Back in School!

Soo..maybe I'm back to an all adult audience now.  I let the craziness die down. (Ok..it never really does, but you know what I mean!)

Seafood at sunset on vacation.

We are finding ourselves in an entire new world.  Again.  School has begun for Mary Claire.  She started at Haas Hall this year!  It's a Fayetteville public school, but it's a charter school, so it's run completely differently.  It's currently the number one school in Arkansas!  So exciting.  We are only there by the grace of God.  Really.  

Shopping in Branson last week : )

The short story?  When she was homeschooling this spring, I submitted her name to the lottery for Haas Hall for this fall.  There were 192 incoming ninth grade students on the list by lottery pick time.  They pulled eight numbers in July (July 11th, I think).  Hers was one of them.  I don't know about you..but that was God's grace.  We could have chosen not to accept the position, but it felt like getting a huge break and a massive opportunity all at the same time.

By March, she was back in her public junior high, but it wasn't perfect.  She registered for iSchool (self-paced kinda like home school, but in a building with facilitators), but she decided to withdraw and stay at the same school for fall.  This was the plan..until the lottery!

Her first day was yesterday, and she did great!  She had lunch with super friendly seniors (some were 16, and had skipped a grade).  They have had the friendliest staff, teachers, students, it has honestly been a huge blessing.  I should say HUGE. ; )

Mary Claire and Sophia, her sweet tenth (!) grade friend!

Since she goes to school in Fayetteville (20 minutes south of us with no traffic), I transferred Carter over to the east side (closer to her) to a Catholic preschool.  We have friends there too, so he'll be okay.  It's closer to her hours, so it works for drop off and pick-up.  He's excited to take naps there.  Seriously, he's more excited that he got to choose nap bedding!  I ordered this submarine crib sheet and toddler pillowcase at pbkids.com.  Then I went to Fabric Gallery and let him choose two colors of minky dot to make a matching blanket.  The child picked red and green.  Eeek!  At least it'll be in style for one month a year, haha!  I added his name in blue to break up the Christmas vibe.

In a dressing room having fun..and M&M's!

Ethan is still in his same school, and he got one of our favorite teachers!  He will be in Mr. Ruddick's class, and he's excited!  Clay had him for fifth grade, and I wish Clay had gone with us to see him.  Clay really admired him (and even did his final speech on Mr. Ruddick last year!).

This summer at his favorite museum, the National Air and Space Museum!  (we stood in over 100 degree heat for 50 minutes just to get in..we aren't sure why everyone decided to go there at once!)  The best was when he and I did flew the simulator-I was the pilot and he was the gunner!

Ethan and Clay will start school on Monday.  Clay will be in tenth grade (ahhh!! it happens soo fast!), and we did his before-school endocrinology appointment today to get all his paperwork ready then ran his tub of snacks and notebook by the high school.  Wow.. it all changes.  Now, the nurse just wants him to do his own thing.  He'll text me pictures of his meter/blood sugar at lunch and bolus himself. o_0

He got his driver's license a couple weeks ago!  He can't drive alone till the end of December..but still!  It's awesome!! : )

He will only see her if he needs snacks or supplies or in case of emergency.  Gone are the days of little kids getting checked three times a day (totally what we used to do!). She was very nice though.  Just don't feel like I'll really get to know her as well.  Maybe that's a good thing.

His tub of snacks and supplies: juice boxes, water bottles, peanut butter crackers, cookies, strips, lancets, glucose tabs, Advil, etc.

We are headed to see Pete's Dragon in a few minutes.  I remember watching the original in my neighbors' house (Pat & Anne) in the late 70's.  It was awesome.  I can't wait to see the new adorable Pete!

Natural History Museum, it was a good trip. : )