Ramsey brought “Jacob” with us from Australia.  He’s a naughty little imaginary friend who is about two and loves to cause mischief around the Beaird house.  If someone writes on the couch – Jacob.  If someone hurts one of the kids – Jacob.  If someone tears up a toy – Jacob.  Just this weekend, Ramsey also found an imaginary dog.  Really, he found a leash.  He thinks there’s a dog named ‘Ape’ on the end of it.  Ramsey and Ape were out for a walk yesterday afternoon when Ram got distracted and slammed into the corner of an open car door. 

His poor little cheek had about an half-inch gash in it.  This, of course, required stitches.  I say of course because it was Labor Day and our only option was the emergency room.  Ramsey was a CHAMP.  He was papoosed and received five stitches on his cheek without crying once!  His eye is a little black and swollen today, but he’s feeling pretty good. . .

Ramsey also had his first real day of pre-school at Hope Lutheran church (Maggie really wanted to go).  He was a happy camper the entire time and went without hesitation.  He’ll go for a couple of hours, three times a week.  From what I understand, they painted and ate Dora the Explorer yogurt.  Pretty much the two best things in a three-year-old’s life.  Sorry for the blurry pictures.  I forgot to take the camera (he’s the third child, after all) and had to rely on my phone. 

Barrett started 4th grade today at Pier Elementary and Fisher met his teacher this morning for his 4K class.  He’ll start his morning class tomorrow.  Ramsey met his teacher yesterday and LOVES his new school.  He’ll be starting three mornings a week tomorrow.  As you can see, I asked Fish to stand next to the sign for a pic.  He went ahead and started climbing it for me.  It was a perfect week to start school. . . the weather is changing to fall.  Our mornings are in the 40s and our afternoons are in the 70s.  Absolutely GORGEOUS.  It is a little chilly for swimming, but that didn’t stop Fish and Ram this afternoon.  They just had me warm the mini-pool up a bit with boiling water and came in for a warm bath when they couldn’t stand the cold anymore.

This shouldn’t have surprised me because this was the process when we left Wisconsin, but after our two-year “no worries” experience, I thought it was disturbing.  When the bell rings, all the kids line up with their class on the playground.  No one can leave the playground until it’s quiet.  Then they have to walk one-class-at-a-time, single-file to their homerooms.  This is all after the doors are unlocked.  All schools in Fond du Lac are locked down during the day.  Parents must enter through the front door and ring a buzzer to be let into the school.  It’s a terrible state of affairs when you have to take this measure to keep kids safe?  Not to mention, I don’t like the idea of having to walk everywhere single file.  It’s school, not the military.  Anyway, thought you would like a peak into the school day.  We’ll post something more positive tomorrow!!