The New School

So, the kids have been at their new school for a week. Montessori is totally different from their old school, so Mr. A and Mr. N are still trying to figure out what to do. They seem to really like it though, and are excited about getting to go swimming in the afternoons. Mr. T is absolutely loving it. Every morning, the kindergarteners begin the day with a walk. They catch grasshoppers and water their little garden. The kids all happy when I drop them off and when I pick them up, so I'm very happy about that too! The commute is a killer though. I drive more than 2 hours a day going back and forth to the school (when we move next month, it will only be 2 miles - phew!). The first couple of days, the kids fought and teased each other during the car rides and I was getting really frustrated. Now, I've been stocking the car with library books for the commute and it is much more peaceful. I also have a stash of stickers to give to the Mrs. T and W when they keep their seat belts on. Mr. W chose Care Bear stickers at the store and even the Mrs. A and N like them and want stickers too when I pass them out (of course, they stay in their seats, so why not?). It cracks me up.

This week, Jason is out of town, working at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (lucky duck!) Sadly, though, he'll miss Mr. A participating in the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta and attending the Open House at the school. I'm donating blood at the end of the week and he usually watches the kids, while I do that. I'm not sure if I'll find a babysitter or bring everyone along for the ride! The last couple of times, I've let Mr. A or Mr. N come to watch and see what goes on. They've been very interested and they love the snacks!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Today I got a surprising phone call. Apparently, I'd invited the missionaries over for dinner tonight. Oops!... I had forgotten. Scramble, scramble. Jason was gone, so they couldn't actually stay, but said they could pick up some dinner at our door and take it home. I didn't really have any dinner planned or great ingredients to put together, so I cooked up some pasta real quick with sauce from a jar (it was either that or Mickey Mouse-shaped chicken nuggets). I intended to sprinkle it with mozzarella to make it yummier, but we were out, so I threw in a couple of sticks of string cheese on the side. For a dessert and beverage in one, I gave them some Hershey's chocolate milk boxes. Mr. T greeted them at the door with a big spider in a jar and invited them to hold it in their hand - "It won't even bite you! I holded it in my hand and it didn't bite me. Here! Hold the spider! Here - take it!" Needless to say, they weren't big spider fans and didn't want to hold it. We talked about spiders for a couple of minutes and they were off, carrying their supper away to their truck. Mr. T ran after them and told them they had to come eat dinner with us in our house. I called him back and as they pulled away, Mr. W ran after them calling, "Wait! Come back! Come eat dinner with us!" He chased them down the street a ways with no shoes and wearing just his swimming trunks. It was a funny sight to see!

The first day of school

The first day of school went with... a hitch. Everyone cooperated getting dressed, ate breakfast, and got out the door in time. Everything was going swimmingly. However, being the first day and all, there was no room in the parking lot and we had to park in the long line of cars on the street, clear back by the freeway exit. We had to wait for traffic to clear and the go ahead from the traffic cop to cross the street. By the time we got to Mr. T's kindergarten classroom, we were late. Upon entering the classroom, Mr. T tried to bolt and didn't want to go to school anymore. He insisted that it was not his classroom or his teacher or his school. He was crying and trying to run out of the classroom. I wanted to stay and reassure him, but I needed to get the other kids to their classes. I handed him off to his teacher and they were both down on the ground in a flash. She was holding him so he wouldn't run out. I quickly left, which I felt horrible about, but I think it was the best thing. He has a lot of anxiety about going to new places and being in new situations. We are probably (hopefully!) going to switch schools in a couple of weeks, so we may have to do this all over again! I talked to the teacher and she said he calmed down and stopped trying to escape after 1/2 hour. Mr. A found his classroom on his own and I took Mr. N to his classroom way across campus, after the ordeal, so he was quite late. The school was originally designed to be a jr. high and it is very spread out. Tomorrow, we begin again!

Testing, 1-2-3

Welcome to our Botz family blog! This site will serve as a family history record for us as well as a public notice of our goings-on for you, our dear committed readers. Thank you in advance for checking our site daily for up-to-the-minute breaking news, even though we may only post our annual, much belated Christmas letter here. You may even get to see what we look like if we (read Erin) can ever figure out how to download pictures and put them on this here page. We hope you will find our blog inspirational, thought-provoking, funny, or otherwise worthwhile. We have no idea what we're doing, really. Just remember to check our blog daily - no, make that twice daily. We assure you that one day, it may actually be worth your while!