First Day of School

Because Molly likes to be everywhere that everyone else is...

She actually just had her 2 yr old check-up and is holding strong in the THIRD percentile for weight. Oh that chicken little!!! Haha. She is super into taking off her diaper and coloring on walls. All things 2 yr old.

Bedhead much?

He's hilarious. And also a little lost without Ruthie. Luckily, it's only for a couple of hours and we usually have fun things planned--also I go to the gym and he loves it there. Next year, buddy!

Now, for the main event of this post! RUTH STARTED SCHOOL! I am officially old enough to have  a daughter in school. And its pretty crazy. 

So, to make a long story short--I wanted to put Ruth in Pre-K instead of Kindergarten because Kindergarten is REALLY INTENSE here (8 hour days, no recess, testing all day Friday, etc.). Come to find out, she didn't qualify for pre-k because of her birthday--if you are eligible for Kinder, you are automatically ineligible for Pre-k. I thought this was pretty lame because I could wait another year to put her in Kinder (even though she qualified), but she was still not allowed to be in Pre-K. 

BUT I get home from Utah and my good friend texted me that they changed the law!!!!!! YAHOO!!!

So now instead of the birthday cut-off for Pre-K being Sept 1st (which Ruth is august, so she didn't qualify) it was now August 1st, so she could do Pre-K!!!!!

Basically what this means is Ruth gets 1/2 day kindergarten before full day kindergarten (that they basically treat like first grade here). Everything is just so intense and kids are pushed SO HARD on the east coast that I didn't want her--who would already be the VERY youngest of her grade--to miss out on a year of playing and being at home and spending time with me and her family. Also, I didn't want her to be stressing about grades and homework (most kinder students here have 1 to 1 1/2 hours of homework). I don't really care how old you are when you start kindergarten, but it should not be that crazy. Luckily, we're holding off that craziness for another year. And I am SOOOO glad she gets a year of half-day because she loves it, and I love it, and it's the best of every world!!!!

Her first day of school (technically her second, because when we registered they showed us the classroom and Ruth joined right in so they let me leave her for the final hour, haha) she learned how to pick basil off a plant. The teachers were super impressed she knew to pick from the stem, and not pick half of a leaf. Credit goes to Grandma Rasmussen who let Ruthie help her pick flowers (mostly dead ones out of her barrels) and vegetables all summer long the CORRECT way. Also, we have a basil plant, so she came home that night and helped me pick some and put it into our spaghetti sauce. She was soooo proud!

She also cried when she had to leave on the first day. Because some of the kids stay full day and she thought she got to eat lunch with them. Poor thing. I told her she can stay sometime, but it costs six bucks, so we'll see. Haha. 

The school we sent her to is a United Methodist church, with the school attached. It's pretty much where the LDS families send their elementary kids---it's pretty funny because I never see people I know around the city, but when I pick up and drop off Ruth I see three or four people from our ward every time and it's super fun! 

They have singing time at mass on Wednesdays, and my friend that I work with in primary basically said they learn bible songs, but they can sometimes be quite rambunctious (aka, irreverent), haha. I'm sure she'll love it! 

There are only 15 kids in her class and two teachers and she totally has them won over already. Nobody else has red hair (surprise) and of course she never cries (most outgoing kid ever) because she loves to be there! 

We had a crazy couple of days getting all the applications through and immunization records and such, but she started on Thursday (kind of Wednesday) of the first week, which was pretty good. 

She requested an Elsa braid for the first day.

I cannot believe my baby is in school. Ruthie likes about school: playing out in the playground. Because it has a flying airplane and then we just played on the airplane. I like drinking out of my water bottle and having snack. 

She also lost a third tooth right before school starts, so she is just looking older and older!!! Our friends from the ward have a daughter in her class, Quinn, so that has been super nice because they have a friend already to play with.

We are also putting her in a ballet class on Saturdays at the community college by our house for six weeks, and Will gets to do basketball. They are both only for an hour on Saturdays, which is about as much as I can handle. Hopefully when they end we can swing swimming lessons--because they are so good in the water I want them to have some actual instruction! 

No tears the first day. She likes it too much! I can't be sad because it's been going so wonderfully! Mostly she comes home from school, we eat lunch, Will and Molly go down from a nap, and then Ruth helps me make dinner. Which is great---yesterday she even cut an entire green pepper (diced it, after I put it in strips for her) and three things of celery. She's pretty pro ever since Grandma let her cut up a cucumber in Utah. 

Yay Ruth! We love you SOOOOO much and I am so glad you get to go to school and that you love it so much!