The First Day of School ~ 2009

Today is the first day of school. What an exciting day!

Round 1: Kyndal and Dawson

Kyndal and Dawson rose bright and (too) early at 6:15 a.m. to get ready for their first day. 

Dawson wanted to ride the bus with his best bud Antonio, so no pics of him at his school the first day. I did take this one of him and Antonio yesterday when we were finding his locker and walking his classes.

And then these this morning before he got on the bus to head to the 7th grade!

Kyndal's friend Caitlyn came over for me to take them to school. Here's a picture of them together. They are in high school now!! It literally seems like last week that I was taking Kyndal to kindergarten. I can still see her in her braids with her huge Barbie backpack walking down the long sidewalk. After the first day she wouldn't let me drop her off at the kindergarten loop anymore. She made me drop her off at the sidewalk in the front of the school, furthest away from the door, so she could walk as much of the sidewalk as possible and enter with the big kids.

Here's a picture of Kyndal before we left for school ...

... and her last look as she got out of the car for her first day in high school.

Round 2:  Eli and Brynne

I type this with tears in my eyes this morning because we took our little Eli (aka "Boogie Bear") to kindergarten this morning. He was very excited and looked so handsome in his big boy outfit. Seriously I can't believe he is going to be away from me all day every day. It didn't seem to phase him a bit!

After Brynne got him settled in his chair (she was literally yelling at him across the room that she had found his chair .. he was taking his time looking at each one trying to find it himself), we slowly exited the room to allow him to grow up. But, it was hard! I can't get over how big he looked sitting at that table, coloring his first page in kindergarten.

(** On a side note, Eli and Brynne are in the very first kindergarten and pre-k classes to be at our new school. It is a state-of-the-art facility that is so amazing! It's a fun school! There are "pods" that house 4 classrooms each, with a central activity area. Each pod has a different insect mascot. One is ants, one is ladybugs .. I haven't seen the rest. There is actually a big ant and a big ladybug in the carpet. It is so cool! I am thrilled my kiddos get to go to this school!)

Brynne was slightly disappointed that she couldn't go ahead and stay at preschool, because she goes half-days in the afternoon. But, we walked her down to where to room is going to be and then headed home for the morning.

Morgan and Makenna started coming again today, so we played outside for a bit before it started raining.

After lunch, it was time to take Brynne to her first day of pre-k. (We are blessed that the pre-k program is at the new school where Eli goes, which is literally about a one-minute drive from our house. If you have any idea about the driving schedule I have had in the past three years, you would know how excited I really am about the new school!)

As you can see she was very upset to be being left at school .... NOT!!!

The child has obviously been living for this day. In fact, she pushed her way to the very front of the line so she would be the first one in. The girls and I were about 10 families back.

Now I sit here, at my computer, in the silence, finishing this post, happy as can be! I actually spoke to my husband on the phone with no interruptions, am getting ready to eat my lunch and then will finish up a tad bit of housework before it's time to bring them all home!!