the end of the summer, the beginning of the school year

The boys had another wonderful summer with Amelia- they had many adventures and spent the last day of summer vacation at OMSI.  We are so happy that she can come back next summer- the boys will miss her till then!

The Wednesday after Labor Day, the boys headed back to school.  Both are at Zion Lutheran School, Ben starting Kindergarten and Owen starting 4th grade.  Ben has the same Kindergarten teacher that Owen did, which we are all thrilled about.  Ben and her already have developed a nice relationship.  Ben is very ready for Kindergarten- he has been doing some fantastic reading and pushing his math skills.  Sterling is in his class, so socially he is all set.  Owen hit the 4th grade running this year.  His teach, Mr. Walz, is fantastic and engaging.  Owen's first project is learning about a country- he has chosen France.  For the first week of school he had to memorize all the books of the Old Testament, then the books of the New Testament in the second week.  He did great at both of them.  His friends Isaac and Sophie are still in his class, plus his Cub Scout friends Evan and Cole.  We suspect this will be a great year for both boys.