Like the new look?

So I got bored the standard blogger template & wanted something a little more personal. What do you think of the new look?  Leave me a comment and let me know.  The picture of the girls was taken at Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago.  We had a great time there, and definitely plan to go back. 

Today was the first day of First Grade for the girls!  They had a great time, even though only 1 kid from their Kindergarten class was with them.  It's a mixed class of 10 Kindergarteners & nine 1st Graders.  I wasn't thrilled with this initially, but spoke to their teacher from last year & am more comfortable with it now. The K's go home @ 11:40, and then the 9 1st graders have 3 hours of time with the teacher alone.  This teacher has done this mix before, and says she can get a whole day's curriculum covered in just the afternoon with the 1st graders.  I also spoke to a mom who's son was in this setup last year, and she said it was great for her son.  And, I've spoken to at least 10 other parents who either raved about the teacher from personal experience, or said they'd wished their kids had had her as a teacher. 

Also, they put the oldest of the K's in this class, so there aren't any of the 4-going-on--year-olds.  And only 1st graders who can focus, and not be "off task" were selected - so they should be with a good group of kids.  I'm feeling like it will be OK for the girls, and they won't get behind.  The first back to school night for parents is next week.  I'll chat with the teacher about it then too.  

The girls also had soccer practice today too. Boy were they tired tonight. And Sophie didn't eat her sandwich at lunch, so was starved after school.  No chocolate pudding in her lunch box tomorrow, since that's all she ate today! 

We had to fill out a form for the teacher with each kid's likes, dislikes, etc... Under "Food - dislikes:" we put "doesn't really like much of anything" for Sophie, and "none" for Zoe.  I guess that's not entirely true, I can think of 3 things Zoe doesn't really care for: chocolate pudding, bananas (unless they have peanut butter on them), and apple juice.  Sophie, could practically live on the 3 things Zoe won't eat, and be perfectly happy. Add some carrots, apples, chicken nuggets and pancakes, and you've just about got Sophie's diet covered. 

Anyway, I'll post more about school and some more photos tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a few select shots.