1st day of 5th grade, 3rd grade and Kindergarten

Am I really that far behind, seeing as it's almost Thanksgiving?

Why, yes I am!!

My parents came back from New Mexico with me and the kids so that they could be there for Matthew's first day of school.
It's really too bad that I don't have a picture of all three of them together, since this is Joshua's last year in Elementary School!
We got there shortly after 730, but the administration wouldn't let the children back to the classrooms until 750, so they had Kindergarten-2nd grade in the Cafeteria and 3rd-5th in the Gym. Having a split family, we decided to hang out in the hall :)
My kids are such hams!!

Jeremiah was excited to go to 2nd Grade this year, (He has a pretty teacher!) but he didn't really want his picture taken :SMatthew is a very mellow child, and just wanted to sit down and follow directions, no posing for pictures either!Josh however, has realized it's not very "cool" to have your mom taking your picture inside your classroom- so this is as close as we could get. Man, I can't believe how grown up he is!!

All-in-all, it was short and sweet, and they were very excited to see some of their friends again. It was very strange for me to go home and only have one quite child at home. I still work every morning, from 8-12 or 1, so it's still noisy for me until I get home, then it's eerily quite! Benjamin isn't really into mischief and plays very well by himself. The difference between 1-3pm (the quietest part of my day) and 3:30pm-6pm (the loudest part of my day) is AMAZING! I don't think I have experienced quite this dramatic of a difference before.

Now that it is the middle of November the newness of school has worn off.
Matt still likes it, and is doing very well. He only had 3 days that his folder was signed in the last 12 weeks, because a neighboring child was getting into his personal bubble (he has quite a large bubble) and Matt responded negatively.
Jeremiah is struggling, big time. I don't really want to go into the details, but it's rough- always has been. I was truly hoping that his "pretty" teacher would help him want to do well in school. I think he is just frustrated with reading, and takes that anger out on everything, and everyone else. It breaks my heart to hear him say he doesn't have any friends, and that no one likes him. I hope one day we can break out of this.
Josh has always been great at school, his teachers all love him, the work comes easy for him- almost too easy. He is bummed that his best friend, R, isn't in his class and now in after school day care, so they spend very little time together. I think it's been harder for Josh to branch out and make new friends. He's a one or two best-friend kind of kid.

Can't wait to see how May looks :)