First Day of School 2017

Three of the four headed back to school last week.  Maddox started 3rd grade, Grady 2nd grade, and Ada Pre-K.  Pre-K is our school's "begindergarten" for the 5-year-old summer birthday kids, so she is there all day every day this year.  They only have pre-K at two of our elementary schools and unfortunately not at ours, so I drive her over to her school.  We drop the boys off on our way and they ride the bus home still, usually beating us home by a minute.  Ada has actually been whining about riding the bus (she rode it last year), but it's a 40 minute bus ride and doesn't stop by our house.  Maddox did that when he was in pre-K, but it's a little different because I was working then and the bus came to his before/after school care.  Maybe I'll let her ride it home.  I'm definitely not getting up early to take her to the bus at 7:10.  :)  We'll see.

First locker!

Mitch had a late morning flight so was able to do 1st day drop-offs with me

The girls start back up with tumbling soon and Grady starts flag football for the first time!  It seems like summer didn't even exist this year.  Back to the daily grind.

Ada's First Day of Preschool

Wow. I. Can't. Even.

I knew this day would be hard on me, because she has been home with me for 2 years now.  But mostly it was so exciting.  Ada has been talking about her imaginary school, imaginary bus, imaginary teachers, and imaginary friends forever now.  Starting "real" school was a big dream come true for her. 

We were talking about school leading up to the big day and she told me, "You don't have to go with me.  I will go all by myself.  You can just stay in the car and wave goodbye to me."  What...the...?!  Well, we did go inside and she hugged and kissed Kallie and me and happily told us how much she was going to miss us.  Then when her teachers came she ran to the front of the line and waved goodbye and off she went. 

I knew she wouldn't be the tallest kid in the class, but seriously, are these kids even 4?

I was completely holding it together until another little boy had to be peeled off his parents and was screaming for them as they left.  Then another little boy tugged on his mom's hand and said, "Come on Mom," and she tearfully told him that she couldn't come with him.  My mom heart couldn't handle it.  So I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.  Then I hadn't considered Kallie's reaction to leaving Ada.  I had thought about this day and knew Ada would be brave and excited so I assumed it would be easy on us. But as the preschool kids walked away, Kallie and I walked outside and she freaked.  She tried to break free from me saying, "I want to go to school! I want to go with Miss Mary Ann!  I want to go with Ada!"  She spazzed and wouldn't let me put her in her carseat and when I got her in there, she had the biggest heart-breaking frown with giant tears rolling her down her cheeks the whole way home.  And so did I.

We were so excited to see her get off the bus with her brothers at the end of the day!

Every day since then, Ada has made it known that she's NOT going to miss us.  She has been loving school. And Kallie and I have been doing great too!  They grow so fast.

Way to go Ada girl.  You make us proud.

First Day of School 2016

Today is the first day of 2nd grade for Maddox and 1st grade for Grady.  Maddox is depressed and Grady is thrilled about it.  As for me, a little of both.

Maddox has a locker this year!  Ahh! 

And Grady has his own desk and I'm a horrible mom for not getting a picture of that like I did last year with Maddox.  Middle child problems.  He is sitting in a desk group with three of his friends (two of our neighbors) so I can only imagine how that is going for his teacher today.  She has probably re-arranged already.

The years are flying by.  Hope this school year is a great one.  We're so proud of these growing boys.  Ada is excited to join them next week for her first day of Preschool.

First Day of School 2015/16

Today was the boys' first day of school.  Wahhh!!  I hear parents are supposed to be excited when summer is over and school is back in session but I, quite frankly, am not.

But, one little Kindergartener was VERY excited and had been counting down the days until school started.  And the 1st Grader...not so happy about it like his mother, but he perked up on unpack your backpack night when he saw two of his best friend's names in his classroom.

Oh my gosh, he has his own desk!

It sounded like they both had a great first day.  I loved hearing about them finding each other at recess and how they plan to find each other every day at recess.  These boys.  I'm sure they missed each other today.

It was a cold morning at the bus stop

 

Maddox - 1st Grade

Grady - Kindergarten

This is seriously all he would give me... 

 



I wonder where he gets it from?!

Mitch's 1st day of Kindergarten

Happy first day of school boys!  Even though I miss you like crazy already and would rather you be home with me, I wish you a lifelong love of learning and growing.  Work hard and have fun!  We are so proud of you.

