On the road again: Ode to Luke

Well, it's the first day of school, part deux: Luke's turn. He goes 4 afternoons a wk, from noon to 3 ish. Don and I took him together (Jon David was in school himself, so he couldn't come). His class met in the gym first, where they interacted with their teacher, and started off their day. He got to shoot a few basketball hoops before things really got started. Don and I hung around until more children were there, and school got started. We said "bye" when it was time for us to leave. I had to walk over to him to give him a hug. He was so funny. It was so no big deal to him. Talk about a different experience! In Jon David's defense, preschool is definitely a different animal than first grade. But it was great to see Luke so relaxed, and ready to go. The first pic is of him at home.

When we picked him up, he was happy, said he had a great time, and that he got some M n M's (candy is always a winner with Luke--way to go teach!). He was so laid back about the whole thing. Jon David, Don and I kept trying to come up with new questions to ask him. Everything sounded like it went smoothly. We celebrated with ice cream. The waitress found out it was his first day, asked him a/b it, and he responded w/ "it was totally awesome." I think that pretty much sums it up! :)
Yesterday, Luke and I went to Walmart. On the way there, I heard him saying from the back seat "take your dum picture." I asked him to repeat what he had said... After he repeated it, I asked him if he said "darn". He finally clarified loud and clear "D - D - Dum!!!" "Oh, I said. Well, we don't say that, Luke. Where did you hear that?" He said he heard in on Clifford. Jetta (a character from Clifford) said it. Oh, I said, well, we're going to have to not watch that episode any more (we have several episodes on DVD). Ha! Just goes to show that no TV show is totally exempt from inappropriateness.
Well, once at Walmart I found some star wars ships (quick side note: JD has really been enjoying first grade, however still struggled for a few days in the mornings saying goodbye--not so much crying, just clinging a little too much, and saying "I don't wanna go..." Don and I decided that we would get the boys prizes if they did well and did not cling at drop off (esp JD obviously). Also, Don has been watching the Phantom Menace with the boys, and Jon David especially is SUPER into it!! I thought that something star warsish might be a good bribe... sorry for the long parenthesis). OK, so I found a pod racer ship, and an X wing fighter (yea, slowly getting the lingo. It's survival when ya got boys.) I tried to sneak them in the cart. You can guess how long it took Luke to spot them. So I tried to slough (sp?) it off and say that I wasn't sure I was going to buy them. Besides, I said, what if Jon David got the pod racer, and you were sad b/c you wanted it too?... I said maybe we should just not get them. He said "that's OK Mommy, we can ask Jon David which one he wants, and if he wants the pod racer, then I'll have the X wing fighter." Sweet Luke. I was so proud of his generous heart.

So I'm going backwards in time: starting w/most recent, and moving backwards. This past Sunday, we went to a little festival in the area. The boys and Don played a game typical to the region called "corn hole." Evidently, it's big in this area. I tried to take pics to explain. You basically have several bean bags and try to throw them in a hole cut out of a wooden plank several feet away (or several yards--if you're not JD and Luke). It reminds me of the Kentucky version of batche ball (or "petanque" for the French readers). Not so much in the actual game plan, but in that it's sort of what people play around here, on nice summer evenings when they're grilling out w/friends.

The boys have both started fall soccer. They both love it! I am so proud of them. Here they are in the back yard practicing:

But they aren't the only Caulleys playing soccer. Don has been playing with a group of Koreans. A friend of his from seminary hooked him up, and they play other teams mostly made up of Koreans and Latin Americans. Essentially, he's the only white guy. It's great. I love watching him. He is not intimidated by it at all! One funny story I have to tell on him: A few wks ago, there was a lady on the other team--Spanish speaking. Her name is Cibella. He was trying to be friendly to everyone, so at one point, he asked if her name is "Abuela" (abuela means grandmother in Spanish). She repeated it back questioningly "abuela?!" Everyone around laughed. It was cute. They took it well, and explained what her real name was.
Anyway, Don plays well, and it's fun to watch. He scores frequently. In fact, this last game, he scored 3 out of the 7 goals his team made (they won!).

This is a sandwich blog. Luke is the bread. I will end with the home visit that his teacher paid us last Thursday (Can you believe this preschool!? The teachers come to visit each of their students at home). So this was 6 days before his first day. She had several things to ask me, and she had Luke do some hands on activities to see what he was capable of, and just to get to know us. She brought her assistant along.