Back to School

First Day of School! Every year, these are my favorite photos. The boys are all spruced up with new school shoes, tentative smiles, eagerness to see what this day will hold...I love it! Lachen rode his bike to school on the first day (with a Daddy escort), and Aksel was one of 7 children to get on at the St. Mark's stop at the top of our hill. It's a very short bus ride, but I know that I'll still drive them to school so we can have those great 10 minute car chats on the way.

The school year has started smoothly for all of us. I am teaching two classes again, and it looks like my Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons will be teh times when I'll be doing Mom Things. This week, I'm preparing for Lachen's birthday party. He's having a street hockey party this year, and I need to figure out how to make a Stanley Cup birthday cake and black puck cookies. We found other party supplies at the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto --yes, I was actually shopping for his party months in advance--stop chortling. We're looking forward to having 8 friends over for his 8th birthday.
Do you like Aksel's red shoes? What's better than new red school shoes, right? These are Kangaroos with the hidden zipper pocket on the side. I had a pair in 3rd grade. Mine were pink, purple, and yellow. They were nothing short of perfection. Aksel wanted these for months after seeing them in a little shoe store in Boston, across from Mike's Pastry. He got them for his 6th birthday. He's always had the best taste in shoes.
These are my boys! They've started taking piano lessons, and Lachen is determined to catch up with his little brother. This has only driven Aksel to play and memorize the hardest song in his book. There's no shortage of competitive spirit in our house!

Tonight, Lachen will be starting a bookclub tonight with other 2nd and 3rd graders at the library. He's ready for the 4th Percy Jackson book, so that will be my charge while he is eating pizza and talking about books with his peers. My book club is meeting next week, too, so I'd better start my book, Twilight. At least it's a light, quick read! I'm reading God's Mercy by Kerstin Ekman. She's a Swedish author whom I highly recommend. Shawn's reading Mean Spirit, a Native American novel which he read ten years ago, and now he's going to lead a student discussion about it at St. Mark's. What's everyone else reading?