School 2026-2027

 I've once again gotten myself into the black hole of forgotten posts and procrastination.  Things get busy in spurts around here, and I don't have time to write.  Then it slows down and I forget what it was that I wanted to say earlier.  

Just for today though - thoughts about the first day of school on August 26, 2026.  

Unfortunately, there were no pictures taken before school today, and someone will pay.  They might make it up by sending some tomorrow.  All days won't be like this, but this first day was designed to try to patientce and energy of everyone involved, especially the students and teachers.  I hope there's a lot of downtime tonight and no practices of any kind.  

The 8th graders in the WEB group had their training on the 21st, and I didn't hear much about it, but today was their big day.  They had to arrive at school at 6:30 a.m. and (I suppose) divide the 6th graders into groups for their orientation.  The girls were hoping to be in the same group, but there are lots of sibling sets in those two grades, so it might have been too complicated.  I hope to hear more about it when I can capture them.  

The excitement started last week when they got their teacher assignments.  I heard so many dramatic cries of "No one I know is in any of my classes!"  I can believe that about the 6th graders since there are 4 or 5 elementary schools feeding into the middle school, but the 8th graders after two years know pretty much everyone in their class.  I'm sure they mean their best friends are not in their classes.  It's been happening since the 1950s for sure.  It was very rare to get your best friend in your class, but that was the fun of it - making new friends.  I went to school with a little boy named Mike Windham but had never been in his room until sixth grade.  We sat across from each other,  I and I doubt we spoke, but I did get to know him a little bit, which came in handy when I was open for a new boyfriend in 11th grade!  I do remember having a rubber band incident with a friend's braces where the said object landed on a very judgmental 6th-grade boy's desk.  She would give me one of those teeny rubber bands to put on my front teeth to share the joy of wearing braces, and it just took off.  He was not amused at all the giggles.

Graysen knows for sure that her last period will be full of people she knows very well, since it's band, and they've been together for 2 full years.  

Her advisor - or maybe what we called a homeroom teacher - is Ms Espeland, one of her favorites.  I'm not sure how she knows her, but it may be soccer.  

Classes are 1) Social Studies.  2) Math. 3) Science. 4) Language Arts. 5) Spanish. 6) Band.  That's a nice way to end the day with some things she's sure of.  No PE this year.  Not that she needs any more activities with soccer and cross-country.

Kate has no idea what to think of her schedule since it's all new to her.  Her advisor is Mr. Alas, the band director.

Classes are 1) Science. 2) Band. 3) Language Arts. 4) Social Studies. 5) Math. and 6) PE.  Also a good ending.

Today, they will probably ride the same bus home, but tomorrow after cross-country starts, she will ride by herself - and hopefully with some friends and neighbors while Graysen will ride the activity bus at 4:30 to the elementary school where she can come here or walk home.  Lots of things have to be planned and decided.  They should be home now, but I will wait for them to tell me about their day when they feel like it.  

Back to Monday night.  They ended up sleeping over here, which I had NOT planned.  I like to know and fret and plan and make sure we're all on the same page, but sometimes it's not so bad when I get put on the spot and end up having a great time.  

The girls were over here late in the afternoon, but Kate had to leave to go to DMW.  Ryan called and asked what flavor Icee Gray wanted and asked if I wanted one too.  What a question! I rarely turn down Coke Icees, so he used that as a bribe.  When Kate brought them in, she said something about "before school sleepover?" not looking too hopeful.  It turns out there was no reason not to, except I didn't have anything planned for them to eat.  Ryan solved that problem by calling in an order for Pad Thai and spring rolls to Sno-Thai, and the girls and I walked down and picked up the order.  It ended up being a lot of food and fed the 4 of us - twice!  

I wish I had taken some pictures of an earth-shattering decision by Elise to join us for Rummikub.  It's a new game for all of us, but we all got pretty competitive, and Elise held her own - only looking lost a few times.  Kate is a tile hoarder and didn't play every turn, which is frustrating to everyone else, but Graysen was the one who surprised me at how quickly she caught on.  She and Kate were close to a tie in the number of tiles they had left, but Gray found homes for the last two and took the win.  Elise and I were not even close!  

After we cleaned that up, it was pretty late, so we got ready for bed.  I was afraid they would have a hard time going to sleep, and we were up until midnight, but it was fun and exhausting, and we all slept really well.

Graysen and I got into bed with our pillows and blankets and watched Price and Prejudice - again!  We love it so much, and it always brings out the best discussions.  I don't have a picture of her watching the movie, but here she is trying to drink the peach smoothie I made them for breakfast.  I thought it was nice and refreshing, but I didn't get quite the right combination for them to love it.  Maybe more agave next time.  

I did find a silly one of the movie time, with Jane looking out the window in hopeless despair.  It's probably pretty obvious where Elise stopped cleaning the blinds, and she did get that slat bent back from cats peeking out.  Vanilla wafers are a perfect little bedtime snack.

We could hardly distract Kate from her dragon drawing, and she gave up the movie for that.  I'm sure she's seen it enough times to imagine the scenes from the dialog.

She also suddenly lost a tooth on Monday night, a molar and maybe the last one she will ever lose. 

These dragons are very special to Kate, and she knows everything about them - and I do mean everything.  I'm learning too and get asked my advice on how to accessorize them sometimes and what to name them. 

This one's name is Sahara.  I may have picked up on the fact that it was a sand dragon, but I'm not sure.  The mask might be there because of sand storms or just a cute accessory.  My favorite things are the little legs.  She's dainty, yet ferocious, because dragons just have to be.  They also make good pets though.

They left in the middle of the morning to go take a walk with their friends, probably to Starbucks to get a REAL BREAKFAST.  Gray had had to run 2 miles the night before and needed 2 more miles that day for xc training.  She also had soccer practice after all that.  

This was my FB post last year on their first day of 5th and 7th grades.  They've grown several inches since then!

I've done nothing all morning but make a grocery list and order groceries.  I was going to the grocery store, but when I decided to check prices, I really noticed that Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods are cheaper than the two grocery stores we have to chose from right here.  Even with the tip, it turns out very close, and no one has to go in and forget half the stuff and run out of energy just as I reach the self-check line.  So I'm waiting to get that delivery between 5 and 7 and find room for it all.  

I'm getting a little hungry, but I didn't eat lunch and had only a cup of coffee and some cottage cheese, cantaloupe, and walnuts.  That coffee was good!  I've stopped trying to drink it black and just adding whatever it takes to make it good.  This week it's Coffee Mate Zero Sugar French Vanilla.  I think. Maybe I'll have another cup while I wait for the groceries to arrive.