first week of school 2009

everything went off this week without a hitch. i have to say i love to see the progression of my kids year after year and am so proud of them. it doesn't make me sad to watch them grow up and become more responsible, it makes me very happy. i am enjoying every stage of their childhood. as avery was getting on the bus the first day of school, i noticed that he was wearing his old shoes from last year (they are in pretty poor shape), i said avery where are your new shoes and he just looked at me and smiled and said, "sorry." he likes to put the old ones on better because they are "broke" in and easier to get on. my dad was hopeful that he might receive free lunch that day and we had a good laugh about that even though i had packed their home lunches that morning because my kids refuse to eat school lunch. when i got home from my bike ride the first day of school around 7:30, anna had done the dishes, made avery scrambled eggs and toast, got him up and made sure he practiced his violin, and practiced all of her own instruments (3 in all). lets just say she was up before the rooster because she was so excited about school. i have to tell her sometimes that i'm the mom and she does not want to be in charge of avery, it is a lot of work. cassey says that i am spoiled and hopes the next one is rotten. i explained to her that that wouldn't be fair because now that i am spoiled it would be even worse, plus who cares "i have anna." she is such a delight. avery is embracing his life as a 1st grader. the whole concept of homework has not sunk in yet and its usually time for bed when i ask to see his folder and he says, "oh, i fogot." i am going to put stop to that really fast because i am a firm believer that it is not the parent's responsibility to make sure that he does his homework everynight. i think it needs to be the first thing done as soon as he walks in the door and then he has the rest of the evening to do whatever he wants. i have already explained to him that i don't get bad grades when he doesn't turn in his homework, that he does. i have no problem helping him with it or listening to him read for 15 minutes, but he needs to take the initiative to bring it to me. okay, enough with my ranting. i hope everyone else's first week of school went well. have a great weekend.