Friday, August 21, 2015

WITL 2015 - Thursday

 First Day of School 2015!  I got up just after 6, which is a bit over an hour early for me to get the back to school process started. First up, oatmeal pancakes.  B had a special pancake request and the oatmeal version seemed more likely to last to lunch (and is delicious--- the recipe is from the Good to the Grain cookbook, but we, of course, add cinnamon).
 Getting ready involved double checking backpacks, packing M's lunch and B's snack, shoes, teeth brushing, medicine, hair fixing, etc... There was some down time for a little electronics as we were ready really far in advance.
 We spend a lot of time this week encouraging the kids to make new friends. I decided I needed to take my own advice and go to "Muffins and Mimosas" after drop off with the other neighborhood moms so I got ready for that as well.
 Then it was time for the official back to school photos.  We're still finding our favorite spots in the new yard, but I think they did well.


 Had to include this one just for the tendu pose.  Also, note the shoes.  She had a different first day of school dress planned, but switched to this one at the last minute so she could wear her twinkle toes back to school shoes.
 Full on curls, she dubs "first day hair." It stayed really curly this time and very cute. Also, big beautiful brown eyes and looking so grown up.
 More brown eyes and a real smile.  Love this.  He really did seem happy throughout.

All smiles and ready to go!
 At the school around 8:20 --- this is actually pretty early, but we did get a parking spot and get in to the class rooms easily.
 Laughing at his teacher and completely comfortable.  Love it.  His teacher did, again, mistake M for the 3rd grader.  Not to worry, M straightened her out right away.  I think he likes it here.  He was pretty excited to have chicken 'n waffles for lunch.
 Then, across the school to the kindergarten pod.  It was kind of hard for us all to let go, but no tears and no big 1st day group thing like there was at Angie Debo.
She brought her lunch on the first day in her my little pony lunch box because she wanted to "do what she was used to."  She pretty much told us it was time to go when she turned her back and started coloring that little person in her hands.  I did run back and kiss her hand before leaving so she was all set for the Kissing Hand story they read to begin the day.  We left and I wasn't even near tears.  We ran into the Duncans in the hall (literally one of two families we know at all at the school).  They were good comic relief as always. 

 Then, E & I went to Muffins & Mimosas. It was fun. I enjoyed talking with the other moms. One I sort of knew from church, one is my SIL's friend, another is a former photographer of ours.  It was a good group and all very welcoming.  E was ready to leave before I was.
 Not that he had much to do at home other than play with me and pretend to eat lunch. He did get a bit of electronics before naptime while I worked.
 He also played in his toy kitchen quite a bit and we had a "Everything is Awesome" dance party.  His nap was unfortunately short, but he managed to stay fairly well entertained.

View of my work space from the entry. I do have a lot of technology sitting around these days as my work is switching phone systems.  I had a lot of email and things to fix after being gone for three days, but it went pretty well.  I like being able to see the big front yard and the street from my desk. 
With his siblings gone, E was upgraded to getting to check the mail. 

 To my great delight, the bus arrived by 4:10 pm (last year it was almost 5 on the first day).  Love this shot of our kids and the neighborhood boys running towards us as E runs to them.
 They made it home! They had lots of stories.  M called Audra, Grandma, and Grammie to talk and Uncle Able & Aunt Kari called in as well.  We invited everyone over for a pizza party the next day to catch up.
 B had gym, one recess, did some practice tests, and made a new friend Seth.  He didn't get much time to read, but felt like he has things pretty figured out and seemed happy with everything.
 M has five friends, she says, but can only remember one of their names.  Paisley is her best friend so far and is in her Sunday School class so they know each other already, which is great.  She ate 1/2 her lunch, took a rest on her nap mat, had music with 2 teachers and 3 kindergarten classes.  They learned "It's a Grand Old Flag" in anticipation of (she said) a performance the next day, they also learned some other song with motions that I couldn't quite identify. B sought her out in the bus line and everything went well. She had THREE recesses!
 B took some time to rest alone in the hammock, but E really wanted to join.
 Everyone got a turn.  Love this photo.
 B tried out a new website his teacher recommended - Go Noodle.  It seems to have a strange amount of kidz bop videos.
 M told Daddy all her stories.  B told a few as well. He thought it was especially funny that he was tricked by an instruction reading test.
 Then Brent tried to pull her tooth.  Not quite ready yet.
 Here M is telling Grandma her stories.
 E got some snuggle story time with Daddy.
This is a pretty classic standard evening look these days. 
I was really tired after all this, but did go for a 2 mile run while listening to the Gymcastic podcast.  It was a lovely evening and I'm glad Brent encouraged me to go despite my wish to just sit around.

A very big day, but everyone seems to be happy and enjoying their new school set up. 

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