First Day Jitters

Today was Alyssa and Allison first day of 2nd grade!!

Johnathon was able to join me in taking them to school. It was a very special morning. 

It was such a wonderful feeling to see them so confident and ready school. Their school is such a blessing and we are so lucky to be a part of such a great community.

Alyssa, my little diva!

Allison, my sweet little rock star!

 They have the sweetest teacher this year and I know there will be many memories made.

First Day of School 2013

Our alarms were set, clothes were laid out and backpacks were filled.

 

Today was Alyssa and Allison's first day of 1st grade!

 

Johnathon took the morning off to be there for their first day. Even though he wasn't at the school for very long, I think it still meant a lot to the girls to have him there. It's not often that he is able to attend these special occasions.

 

We even dropped Madelynn and baby D off at a babysitter to make sure that we didn't take away from their special day and it nice to really focus on them for a change.

 

Here are my little ladies with their backpacks. After MUCH effort on my part, I opted for iron-on patches instead of embroidering their names. First of all, I didn't like the idea of everyone (strangers!!) knowing their first names and it was also a huge struggle to get my machine to work with such an awkward small space. We were all happy with the end result.

I am so in love with them in these little uniforms.

 

They were happy too, but I have a feeling they don't quite understand that they will be wearing basically the same thing every single day.

 

Time will tell. (Wish me luck!)

 My girls love to learn, so they were beyond thrilled to get back into a classroom.

I was surprised at how well they went to bed last night and how easy it was to get them ready this morning. If only it remained that easy for the remainder of the year.

 

I can dream, can't I? :)

Such silly goofy girls!

If you could have been a fly on the wall for this next picture!!

 

Their poor backpacks were so heavy that this was the only good picture out of 10 because they kept falling backwards. Ladies and gentlemen, those smiles are legit!

Alyssa loved her classroom and settled in well...after 15 hugs and 10 kisses...every 5 minutes. :)

 I did have to explain to her teacher that she is a perfectionist and to give her time.

 

She was upset that her pencil wasn't sharpened and her art box wasn't organized. Mrs. L seemed to understand. Alyssa will get into a mood where it will take her 10 minutes to write her name because she wants it to look perfect

 

Allison did well also.

 

She gave me one hug and only because I asked for one. She was off to the rug and making friends before I could even walk out of the classroom.

 

She is so much like her Daddy!

 

Allison simply adores her teacher, Mrs. T.

 

They seem to be 2 peas in a pod and I know that her school year will be so exciting!

 

 

 

Madelynn is currently playing quietly and D is napping. Our day is off to a great start.

 

Happy Monday.

xoxo

1st Grade Orientation {2013}

 Alyssa and Allison had their 1st grade orientation last Thursday.

There was a lot of excited about meeting their teachers and getting to see the school finished for the first time.

 

I look at these pictures and cannot believe that these grown-up precious ladies are mine.

 

I know everyone will say that they grow up too fast, but you never really understand it until it is happening to you first hand.

 

I mean, look at them!!

Both girls were very lucky with their selection of teachers this year and I know that they will have a fantastic year..

 

Alyssa has Mrs. L 

 

Allison has Mrs. T

 

 

It was such a fun night for the girls and they are so excited for the first day of school tomorrow.

 

Tonight we are having a celebratory dinner of all their favorite foods and heading to bed early.

 

Happy Sunday!



It never fails.

Alyssa and Allison each have their own beds, but at the moment, they share a bedroom.

 

Without fail, this is how we find them 9 out of 10 nights.

 

Speaking of them having their own bedrooms, I wanted to share a little bit of our story.

 

Johnathon and I, due to our growing family, recently tried to apply for larger housing. We currently live in military housing which is privatized and ran by Lincoln Military Housing. When we originally went to them with our situation, we were told to put D on Johnathon's Page 2 and we could easily apply for larger housing.

 

WRONG.

 

The military will not allow us to put D on Johnathon's Page 2 because we are neither his parents OR his legal guardians. Their reasoning for this is clear, they do not want D to receive benefits that do not belong to him, such as medical, etc. This I completely agree and understand. My issue is, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE.

 

For those of you who do not know, when you originally apply for housing (at least here in San Diego), you first apply with Navy Housing. They see what branch of the military you are, your rank and your number of dependents. Then they let Lincoln Military housing know what size of home you qualify for. You will sign a lease with BOTH Navy Housing and Lincoln Military Housing.

 

This is how we handled our situation.

 

We filled out an Exceptions To Policy Form explaining why we wish to have our foster child acknowledged as a member of our family and that we do indeed need larger housing. We also had Johnathon's command write up an endorsement for us on command letter head. We then submitted that with our foster parent certification to Navy Housing.

 

It took two weeks to hear back, but we have officially been cleared for larger housing and D is officially being recognized as a member of our family (NOT on Johnathon's Page 2, but in everyway that matters to us!).

 

There is a HUGE wait list and we are managing just fine in our current home, but for me, this battle is simply about getting our foster children to be recognized. So many people wanted to brush us off in the beginning and treat us like he shouldn't matter because "foster care is temporary".

 

I could have smacked them all.

 

Instead, I persisted and annoyed anyone who would listen until I got the right answer.

 

My point for explaining all of this is that I am sure I am not the only person who has encountered this issue and I want to be an example for anyone who may need help in the future.

 

In the end, it wasn't even about getting an extra bedroom. I was on a mission to be the voice for any child in foster care. In the foster system or not, these children need to be recognized and loved. They deserve at least that.



80's Day

Alyssa & Allison had 80's day at school.

 

I loved it.

 

They were less impressed.

They may pull it off in these pictures, but it took some serious convincing to get them out of the house like this.

 

In fact, Allison had her hair out before she finished breakfast at school.

They sure are cute, huh?!