[ Back To School 2013-2014 ]

And here we go again! The first day of school is here.  As always, took pictures of the kids.  It is crazy to see how big they are getting. 

Frankie is a Senior at Timpanogos High School.  He has chosen to take AP classes and concurrent enrollment. 
Funny Story: When Frankie was in 9th grade, Grant and I sat down with him and talked to him a bout his education, his options and goals.  We suggested he start taking AP classes and concurrent enrollment.  At the time, I remember him looking annoyed that we were having this conversation with him.  He even blew off the thought of taking anything but the "normal" classes.  Of course, we felt like he was short changing himself, since he is a very bright student.  But, what do you do?  We just felt like we did our duty by encouraging him and it was up to him to do it. 
Every once in a while, especially when it was time to sign up for classes, we would nudge him to sign up for AP classes.  Every time, we were blown off and regular classes would appear on his schedule.  Last year, at the end of school year, that time came again when he needed to sign up for classes.  He was so excited, he was signing up for AP and concurrent enrollment classes.  We were surprised. So we asked : "what changed your mind?"  This time he looked at us confused.  He said, "I just found out that I can take classes that give me college credit." Both Grant and I looked at each other smirking.  Grant and I couldn't hold back and we told him. "We told you about those a few times and you refused to take them".  Frankie says he does not remember us telling him about that.  I'm not surprised...he blocks half of the stuff we tell him.  Frankie is the type of kid that will try anything.  He is not afraid to do so.  But on the same hand, he doesn't like being told what to do.  If he does anything, it has to be his idea.  So, I guess he just needed to think of it himself.

At the end of the day, we are just glad he thought of it (himself) and enrolled in classes. We are proud of him!

Side note: Last year he took his ACT for the first time and scored a 27.  I feel that is a pretty good score considering is his first attempt.
His plan for college, is to attend UVU and get his associates in 1 year. Although the age has been officially changed by the church, Frankie is planning to go on his mission at 19 as he had originally planned.  When he returns he will apply to a 4 year college and Major in Aeronautical Engineering.

Drew is in 3rd grade, her teacher is Ms. Carlson.  At first she was worried because a classmate from previous years was also in that class.  She has had "bullying" problems with this certain classmate and we were also worried.  We immediately requested a change, but it ended up being that they had already moved that student.  She was also concerned that her friends had mentioned last year that Ms. Carlson was "mean". But as she thought about it she remembered she was just strict to students that didn't listen to her.  So she said, "I always listen to my teacher so she is nice to me" As we went to the open house and met her, it was such a relief that she knew Drew and greeted her with such excitement.  That totally erased any concerns Drew might still have.  So far, she has loved Ms. Carlson.  She even thought of taking her flowers.
Drew's favorite subject is Math.  Yes! I'm a proud mom.  She is also excited to start learning cursive.  I had taught her a little, how to write her name in cursive.  So she is excited to be fluent :)
Drew says she wants to be a mom/dance teacher as well as a make-up artist.

 

 

Cheyenne is 2 1/2 now and doesn't get to go to school yet.  But, we still had fun taking pictures.  She wanted to be part of all the action. 

 

 

But don't worry, just because she's not at school doesn't mean that she didn't learn anything.  On the first day of school, she learned about...

Gravity...

 

Nature...(smelling the flowers)

 

 and P.E.

She's also learning ASL and has speech therapy.  She has been making lots of progress since she finally lets us put her Passy Muir valve (speech valve) on. She sings along to any song.  Mostly from her favorite movies, Spirit and Aristocats.