Noah's First Day of 4th Grade

Yes, on July 30.  School has officially started here in Hawaii.  And Noah has completed his first day of 4th grade!  Wow.  Fourth grade.  Things are getting serious.  I say that on the first day of school each year, yet Noah always seems to rise to the challenge.  I am so excited for him to get back into the swing of school.  He really thrives in the school environment.  Structure. Discipline. Mental challenges.  He loves it all.

Here he is heading into school this morning.  First with Caleb....who by the way will start kindergarten very soon.  Their schedule is a little different in the beginning.

 And then, on his own.

 As I look over these pictures tonight, I think Noah looks like a hot mess.  His bed head.  Shoe untied.  I can't explain it.  That is just him.  Laid back.  Carefree.  Easy going.  But very intense in academics.  I told Eric that I compare it to Mark Zuckerberg wearing hoodies to important business meetings.

 This is his teacher standing at the door.  Each student had to introduce themself and their parents, if present, before entering the classroom.  They were then asked to choose a card and follow its directions leading them to their seat and first task to learn about their classmates.  Noah's task was to find out where each student was from, Hawaii (which island), mainland (which state), or other country.

 Here you can see he has found the seat for his chosen card.  He explained it to me as "way in the back between two really nice girls."  Oh boy.  Fourth grade.

As easygoing and laid back as Noah is, he really does get himself worked up about the silliest things....not that the first day of school is silly.  Today was nice because it felt familiar.  A school he has attended the previous year....well, semester at least.

Kids were saying hi to him.  They were even shouting, "Hi Noah's mom!" to me as I waited outside.  I love that comfortable feeling, especially after only being here for 7 months.  It just makes me proud to know that Noah is so well adjusted even though he has experienced some major changes in his short life.