The Beginning of High School

Maysen started high school today.  That just blows my mind.  Wasn't she just talking to my feet yesterday?  When she was little she would have entire conversations with my feet.  My feet would nod or shake to indicate yes or no.  I remember her giving one of my feet an invisible snack.  Then she asked the other foot if it wanted a snack.  The foot did. She reached into her pocket and in the sweetest voice said, "Oh no!  I'm all out of snacks!  I'm so sorry!"  Then she gave my foot a hug. Maysen's awesome.  Now she is starting high school.  I hope she enjoys it.  I hope she likes it better than middle school.  I hope she finds friends. Good friends that will help her become even more awesome than she is. If she finds idiot friends I would rather her not find them.

Anyway, Mike and I met the first day of high school.  Wow.  I told that to Maysen.  Mike turns to her and says, "No pressure."  Haha!  I did make Maysen pose for pictures before she left.  She is a good sport, even when she thinks her own mom is a dork!  Luckily she never tells me that, but I know.  You can see it in her eyes.  Especially when I'm making her hold up ten fingers.  That's okay.  I got my pictures.  I'm happy.

Maysen starting high school

 Maysen - full view

 Tenth grade!

I even followed her to the bus stop.  My camera was a little slow, so this is the best I got.  I waved at her as she went down the street.  I'm sure she didn't find that annoying at all!

Stockton also started high school today.  Just his math class.  They just had fifteen minute classes, so I dropped him off just for a bit.  As we were walking out the door I realized I should take his picture.  He didn't get the full treatment because we would be late.  That's okay, he'll get it on Monday.

Stockton - first day of high school math

Jorja has been crazy with her balloon making.  I can't believe how much she loves it.  She made three new creations today.  One was an awesome wreath.  Right as I was about to take her picture with it, it popped.  Whoops.  She made a new one, but it wasn't as cool as the first.  She said she was tired of balloons and her fingers were hurting.

Jorja with her love birds

 Jorja and her parrot

 Jorja and her second wreath

I wasn't able to be home when Maysen got home from school.  I felt so guilty about that!  She came home right at the time that was scheduled for Jorja and Preston to meet their teachers.  What could I do?  We went to Jorja's class first.  I'm hoping I like her English teacher.  Back when Stockton was in sixth grade she yelled at his class for cheering for Stockton when he won the spelling bee.  Then she turned to Stockton and said, "You could have handled it better."  She also gave a prize to someone who didn't cheer for Stockton, right in front of him.  I am still so angry about that.  I hope that doesn't taint my experience with her. Hopefully she is wonderful for Jorja.  I'm a little worried about that.

On the bright side, Jorja is in the same class as Jazzie and Olivia!  Yay! Yay!  Yay!  Both of those girls are planning on going to a different middle school than Jorja.  I'm still hoping they keep the Chinese kids together.  It would make more sense then staffing every middle school with Chinese teachers.  I'm also worried because they have been such good friends to Jorja.  I don't want her to lose them, especially since I have watched how hard it has been for Maysen to find friends once middle school hits.  Anyway, we don't have to worry about it now.  Jorja gets them for one more year!  Plus, they are all sitting together.  Along with Ashley, who Jorja loves and hasn't been in her class since second grade!  Poor Bode, the only boy at the table.

Preston was pretty bored by the time we left Jorja's classes.  When we got to his class, I pointed to his teacher.  She was talking to another parent.  That didn't bother Preston, he walked right up to her and gave her a big hug.  Love that boy!  The parent exclaimed, "That is so cute! He just walked right up to you!"  It was adorable.  Preston is excited that Blake is in his class.  I'm excited that Burke is in his class and Jorja is excited that Lucy (Olivia's little sister) is in his class.  Pretty happy day.

Mrs. Peterson and Preston

Preston's teacher was speaking to him completely in Chinese.  He would just giggle and look at her like she was crazy.  I asked Jorja how to say some things in Chinese.  Soon Mrs. Bringhurst and Jorja were having a huge conversation . . . in Chinese!  It was incredible!  I am so excited for Preston.  I have heard that Mrs. Bringhurst is absolutely amazing.  Bringhurst is her American married name.  The kids will call her something different.  I'd need Jorja here to get it right.  I think Jorja's teachers last name is Chen and Preston's will be Chin.....something super close.  I'll need to ask her.

Preston and Mrs. Bringhurst

After taking pictures with Preston's teachers, I realized I didn't get any with Jorja's.  So, I made her go back to get some pictures.

Jorja and Mrs. VanWagoner

 Mr. Chen (I think) and Jorja

I planned on driving to Idaho tonight to go to my cousins wedding tomorrow.  I was going to leave after meeting the teachers and talking to Maysen about her day.  I called my dad and found out he could go if we left Saturday morning.  (He had dinner club tonight.)  The wedding isn't until 3:30, so that is what we decided to do.  I would have missed the dinner tonight anyway.

Tonight Maysen drove Mike, Preston and me to a game store that is about thirty minutes away.  We got the new Dominion game (Guilds), a small world expansion, and a game called Alibi.  We played Alibi tonight.  It is like clue, but different.  There are so many things to discover, and you can only ask questions that will give you and answer that is a number.  For example, how many people do you have.  The hard thing is, you have to pass cards when the round is over.  Anyway, it was pretty fun and Preston and I won.  Today was a long day, but a success!