Back to School!

Today the children started back to school. Boy were we all excited. We loaded into the car for our thrice daily commute (15-45 min one way, depending on traffic). But it is a beautiful drive. Notice all the greenery in the background. These pictures were just taken along the way on the drive.





And off to our new schools. This year I have one kid in each of three schools. Blake in the preschool:



Emily in first grade at the Early Childhood Center:



And Clark in third grade at the Elementary School. These are the last pictures you'll see of Clark because he was really embarrassed that I made him even pose for these. Third grade is a big step up here. He starts having homework for the first time and at the end of the year the entire grade will leave for a full week to the seaside without any parents. It's good I have a year to get ready for that one.





Blake was in a hurry to try out his new playground before school started.



Emily was in a hurry to line up when the bell rang. That is her teacher, Ms. Pat Parker at the head of the line. Emily adores her. She focuses on art especially throughout the year and is very nurturing. Both things that Emily needs.



Blake marched right into his classroom as soon as the teacher opened the door at 9am. He acted like he owned the place. Blake is loving his teachers also. There are 15 kids in his class and two full-time college graduated teachers. Truly amazing. Blake has already made two new friends and his teacher tells me he is very happy and confident. This has been such a welcome experience after the awful year we had last year with the Flemish school.







Our school has been the highlight of our experience here in Belgium. It looks like this year will be another stellar experience for each of the three kids.

Note: You should be able to double-click on any photo and it will come up in another window bigger.