First day of school

Here is the traditional picture of Morgan standing at the garage door. He doesn't ride the bus on the first day of school. We take him so that we can get pictures of him and his little friends as they wait in the school yard.

This year, we dropped him off at the corner just behind his friend and classmate, Rory. They walked up to the school yard together, chatting about whatever it is 2nd graders chat about on the first day of school. He probably told her he got up so late that he didn't have time for breakfast and had to eat a piece of toast on the way down to school (see above photo). In order to one-up him, she probably is saying she didn't get to eat any breakfast.

Here we see Kameron expressing terror at being looked at by a GIRL. He is getting support from Matthew, Morgan and Aiden. Such goofy boys!

All the children meet in the school yard beginning at 8:10am until 8:30am. They have a chance to talk to their friends (I can only imagine what Morgan is telling them) until the bell rings. On the first day of school, they are welcomed by the Principal and led in the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of "God Bless America". The rest of the school year, they wait in the school yard from 8:10 until 8:20, then go to their classrooms for school to start at 8:30. Once the weather gets too cold, they wait in the gym.

You can't really see the lines, but they are there. The little boy holding the yellow bag is the first one in line for 1st Grade. The lady on the right side of the photo is Morgan's teacher from last year, Sister Mary Jane. The other teacher in the photo is his 2nd Grade teacher this year, Ms. Kochol (pronounced coke-ol). She is at the beginning of the 2nd Grade line.

****

They all lined up so nicely and were well behaved. Yea, kids! They only went to school until 12noon today, with no lunch served, so we (Reese used a sick day) took Morgan to Friendly's for lunch. It was fun. We secretly asked his Pappy to meet us there. You should have seen the look on Morgan's face when he spied Pappy in the parking lot. He stopped in the middle of his sentence and his jaw dropped. It was so cute!

****

Apparently nothing special happened today, which is a good thing. Because the state budget has not yet been passed, there are no books at school. Anywhere. In the state. I know. Weird. But it will give the teachers a chance for hands-on work. I'm sure they are overjoyed!!

Summer vacation is ending

We are in the last week of summer vacation. This is the last Friday. Since I have to work, Reese is taking Morgan somewhere. They had planned to go golfing, but it is raining. Maybe, since I only work half a day, I can get in on the last-Friday-of-summer-vacation fun!

He's planning something

Not sure what the little Prince was doing in this picture. I think he was making an evil plan to steal the ball from his opponent. He says he was just stretching. Riiiight!

****

No matter. I found out that Morgan's team will be called the "Green Machine". Hmmm...Leave it to 1st and 2nd graders. But, hey, it rhymes, right?

Pedro

Baseball fans know who I mean. On August 5th, we went to a Reading Phillies game to see Pedro Martinez pitch. It was great. Morgan did not get his picture taken with the real Pedro, but his picture was on the TV in the background. Morgan did, however, get a ball that was pitched by Pedro. We had awesome seats in the outfield just past first base. Pedro pitched and the ball was hit straight up and was heading our way. Morgan had his glove out (more to protect me than to get the ball, I'm sure) but could not quite get there in time. The gentleman next to us reached down, snagged the ball as it was heading down behind the tarp storage and gave it to Morgan. The look on Morgan's face was priceless. "Pedro pitched this ball" he kept saying.

****

We are heading to Baseballtown again tomorrow night. I wonder what excitement we shall encounter? It will be our last big event of summer vacation. School starts on Monday. Second grade here we come!!!

Carnival Fun

So, are you scared? Well, don't be! It's just the little batman prince after visiting the face painting stand at the Summer's End Carnival. Every year, the school has their Summer's End Carnival and, as parents with a student who attends the school, we are required to volunteer. I like to call it mandatory volunteerism. This year, I was scheduled to work 5-7 on Friday and Saturday. I ended up working until 8:30 and 9:30 both nights because my replacement did not show. I'm thinking some of the parents did not get the mandatory volunteerism memo. Or maybe they are planning to spend their mandatory volunteerism helping out with the Race for Education Thank You notes in September or Bingo in November or the Chinese Auction next April. Yes, I'm going with that explanation.

****

It was very, very hot working the Ethnic Stand until the sun finally went behind the building, but I must say I had fun. Not being from around here, I finally learned the difference between halushkies and halupkies, neither of which I ever plan to eat. Halupkies (also known as "blind pigeons") are stuffed cabbage. I think they are stuffed with hamburger and rice, kind of like stuffed peppers. Halushkies are an Eastern European casserole consisting of cabbage, onions, potatoes and homemade noodles. The stand also sold bean soup and pierogies.

****

There are so many things to do at the Carnival. Reese took the little prince around to the different stands while I was working my shifts. There is a bounce house for the kids, a little putting green, sand art, face painting, etc. There is also a pick-a-number stand, bingo and a very popular dunk tank. Then there is the food...french fries and funnel cakes, hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza...and the live entertainment. There was a DJ Friday night and a band Saturday night. It was a great time. It was just as much fun walking 3 blocks to the car and talking to Morgan about all the fun things he did.

Let's Go Jaguars!!

Yea, Team! Here is Morgan and Aiden. The one photo I took of Morgan by himself was blurry. Go figure.

****

So, flag football is over. It was fun, but now it's done. On to the next thing...SOCCER!

Summer Project

Several weeks ago, my longtime wish came true. I got my patio under the picnic table. It's a little thing, but I've wanted one for years. I hated moving the super heavy picnic table every time I cut the grass. Though I need the extra exercise, shouldn't cutting the grass with a push mower be considered enough? Yes, well, anyway, here is our summer project. Hubby worked tirelessly on this and got it done in a day and a half. It was quite a chore, but I love it! Thanks, Sweetie!