The transition from Kindergarten to 1st grade is a very big deal at Waldorf. Jude has been counting down the days all summer until he got to be a “grader”. On Tuesday morning the big day finally arrived and he was excited. Here is with Marcy about to leave for his first day of 1st grade.

On the first day of school there is a big ceremony for the first graders and the entire school attends as well as the 1st grade and 8th grade parents. There is a rose ceremony where the 1st graders say goodbye to their parents and are led through a tunnel made of dozens of bigger kids with their 8th grade buddy. Every 1st grader gets an 8th grade buddy who they will get to know throughout their first year at the school. It was a wonderful ceremony and there was many a crying parent (including Marcy). Below is Jude sitting at his desk in the front row just before heading down to the rose ceremony.

The night before Jude’s first day of school was another milestone. Jude lost his second tooth. He proudly displayed it the next morning. You can see that the first tooth he lost has a new tooth coming in well.

It has been really hot in Denver these past two weeks and the swamp cooler broke down one day. So, Marcy set up the tents on the balcony and we all slept under the stars one night. Jude and Anna were pretty excited about it.

The last two weeks also saw the return of our piano after being completely restored and tuned. Our piano was built around 1930 (around the same age as our new house) and we bought it for $100 from a church. After having it restored it looks great and sounds even better.

We now have another musical instrument in the family. After Jude listened to the Magic Tree House story about Louis Armstrong in New Orleans he has wanted a trumpet. Instead of spending $500 on a new trumpet we decided to rent one. We may do lessons at some point but both Jude and Anna like to get it out regularly and blow through it. It is pretty cool to hear them play it.