The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

School update

First, happy birthday Keath!! Do you know how to play “happy birthday” on the cello yet?! Hope it’s a great one!

Second, Spencer and Maxwell have easily transitioned into the school routine. No problems at all!

school

school

Samantha hasn’t transitioned quite as easily. Let’s recap…

First day (Monday) she cried at drop off but got happy fairly quickly and really had a great day! Hooray!

first day

Second day (Wednesday) she sure looked cute in her red shoes…

second day

but she cried at drop off and, sadly, never really got happy. When I went to pick her up that day, the teacher just said she didn’t have a good day. She wouldn’t let Mrs. Laura put her down, she didn’t want to play on the playground, and she didn’t even eat her lunch. 🙁 They were honestly concerned she was sick. When I picked her up, she wasn’t even happy to see me – she actually started crying as if she was just so overwhelmed with it all and relieved I was there. My heart basically broke at that point.

We then had a full week off because of Labor Day so we went back on the following Wednesday after our Disney trip.

school

I told the teacher to please call me if she had a bad day again. 11:00 – I got the call. Mrs. Laura said that she wouldn’t let her put her down. She wasn’t crying but she wasn’t having fun. She didn’t say I had to pick her up early, but I did. No sense in leaving her up there if she’s not happy and taking too much of the teacher’s time away from the other kids.

I was pretty sad at this point. But, the only way to get to the other side was to go through it, so back to school we went on Monday of this week.

school

Despite that pouty face, she had a GREAT day! Hooray! I got a text from Mrs. Laura around 11:00 with these pics…

school

Look, Tootie has a friend! 🙂

school

She said she only cried for a few minutes at drop off and then got happy and played all day! We did take a paci for her and I think that helped even if she only used it a bit in the morning. I sure was happy to pick her up that day!

school

Wednesday of this week was even better.

school

Robert actually took her to school and there were NO TEARS!! and she didn’t even need her paci at all! Oh, my heart could just burst I was so happy for my sweet girl! Mrs. Laura sent me this picture…

school

I love that little girl. When I went to get her I snuck a picture before going in…

school

and when she saw me she came running up to give me the BIGGEST hug. Favorite part of my day right there! We then walked over to get Spencer and I think that’s Samantha’s favorite part of her day! When she sees Spencer she starts waving her little hand at him!

spencer

Now, I’m not expecting no tears at drop off again, but at least I know she can get happy and have fun at school. My sweet girl just needed a little time to adjust but she’s moving in the right direction! Hooray! Here’s to a great school year ahead!

Morning pics

Color week – again!

Gray (or pink) Monday…

gray

Brown Tuesday – and his birthday!…

brown

Black and White Wednesday…

black and white

Purple Thursday…Maxwell didn’t have anything purple so Baby represented!

purple

and ANY color Friday!

friday

I think someone was a little more excited for Friday than the other two!  🙂

School days!

Things

Catching up on things around here the past week or so…

A huge thank you to Susan for the awesome birthday gifts! Captain America, Hulk, and Cinderella!  🙂

susan presents

Another huge thank you to GJ for making the incredible Avenger masks! The Captain America and Wonder Woman masks were the party favors at Maxwell’s party. The Hulk will be used for Spencer’s part in October and the Wolverine and Iron Man were just for the boys. GJ’s the best!

masks

We loved having all of our favorite people in town last week to celebrate Maxwell!

family

In other good news, Samantha’s teeth are still white!! Woohoo! After the unfortunate fall, I was really worried her front teeth were going to turn gray but, we’re past the 2 week mark and they are still white so we should be in the clear. We went back up to the dentist this week and he was able to get an x-ray and good look at them and said they looked great. Phew!

dentist

In other not so good news, Samantha’s second day of school did not go so well. 🙁  She was having plenty of fun with brother before we left…

red shoes

and she looked awfully cute in her new red shoes…

red shoes

but she just didn’t have a good day. She was crying when I left and the teacher said she was just very clingy to her all day and could never really get happy. She didn’t even eat her lunch! They were worried that she was maybe getting sick but, nope. She was fine by the time we got home. When I picked her up at school, she didn’t even smile when she saw me but actually started crying – it was almost as if she was just overwhelmed with everything and was so relieved to see me that she just couldn’t hold the tears in. Break. my. heart. Oh, sweet baby. I guess the only way to get her to like school is to keep going – so, we’ll be back next week and will be hoping for a better day.

That’s it around here. Have a wonderful long weekend!

Their turn!

On Monday it was finally Spencer and Samantha’s turn to go to school! Spencer was ready, he had an ice cream date with his new class a few weeks ago so had met a few of the friends that will be in his class…

ice cream

ice cream

Well, I say he was ready but he sure wasn’t ready for photos that morning! Don’t they both look so excited?

school

Ha! Spencer finally perked up a little when I told him about his new green camo lunch box I got him for school!

first day of school

Samantha didn’t know what was about to hit her but, gosh darn it, she looked cute in this little apple dress!

first day

and her matching bloomers!  🙂

first day

I could just eat her up.

first day

Ta da!

first day

When we got to school Spencer walked right on into Mrs. Rollins’ class, showed her his new lunch box, and took off playing not even saying bye to me! Good for him! I then walked Samantha over to her room to meet her new teacher Mrs. Laura. She was clinging pretty tight to me for a while.

first day

I finally managed to get her off of me and was trying to get her interested in the toys…

school

then Mrs. Laura tried to make friends…

first day

But, nope. Little Miss Skeptical was having none of it! ha!

first day

Tootie. She finally found an Elmo doll that distracted her just enough for me to slip out. I think there were plenty of tears once she realized I was gone but Mrs. Laura assured me she didn’t cry for too long. Both she and Spencer sure were happy to see me at 1:00! I think they both had a GREAT first day!

first day

Now let’s see what happens Wednesday when we go back and Samantha knows what’s about to happen! eek!

color week

Wow! What a fun weekend we had! Maxwell’s party was fantastic. It really could not have gone better and we had a very happy birthday boy! Today is Spencer and Samantha’s first day of school and Maxwell’s actual birthday is tomorrow…no slowing down this week!

Last week at school was color week and Maxwell had a certain color to wear each day. I, of course, used this as an excuse to continue to take a picture of him on the porch every morning. Wonder how much longer he’ll tolerate it?

Monday was red. This picture makes me laugh so hard. Spencer was doing some little dance and Maxwell was having none of it! ha!

red day

Tuesday was yellow…

yellow day

This shirt is a hand me down from Katie and Anna and it’s saved us on more than one “yellow day”!

yellow

Wednesday was blue…

blue

Robert walked Maxwell to school that day and Baby was very sad she didn’t get to go…I mean, she had her purse ready and everything!

blue

Thursday was orange…

orange

and, don’t worry, Baby got to walk to school that day!  🙂

baby school

This guy stayed back with me…

orange

Friday was green…

green

and that’s the end of color week! Or so I thought! Friday afternoon I got an email from Mrs. Solai with a whole new list of colors for this week…guess that means an excuse for more porch pictures!!  🙂