First days continued...

This week Mack had his open house and then began 4 year old preK at Park Avenue United Methodist church on Wednesday. This will be the Bowers' 8th and final year at PAUMC preschool. It is so bitter sweet. Mack is loving his new preschool class and has begged to go back every day, so I take that as a sign that things are going well for him.

Ellie had a big week. She began acolyte training this week and will participate monthly at church now. Ellie also decided she wanted to run as a homeroom representative for the student council. She filled out her application, made her poster, and came up with a speech by herself (mostly.) And, she WON!! I was so proud of her. She worked so hard on everything and was really nervous because there were at least 4 other girls running against her in the class. I know she will do a great job representing her class after the work she put in to win her position.

Emma has had a good week as well. She is rocking and rolling in her 2nd grade class. She has won over 20 viking bucks this week, which apparently is unheard of. To get a viking buck, you have to show good behavior, do something nice for others, listen quietly, walk the viking line in the hall quietly, help your teacher, etc. They can use these viking bucks at various times of the year to "buy" prizes or participate in big activities. Obviously, the more bucks you have the bigger your chances for Froyo truck day, pizza parties, etc. I do want to mention how incredibly proud I am of Emma for this. On Monday, Emma came home and said, "mom, are you going to Target while I'm at dance?" My answer, was (of course) "Yes, do you need something?" She then said, "mama, there are still 4 kids in my class who don't have binders and need them, can I get them some binders and take them to school for them?" I almost burst into tears and immediately responded with "Absolutely!" She ended up receiving several viking bucks for this act of kindness to her classmates. It made me so very proud of her and her thoughtfulness. This girl's heart is going to change the world!

Mack walking into his open house without me. He thinks he's a big shot now. 

I got him to stop for just a second for a quick picture.

Sitting in his cubby. 

Ellie filling out her application to run for class student council representative. 

Ellie is on the right at acolyte practice. 

Mack and Emma took the floor view to watch Ellie and the other kids practice. 

Mack's first day was this Wednesday! He had a long list of future career goals, but we narrowed it down to these  4 in order to fit it on one piece of paper. 

Big man on campus - he's a "4" this year!

He jumped right in with his classmates. His teacher, Ms. Tish is standing in the background. She was Emma and Ellie's 4 year old preK teacher as well. She's amazing!

He didn't even tell me bye. I barely got him to pose for this picture. He's a "things to do" kind of kid. 

Working hard on her poster for student council

I really don't know that she has ever spent this much time doing anything. 

Ellie's speech and poster:

One of Mack's assignments this week was to make himself. This is what he did. He wanted to make sure we could get a bow tie on himself. By the way, the circles beside his smile are not his cheeks, those are ears. (He had to clarify for me.) 

We have a winner! She found out Friday right before leaving  school.