th grade

Better late than never....ignore the overgrown grass please.

Not a good start to the year (subtitled: THIS is why we call her scatterbrained)

This morning was the first day of school and Hannah had a lot of stuff to take with her in her backpack. On top of her usual school supplies she also needed to take a check for lunch tokens and a note for her teacher regarding her bus schedule.

Me: Okay, here is a check for lunch tokens. When you get to school you go directly to the cafeteria and then take them directly back to your backpack. You don't play with them. You don't show them to anyone. Got it?

[Side note: Hannah has lost her lunch tokens in the past because she gets distracted walking back to her classroom from the cafeteria.]

Hannah: Okay.

Me: And here is a note for your teacher. When you put the tokens in your backpack take the note out and give it to her. The check and the note are in the same pocket. The same pocket where you'll put your tokens.

Hannah: Okay.

Me: Here is your lunch box with your snacks in it. Because your bag is full of school supplies it won't fit in the backpack. Make sure when you get off the bus you have your lunch box AND your backpack. Don't forget!

Hannah: Okay.

Me: Because I know how you are. You're going to get excited when the other kids get on the bus and you'll be talking and gabbing and get all excited and you're going to walk off without it.

Hannah: I won't.

Me: Okay.

(We go over all of this about 2 or 3 more times in different versions of the same conversation before heading over to catch the bus at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Before we drive over we have a discussion whether or not she needs a sweater and SHE decides she doesn't want to wear one.)

Me: Okay, the bus will be here in a minute. What's the first thing you're going to do when you get off the bus?

Hannah: Make sure I have my sweater!

Me (exasperated): That would be great except you didn't take a sweater today.

This is not getting 3rd grade off to a good start.....

3rd Grade

Hannah started 3rd grade today so of course we had to do the annual pictures in front of her apple tree that she planted when she started kindergarten. Unfortunately my camera must have been on the wrong setting or something because the color quality isn't the best.

Pictures include: The traditional first day of school outfit and backback in front of the apple tree, her "rock star" pose to go with her outfit, showing off her "old school" Converse sneakers, the apples on her apple tree (we haven't killed it yet!), and a picture taken waiting for the bus at Grandma and Grandpa Snow's.

NEVER procrastinate on school shopping

Hannah did pretty much all of her school shopping when she was with Grandma Dena out in Seattle but the two of us have a deal that enables me to choose her first day of school outfit. Despite all of her adorable new clothes I still hadn't found that "perfect" outfit for this coming Wednesday. After lunch today the four of us set out to run errands and decided to tackle that project. Can I just say that Kohl's the Sunday before the first day of school is a CRAZY place to be and that I never want to be there again?

I'm pretty sure that there were mothers in there ready to kill their children. Everyone that I could overhear in the clothing racks and in the dressing room all had a tone to their voice that indicated they were one uncooperative comment from their child away from exploding. In our case it was more Lincoln wanting to kill me for dragging him there and making him keep track of Jake while Hannah and I spent way too much time in the fitting room.

Luckily we found the perfect outfit including new black & white high top Converse sneakers (just like Daddy used to wear) and she's all set for Wednesday. The outfit that we chose today will join these other fine outfits in Hannah's school career:

Kindergarten:

1st Grade:

2nd Grade: