Bull's Eye

Last night was a back-to-school bash at the park for Boyd Elementary (the school which Julia and Jacob will be attending this year). Food, games, prizes--it goes on every year and it's so much fun. All sorts of sponsors come out and have activities for the kids (Springfield police and fire department, for instance, gave out stickers, tatoos, pins, cups, and gave tours of the fire truck). There was one activity where school officials (like James) sat in a booth above water and the kids got to throw a ball at a target. If they hit the bull's eye, then the person in the seat falls into the water. Last night I found out just how good Jacob is with his eye/hand coordination. I've always known he can throw a ball (and that he has excellent form too), but now I know he can aim. :) He dunked every time he threw that ball-and each kid only had one turn each time they were up. There were no "practice shots". Guess we'll be putting him in softball when he's old enough?
Next week school starts. Julia's already met with her teacher to talk about her summer and go over her reading/listening/comprehension skills. Normally teachers access each student when school first starts. Her awesome teacher has been meeting with the kids this past week and getting it done so that it doesn't take up time during the actual school year. Julia was so excited be able to meet Mrs. Roy and pick out where she wants to sit in the classroom. This year she and her cousin, Ben, will finally be in the same room together. Bless their teacher! James (principal and uncle) decided against having them together for the first two years....they needed to branch out individually (and it just wouldn't have been fair to the poor teacher if they'd have been together).
We aren't sure who Jacob's teacher is yet. I think we'll find out on Tuesday during the "meet your teacher" night. I'm a bit nervous sending Jacob to "the big school". I think it's because of his speech--or maybe because he's so different from Julia. Julia raced into school without a single glance back when she was old enough. Jacob's personality is so much different. Or maybe I'm having some serious "cut the apron string" issues. :)
Many people have been asking me "So what are you going to do with only two kids at home?". Well, I was offered to be trained as an aerobics instructor once school starts. !!!!!! :):):) I'm quite looking forward to that. Very nervous--it'll be nerve racking for me to be up there in front of everyone. My shyness is itching to come back in full force when I think about it. But then I think, you know, every Sunday I'm up there in front of primary kids, teachers, my presidency, and sometimes the stake primary leaders teaching. Surely I can handle being in front of 15-20 women? Of course, with them we'll be listening to blaring music while I'll be counting beats in my head and trying to give out cues in the right beat. Oh help me! Honestly, I really am excited about it. So that's what I'll be doing with my free time. Practicing at home, enjoying some alone time with my younger kiddos, and seeing if I'll ever get my calling under control (pardon that last one, I'm just stressing cause the program is coming up and I'm putting the finishing touches on the outline of it).
Oh, I almost forgot! Here's another accomplishment this week! It seems forever ago that Ryan and I took the training wheels off of Jacob's bike--only to find out that he changed his mind and didn't want to learn to ride without them (tough luck that we threw the training wheels away). He's been bikeless for a few months now. Well, Monday I'd had enough of that. It was time for him to learn already. So I put him on his bike (of course he was wailing for the entire neighborhood to hear) and sent him down the drive way. He swerved into the grass and was off! What do you know? He can ride! He was all smiles and wanted to keep going (and going and going and going....). He can now officially get on, get started, and stop all by himself. I even got a video of him. I tried to post it, but it's too large (and when I try to cut it down my computer locks up). It was of him riding around (when he just learned) and when he tried to stop he totally smashed into Ryan's car. !!!! He popped right back up and kept going though.