pa-jammy
It’s here. The first day of high school. First day not wearing uniforms. First day at an “English” school.
Oliver was not as unhappy as he looks here, I swear.
I also had to take one in the same order as their very first day of preschool, 11 years ago:
I had to do a lot of research to figure out who was who in that first picture. Also I couldn’t convince them to hold trains this time.
Today was the boys’ last day of 8th grade. Their last day of middle school. And their last day at the school they’ve been at since they were 3. Eleven years of French schooling, au revoir!
Last day:
(It was pouring this morning, so I couldn’t get the usual pic, and then the bus just flaked on them and never showed up this afternoon, so I went to pick them up on the condition they’d let me take a picture outside the school.)
And just for comparison, first day of 8th grade, when their voices were at least an octave higher:
It’s been a harrowing couple of weeks. The plague finally hit our house (only 40% of it) but it meant Linus and Oliver had to miss all of last week and Miles missed most of this week, and I had to cancel a work trip to New York (but I’m not bitter.)
Fair warning: tomorrow night is the 8th grade promotion ceremony, so expect another blog post and lots more pictures. Maybe even a family pic?!?
I have no words.
That is the sound of silence. Yes, it’s very quiet in the house now. Gloriously so, in fact. The boys went back to school today! I mean, who knows for how long. So I am going to enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts.
And with masks, since that’s what they’ll actually look like for most of the day:
and waiting for the bus:
And just for funsies, the first day of school ever, ten years ago yesterday, and today.
They’re a little taller now.
Today is the last day of seventh grade. Hard to believe we all (and by “all” I mean “the whole world”) got through this year. Let’s just hope next year looks more like, say, fifth grade. The last normal school year.
Based on their first day pic from August, I’d say they have grown a little bit.
If nothing else, their hair certainly has!
Some notable things about seventh grade:
And on to eighth!
First, it’s our 15th anniversary. That’s a big deal, yeah? Multiple of 5?
George got me a new Apple Watch, which is very exciting since my last one broke in January. And he got Apple Care on it so if it happens again I can get it fixed! 😀
Look how pretty! The only problem is now my steps are being counted again. I mean, there wasn’t any point in doing them if they weren’t being counted, right?
I can’t tell you what I got George but I will tell you tomorrow. And I can guarantee he will like it. Maybe.
The other good thing about today is that the boys went back to school. Of course it’s also a little bit anxiety inducing, but I just hope everyone stays healthy. At least they’ll get to see some friends for a little bit. That’s good for them.
And of course they didn’t even try on their uniforms until yesterday (even though I’ve been asking them to for weeks) and I now have a pile of about 12 pairs of shorts and 12 shirts that no longer fit, some of which I bought in February. Sigh. So I will now be doing laundry every night until the uniforms I ordered last night get here.
PS The Zyia activewear party I’m hosting is still active! You can order here or join it on FB.
I don’t need to tell you, it sure looked different from years past!
And their classrooms:
They’re all in the same class this year to make life a bit easier and safer, if they do end up back in a real classroom. I guess we’ll see.
And for reference, here they are on the first day at their school, 9 years ago.
Well that sure was a weird school year.
They were going to wear their uniforms but lost steam about halfway through. Close enough. (That yellow hoodie is definitely Linus’s quarantine uniform…)
I can’t tell if they grew much this school year but their hair definitely did! (I should have made them stand up straight for this picture. Oh well.)
First day:
Back in Natchitoches again. I mean, we were already in Alexandria for the archery tournament, it would just be a waste not to drive an extra hour to spend the night in Natchitoches and visit my high school again. The boys will be spending a week there this summer for camp, so I have two more drives up there this year.
The boys play for the varsity (7/8 grade) soccer team at school, even though they’re only in 6th grade. And last night their team won the championships! Their team was undefeated, and I’m so proud they were a part of it, and that they played with older (and bigger!) kids, even though they were nervous about it at first.
Linus’s smile after the game is the best thing about all of it. They will not smile with their teeth showing (I have no idea why, they have perfect teeth) so catching this genuine, huge smiles from the boy who was most upset about not being put on a team with his classmates is the real victory.
Middle school. I sure hope it’s kinder to them than it was to me.
I promise, they’re happier than the smiles (or lack thereof) would indicate. Especially Miles. That’s his “smile.”
They enjoyed looking at all of their past first day of school pictures, so I had them re-do this one from 8 (eight!!!) years ago.
They’ve changed a little.
Sigh.
For now, our bus stop is literally a block and a half away, which is amazing. But we will probably move to one a bit further away so they won’t have to be on the bus for two hours (!) every afternoon. I’ll enjoy this little walk until then.
Getting on the bus!
Sewing tangent: I made Miles’s jacket and Oliver’s leggings. The jacket was a real labor of love, it’s the Go To jacket by Patterns for Pirates. I’ll post more about it later.
Can you believe it? Today is the boys’ last day of elementary school. Sniff, sniff. Not that they’ll be changing schools or anything, but they’ll be in sixth grade, and things will change a little bit. They’ll be switching classes (though staying with the same classmates all day.) They’ll have lockers. They’ll start learning Spanish (along with continuing French, of course.) They’ll be able to join clubs! Pretty cool.
As usual, I’m gonna get all nostalgic and stuff. And I’m going to post this picture from the first day they started at their school, in August 2011.
And a picture from this morning, the last day of fifth grade:
To compare, a picture from the first day of fifth grade:
Geez, it looks like they were more excited about starting school than it ending. Hmm. Maybe I should look into summer school?
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