The beginning of the school year

School has now begun for both of the girls. Marlene loves being in first grade. Her reading and writing are improving every day. And she loves to draw pictures. We have finally managed to put a desk in her room. She is very excited to have her own space now for her homework. In German school, she is doing a lot of writing, too. At the beginning of the year their teacher, Frau Barnes, gave them each a 1st grade journal from Germany. It reminds me, how I learned to write.

Amelia started preschool and she is absolutely loving it. She is one of only two girls and 10 boys. She has a commanding presence in the classroom and the boys know not to mess with her. They have various cars and a slide in the room. It is a large space, so the children have a lot of room to run around. Her favorite is the pink car and whenever we get there she first needs to claim the car. Amelia goes to preschool on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It is always a drama on the other days, when she does not get to go. Unfortunately it is only 2 hours from 11-1pm. It is a lot of driving for me and I do not have much time in between to get stuff done.

Last week we had a graduation party for our Totwatch group. All the kids are now in school or preschool, which means an end to our Monday meetings. It makes me kind of sad, because over the last 5 years I have grown fond of all these kids and parents. We got together at the Seawalls' house for a BBQ. These are all the kids, which were together until the end.

Fundraising season is starting and Marlene had her annual walk-a-thon at her school. Last years she did 14 rounds; This years she walked for 90 minutes straight and managed to get to 28 rounds. Our daily walks to school are definitely paying off, at least for the school.