Back to school!

Today was the first day back to school for the Leger boys- Blake is in 8th grade, Bryson is in the 4th grade and Brady is in 1st grade. It is a day filled with mixed emotions- sad summer is over- back to homework and schedules- but we are excited to get back to see all of our buddies and new teachers and for Brady and Bryson a brand new school! Well in appearances anyway; their school went through major renovations and was closed all last year. We were very fortunate that the entire school stayed together and just met in a different location. The new school is beautiful and the entire neighborhood is so proud of it! I asked them what their favorite part of the day was and Brady said "lunch time". I felt so proud because I had carefully packed a nutritious and yummy lunch, making sure he had the major food groups covered plus a healthy snack. I did good! I went to the grocery store yesterday specifically for that reason! It was even packed the night before! I asked Brady how he liked what I had packed for him and he just smiled real big and said, "Oh Mom I didn't eat what you packed for me I ate something better; I had chicken nuggets and potato chips from the lunch line!". That is Brady for you- marches to the beat of his own drum! Then there is Bryson who supervises what you pack in his lunch box and even if he was starving to death would not eat in the cafeteria at school! Bryson's favorite part of the day was P.E. The school has never had a multipurpose room before so with the addition the children now have a space to have P.E. inside when it is raining outside. Bryson said the room is the "coolest" with lots of things to play with! Blake's first day was also great; although Blake's schedule will be a little different this year. He will be attending New Hanover High School for one of his classes. Pardon me for bragging on my child but he deserves it- Blake took the SAT this past spring part of the Duke University Talent Identification Program and he scored very well. He also scored very high on his EOG tests this year so he was recommended to do a dual enrollment with the high school. He took Algebra last year and is taking Geometry this year so foreign language was all that is available to him this year so he will be taking Spanish 1 this semester and Latin 1 next semester. We drop him off at the high school for the first time tomorrow morning; so please pray for him and me! Well some of you know that I am also back to school- well with two year olds anyway! I decided to go back to work part time as the two year old teacher on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I will be teaching at First Baptist Preschool (which happens to be our church and it happens to be where Ladi Elizabeth will be attending preschool 5 days a week!) I am very excited about going back to work- I haven't worked since Brady was born. But working at the preschool still allows me to have some time to myself and volunteer work and be available for the children when they get home from school. And as for Ms. Ladi Elizabeth, well she doesn't start preschool until next week so she is spending this week with her Phe Phe. Mom took her shopping today (Ladi's favorite sport) and tomorrow morning they are off to the farmer's market. It means a lot to Mom to be able to spend time with Ladi Elizabeth by herself. Also on a bitter sweet note Ladi Elizabeth is not speaking any Russian at all. Only English- except for Momma Cheecka- which we found out in Russian that is a kind, loving and gentle way of saying Momma. Ladi Elizabeth really seems to just want to be like the other kids. She has adjusted so well! But I will write on that next week; after her first day at school! (Ok so maybe I should read what I have written in the previous blog- I have repeated myself- please forgive me? My only excuse is that I have 4 kids ;)