back to school

Wow, I can't believe it's time for back-to-school already! This summer just FLEW by!

Yesterday I took the traditional "new school supplies" pictures (ah, the joys of having a scrapbooker for a mom, LOL!). Here is Nick (before his back to school haircut!) with his supplies: and here is our middle schooler, Emm. (She looks thrilled, huh? She's got that annoyed teen look down pat!):
And here they are today, on a very rainy and gray first day of school. We had to take the photos indoors, a first for us. School has always started out sunny before... hope the rain isn't a bad omen or something, LOL.

Nick is in 5th grade this year, and was not at all happy for summer vacation to be over. He took advantage of the delay on my digital camera this morning... when I snapped the picture, he was smiling nicely! But this is what he really thinks of the start of school: I did get him to smile for a few pictures, though:

Every year I've taken Nick's picture right next to the school sign, but the grass was awfully wet today, so I took it from a distance instead:
Here is Emmalie, now an 8th grader. (Yikes! High school next year!!):

Waiting for her bus:
Ben thought I should take a picture of him, too, LOL!:
At the start of school last year, I had fun reminiscing about my own time in school, so thought I'd do that again this year. Here is me when I was Nick's age and in 5th grade (Yes, we had color film back then! I just don't have a color copy of this photo....):
I was in Mrs. Allen's class at Crawford Elementary in Ames. Mrs. Allen was my favorite teacher EVER, and I have many good memories of 5th grade! My best friends were Heidi, Inger, Lisa, and Kate, who was new at our school that year. I still had a crush on Greg (that lasted all through elementary school, actually!) My favorite activities were climbing trees, reading, drawing, and riding my bike. At the time, I wanted to be a gymnastics instructor when I grew up!

And here is my lovely 8th grade picture:

I thought I was very fashionable at the time, LOL, and insisted on wearing the sweater over my rainbow shirt even though it was very hot that day!

I attended Welch Jr. High in Ames, and Mrs. Pier was my homeroom teacher. My favorite subjects that year were English (again with Mrs. Pier), art with Mr. Heinen, and the drafting portion of Industrial Ed., which I had with Mr. Johnson. My best friends at the time were Tara, Inger, Abby, and Lisa. I had two boyfriends that year (not at the same time, LOL)... Andrew (who was in 10th grade then) and then later Nathan, who was in 8th.

My favorite activities were reading and hanging out with my friends. I also remember spending hours on the phone with Tara. :) I was in chorus and also was a cast member (just a member of the "crowd") in our school musical, Bring Back Birdie. Also, by that time, I knew that I wanted to be a social worker when I grew up....

Here's hoping that Emm and Nick will have great years in 8th and 5th grades, just like I did! :)