SofiandNatalie.com

With the new school year started, many of us have already seen our fair share of fundraisers, but I wanted to take a moment and encourage you to consider supporting Sofi and Braly Elementary in their effort to raise funds for special programs and materials that aren’t in their regular budget.  The school earns a large percentage of every dollar you spend, and, of course, Sofi has a chance to win some really great prizes.

Fortunately, with the power of the internet, you don’t even have to leave your home.  Simply go to www.cherrydale.com to see the exciting collection of gourmet chocolates, beautiful giftware and assorted gift wrap and accessories. If you like, you can buy or renew one of your favorite magazines too.  By clicking the above link all the school’s information should be entered automatically, but just in case the information you will need are as follows:

Student ID#: 61043
School ID#: 157806
www.cherrydale.com

This fundraiser will be running from September 25th through October 9 and your support is greatly appreciated!

Papa

The first day of school is one of life’s first rights of passage.  It’s a change from being in Mama and Papa’s fold to being judged by a relative stranger and held up to the opinions of other students that at some point (very quickly) become your peers.  With Sofi going into kindergarden this year it was also a wake-up call that my babies are growing up.

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My earlier posts on Halloween 2008 already showed some of what we did at Braly Elementary and Boo at the Zoo, but we didn’t really go into the Halloween Happenings or the actual trick-or-treating that we got to do.  Everything was wild fun, but man can it be overwhelming.  I can hardly imagine how larger families do it, even while knowing that the rewards must be tremendous.

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Halloween rocks! This year has been awesome and for the first time I think, like my children, I get Halloween.  It’s not about the candy – although that is certainly one of the perks – it’s about the excitement, the costumes, dressing up, and all the mixture of freak and fright that makes this kid’s holiday a true joy.  This year we started at Braly School, and my princesses took in the sights, sounds, smells, and visions of what this halloween was going to be like.  There were costumes, games, parades, prizes, candy, pizza, baked goods, smiles, laughter, and plenty of fun for all.

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“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” ~ Sydney J. Harris

I don’t remember too many of my own first days of school, but I don’t think I will ever forget my daughters going off to school for the first time.  For those of you that remember, Sofi went to school by herself for a bit last school year, but this school year is the first time that both girls will be in pre-school and the only thing I can think is “oh my goodness, my children are growing up!”  And so darn fast, too.  With those smiles, though, how can a proud father not want them to go off and start their education?

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      ’s

Every now and again Mama’s school holds some sort of festival or party, and this month they had a Taste of India event that included fun, food, dancing, and activities for the children.  It was a raucus good time and the girls had a ball of things.  For us, the food was a wee bit spicey, but it had a great flavor and both of us ate our share.  We took Babi along and she didn’t eat too much, but had a great time.

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I imagine that the first day of school – any school – qualifies as something of a right of passage.  It symbolizes that you’re maturing and getting ready to endure everything that life has to offer.  What nobody ever talks about is how traumatic it can be – for the parents.  That’s right, I can hardly believe that my daughter is off to preschool, starting this week, and complete with her backpack, lunchbox and a whole lot of enthusiasm Sofi headed off to “Mama’s School” to start her education.

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