Back to School

The girls started back to school this morning. They are so excited. Ella is doing 3 mornings a week and Sarah is in first grade. Challenger School is such a wonderful environment. It's sure to be a great year. Both of Ella's teachers are named Sandi. So one of them goes by Miss Sandi Sue. Seems like they should have split them up. They both seem nice though and are very experienced (no young BYU girls this year) which is more important.

Sarah's teacher is perhaps not as bubbly as the young BYUbies she had last year, but she's really experienced and has a really great curriculum planned with some fun integration of subjects. Sarah seems especially excited about the well stocked class library that they can choose personal reading books from. She is quite a good reader and we've been really impressed this summer with her sustained interest in books (like Harry Potter) that are challenging for her to read and understand. As Allen always says, as long as you love reading, you will never need to be bored again.

We're doing the carpool again which means that I only have to drive 6 times during the week instead of 13. The two kids in our carpool are both in fifth grade and they are so cute with the girls. They take turns in our car sitting by Kate because she is so excited to see them and they make her laugh and teach her words and stuff. We've been really lucky.

I'm excited for the structure of school again. I feel guilty that we've been so lazy this summer. I wasn't feeling great for much of it, but I still wish we'd taken better advantage of the time at home and also gotten together more with friends. I do worr, with the girls going up to Challenger instead of to the local elementary, that they will have more trouble (than they already would have given their awkward parents) finding close friends. We're going to do the same dance program that a lot of the girls in the ward do, but I wish I could think of a way to help them make friends in the neighborhood. They love the McFarland kids, but it would be nice for them to have friends their own ages too.  I just don't know how to do it.  Any ideas?