Back To School

It's back to school time!

Duncan and Liam had their first day back to school yesterday. They each had new shoes, they each had a project to turn in, and Liam had his new glasses. They were pretty excited to go back to school.

Here they are as they walk to their bus stop.


Jennan started Pre-school today! It's the same "pre-school experience program" (PEP) that Duncan and Liam did. We even made sure that Jennan has the same teacher they did. She's a great preschool teacher. Here's Jennan on her first day... (I hate when they look away at the last minute, but you can't tell on that tiny screen on the camera. So I didn't take another one. bummer.)

It's just Tegan and I at home for a few hours each day. It was very quiet. Tegan did pretty well without having Jennan to play with. We'll see if that lasts.

So yeah, pretty crazy stuff.

Spelling Bee

Last Friday, Duncan and Liam were in their class spelling bee. The kindergarten and first grades did theirs at the same time, and each grade had their own winner.

Here's Liam. Eager to get started.

Duncan too.

Here is Liam up at the microphone to spell a word. He spelled his first word correctly, but got his next word wrong. He was a good sport about it.

Here is Duncan spelling a word. Duncan got a little nervous, and rushed, and got his word wrong his only time up. He was a little bummed, but was fine about it.

They did a great job. It's not easy to stand in front of a lot of people and have to spell. I think it was a good experience for them. Next year we'll try to help them study more.

Stuff...

It might be a little bit backwards, but this post will cover a bunch of stuff briefly, and then later, I might post some details in their own entries. Make sense?... Anyway, here's the stuff...

Left for Boy Scout camp on June 28th. Got home from Scout camp July 5th. Since then, things have been pretty busy.

While at scout camp, Duncan and Liam started the new school year. (The district they're in is year round, and the track they're on starts school in July, off for August, back in September till Thanksgiving, off till January, back till April, off at the end of June.) Duncan is in 1st grade, and Liam is in Kindergarten.

Duncan and Liam also started a new diet the week before school started. It's a gluten-free, and casein-free diet. Gluten is a wheat protein, and casein is a milk protein. These two proteins can be very harsh on the digestive system, and if there's a build up of these proteins in their system, it can affect the bodies chemistry (particularly the brain's), and cause a lack of focus, communication, self control, etc. The GFCF (gluten-free, casein-free) diet has been an effective biomedical treatment for disorders such as ADD, ADHD, and Autism. Neither Liam nor Duncan have a current diagnosis of any of these disorders, we decided that if it would help them succeed in school, it was worth doing. We will be seeing a specialist in the month or two to find out for sure if the boys have any of those disorders. The GFCF diet has been challenging to say the least, but we're learning more and more about food alternatives and we're eating a lot healthier in general because of it. The boys have been great about being on the diet as well.

Saturday when I got home from scout camp, we went to the drive-in to see WALL.E. It came out the weekend before, but I was leaving, so we told the kids we would go when I came back. Duncan is a pretty good rememberer when it comes to that stuff, so there was no getting around it. The kids enjoyed it very much. The other movie in the double feature was kung fu Panda. I was happy to see it again. Everyone else fell asleep.

Sunday, only half the scouts made it to church. Lame.

After church, we went to visit a Friend of Anna's from school. Her daughter was having a birthday. We brought our own GFCF cake for the boys to eat. It was a fun visit.

Our friends live in Whittier, so since we were so close to the compound, we stopped in to say hi to my mom and dad. We were at their house for about an hour or so.

We've spent the past couple days researching more foods that fit into the GFCF diet. We're looking at labels, calling manufacturers, and comparing prices at different stores for foods that we know we're going to buy. We can buy fresh foods at any grocery store, but there's certain things that we can only find at health food stores.

Oh yeah, there was a UFC PPV on Saturday as well. I bought it, and made two copies. One for Kristi and Jason, and the other for Kevin who now lives in Queen Creek, AZ.

I hope to get around to posting some specific entries about some of these things, so you'll have to check back later for those.

Last Day...

Today was Liam's last day of preschool. He's come a loooooong way. He was a handful for the teacher and aid in the beginning, but he eventually got used to a structured classroom environment, and has done quite well in the program overall.

He made cards for his teacher and the aid.

The whole class singing a song about weather.

He jumped up, got his "diploma", and sat down too fast.

Showing off his "diploma".

Liam starts kindergarten July 3rd. (year round school) in the "Vanguard" program. That pretty much means he already knows much of the kinder standards, and this program expands on what the kids already know instead of teaching from the beginning. I guess technically it's considered "advanced" kindergarten. We'll see how well Liam handles a heavier school load. He's still quite a bit head strong, but once he figures out the routine, he should do fine. He'll need to improve his focus too.

This is the same kindergarten program Duncan is now finishing. It's at a school that's not near us at all, so Liam will need to take the bus just as Duncan has. And just because Duncan has taken the bus for this school year and has been fine doing so, it doesn't make me any less nervous for Liam. I believe that Duncan will be continuing in the Vanguard program for First grade, and that it's at the same school he's been going to, so Liam will take the bus with Duncan, and that eases the nerves a little, but only a little. Liam doesn't always want to do what Duncan says, like any younger brother to his older brother.

So yeah, fun stuff.