Preschool

Monday was Grady's first day of Preschool.  He was so excited to go.  He has been missing playing with his friends big time this summer.  Grady's a little social bug.  Monday morning he told me, "I'm so excited for this day!"

Grady will be going to preschool Monday through Thursday in the afternoons at the same elementary school as Maddox.  I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that this little guy is going to a school with 6th graders.

So far he is doing awesome.  When we walked into the lobby the first day, he looked over at his teachers and friends and then smiled up at me with big eyes.  I told him to go ahead and off he ran turning around to wave goodbye to me.  I love this little guy.  He's such a sweetie.  And he's been excited to go back every day.

someone else wants to go to "cool" with her big brothers too

Enjoy your year at Preschool Grady Bug! We are so very proud of you.

Kindergarten

Today was a big day.  Maddox's first day of Kindergarten.  He has been asking me about this day since the beginning of summer.  He was so excited.  I wish I could share the smile on his face when he ran into our room this morning.  I asked him what he was smiling about.  "Kindergarten!!!  Can we go now?"

The other day he asked me how I know "everything."  I smiled and asked him what he meant.  "Like how do you know how to spell everything?"  The funny thing is that he knows so many things that I don't even know.  But I told him that I worked really hard in school to learn everything and then went to college and work and that I like to keep learning new things even now.  And that I hope he loves learning just as much as I do.  I think he will.

He walked right into school this morning.  I got a fast picture before I was told to move my car for the buses.  Kindergarten mom messing up the morning flow.

And when we picked him up he was still smiling and ran to me and told me that Kindergarten was great!  Of course his favorite part was Pretend Zone.  My hope for this guy is that he continues to love learning and always gives it his best while maintaining that wild imagination of his.

Happy first day of Kindergarten Maddox.  We are so proud of you.

Letting Go

The whole process of letting go is tough.  From the moment they leave your belly and you no longer have full protection over them.  To the moment that they are running all over and no longer want to be held to when their favorite phrase is, “I’ll do it all by myself!”  To the moment where you drop them off at the school bus and wave goodbye.  I really did not anticipate how tough this moment would be on my heart and nerves, totally trusting his independence.  I can't imagine how I'll feel when he leaves for college.

 

 

 

I played over his first morning in my mind over and over and over again to the point of tears.  Should I just drop him off at before-school care and leave?  Should I wait and see him get on the bus (this was a clear yes for me, I couldn’t miss seeing his smile getting on the school bus).  And the big one…should I go to his school to make sure he gets off the bus okay and makes it to his classroom without getting scared?  They have an Unpack your Backpack event the evening before in which the main purpose is probably easing the nerves of annoying wacko parents, but we couldn’t make it back from Minnesota in time for that, so he would be seeing his classroom and teacher for the first time.

 

I’ve dropped him off at daycare/preschool before, no problem, but that’s different taking him directly to his room every morning.  Riding the bus and finding his way to his classroom in an elementary school where he’s the smallest kid there is a whole new ball game. 

 

I tried to talk him out of this backpack.  Yuck.

 

I was so torn between feelings of wanting him to run off with confidence and feelings of hoping he turns back and shows that he needs me.  Ultimately that morning he chose the confident independence route and for that, I am so proud.  He climbed right on the bus and didn't turn back.  He sat down next to another little boy and started talking about his lunch box.  I did go to his school to drop off a bag of stuff with his teacher and then waited to see his bus get there.  I definitely wasn't the only nervous parent waiting there and we gave each other smiles and nods of affirmation with the common bond of being freaked out about our kids riding the bus.  Then we got excited for each other as we spotted each other's kids bus numbers.  Like the First Time Bus Rider Parents Club.  Maddox's bus pulled in and I watched him get off and walk right in with his teacher and classmates like it was no big deal.  And that was that. 

 

 

He appears to be loving school and is excited to go back every day.   Our discussions about school on the ride home continue to prove his love of learning about dinosaurs and animals.  Playing tag in gym apparently is pretty fun too.

 

I’m so eager to start this next chapter.  I don’t know what our kids will decide to be when they grow up, but whatever it is I hope that they always have curious, imaginative minds and a love of learning.

 

"The most beautiful sight in the world is a little child going confidently down the road of life after you have shown him the way." - Confucius