Kindergarten - 1 year home

1st day of Kindergarten - August 2012

Playing goalie - Spring 2013

1 Year Home - Six thirty a.m. on August 23, 2012 a loud buzzer sound resonated the fact that Summer was indeed over. Lazy days of sleeping in, swimming, visiting family in Wisconsin,  unplanned play dates were coming to an end. My 3 kids would all attend a new school, make new friends, and adjust to a new home in a new community. For obvious reasons my husband and I wondered about our youngest the most, how he would take to new authority, blend in a class of 20 students, get the individual attention he needs every day 8-3pm. So today we go to his first real school conference and all I heard was he is amazing! My husband looked at him wondering if this was the same kid that left our home this morning. He sat still, his responses were calm, clear, & polite. He obviously loved and respected his teachers. Just 1 year ago today this is the same little boy could not count to 10 or knew the names of colors in his own native language.  I cannot help but think of who Justin was a year ago to who he is today. He was a little boy who had all the reasons to be scared, who has moved in from place to place with total strangers, who didn't know what a family was, didn't know what chocolate tasted like!!! I look at him today and for more reasons than just his school conference I am amazed. Amazed at his tenacity, for him to believe that this stop is the last one he will ever have to make, that he has parents that love him and want him to stay, that he has a brother and sister that love him as well. He trusts us that we love him no matter what, that he will belong in a family forever. He believes that he can grow up to be what ever he wants to be. He is amazing. He should not be as happy as he is. He just took life as it came. but now he knows what family is. I am glad he does. And I know he is glad too.

I don't know why I never published the above blog post written last September, but it continues to a good ending. Read below. 

18 Months Home - Summer 2013 is 6 weeks away and Justin has had a great Kindergarten year. He has made many friends, learned how to read, and is starting to say a few things in Spanish again. And best of all he tells me that I am his favorite mom no matter what. He finished playing 2 seasons of soccer and would like to play indoor soccer this summer. He is very social at school and that often gets him a little more attention from the teachers than we would like, but we couldn't be more proud of him. He really is an outstanding kid. Well done Justin!!!!!! You are almost a 1st grader!

So Thankful For Teachers

Brett and his 1st grade teacher at Parkway. She was strict, but also had a great heart for her students and Brett. On Awards Night Brett was handed a A/B honor roll and Most Creative Writer award. If he just tried an eensy weensy bit harder he would have made A honor roll.

Maddie and Ms. Davis. Love her enthusiasm!! She was crazy, but fun. Parkway was a great school with awesome teachers. Parkway Elementary will be missed for sure this Fall. Our family is headed to a new school district.

Brett's 1st grade performance at a PTA meeting. He volunteered to be one of the dancers. :)

Awards Night at Parkway. I am not surprised by Miss Maddie and her capabilities. She was pretty happy too.

The Bike Parade at the Spanish Schoolhouse was one of his favorite events there. They had a "police officer" (one of the cute teachers) handing out tickets if they did not follow the rules of the road. Yes, Justin was issued one!

He had a ball dancing in his first school performance as you can tell.

Love, Love, Love these 3! They are irreplaceable. All my kids had 1 or more of these teachers at the Spanish Schoolhouse. I will be forever grateful for this special group of teachers!! This is the end of the road for our family and the SSH. I highly recommend this school if nothing else for the teachers and the love and care they have for every family that walks through their doors.

One More Backpack

Justin started pre-K in the beginning of January. The First day and every day since then has gone smoothly. He did need some encouragement from my older 2 that the SSH was going to be fun, that the teachers are so sweet and loving, and that he was going to have a blast. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he is taught in English and Friday is a total immersion day in Spanish. At the beginning of every month we print a calendar from so that he can see when he goes to school and any special days we have like going to the dentist, family members birthdays, etc. We hope that he will be able to retain his Spanish, but I think he has forgotten some of it already. When I ask him to talk to me in Spanish he says he forgot. We are hoping to call his foster mother soon so we will see how much he has remembered because neither Bob nor I can fluently talk Spanish. A lot of the schooling on Friday is new for him because when we first me him in April 2011 he did not know the basics (colors, counting to 10, etc) in Spanish. We don't have any regrets sending him to school 3 days a week from 9am-2pm. I know having him home for 3 months definitely helped him to have more confidence in himself. This past week his school gave him Periquito Azul to keep for a week. He is to write a few sentences and share a few photos of what him and Periquito Azul have done together. He has carried that bird around everywhere!! Needless to say Justin takes on this role very serious. We shall see what happens when he has to return Periquito Azul. (I tried to post a few more pictures, but I can't figure out what the problem is so 2 will have to do. The picture below is him having school with me on his off days.)