First Days = All Smiles!

Ryan wanted to pose with the Hairy Dawg that lives in his classroom :)
Then he was doing all sorts of weird poses and asking me to 'get this one'...the other moms wanted to know how I trained him to do that :)

Ethan on his first day (at home)


Heading out to Kindergarten - but a quick photo with mom and dad first. I didn't get any photos at Ethan's school.

Ryan was off to his first day of Pre-K today at Sprayberry Academy while Ethan was at his 2nd day at Addison. This morning, I dropped Ethan off in car pool then took all of 3 minutes to get to Ryan's school. I took him in and got a few photos before he said 'bye mom'.

When I got back to the car, I was torn between savoring the silence, feeling the aloneness (not loneliness) and wanting to do a happy dance! It was a surreal feeling. I know they will both thrive in their environments as they did last year, and I know that means that we have done our jobs as parents very well for them to be able to transition and assimilate into school culture so well with their peers and 'bosses'/teachers...but, I am torn with the mother hen side of me that wants to protect them from all real and hypothetical dangers :) Don't worry, I manage to to recognize and control that impulse :)

I got a bunch of things done in the meantime....did the earlier spin class which kicked my butt today - think I will cross train and do something else tomorrow. Then I took Max and Teddy for a bath (oh, we have been dog sitting those two while Amanda has been in Louisiana for her grandma's funeral since late last week)....we went to one of the self-bathe places nearby, and were they ever a handful! I wanted Amanda to come home to fresh puppies though! My dad actually dropped Taffy off today as well, so we have had 3 dogs for the day.

Then I showered, had lunch w/my husband - alone with uninterrupted conversation :) Then headed out for a pedicure. Then it was time to pick up Mr. Ryan who had a great day at school and was anxious to tell me all about it....but he was a bit grumpy too, and I know that it was a lot for him as it is 6 1/2 hours even with the hour nap they get. Then we headed home just in time to get Ethan off the bus!!! He LOVED riding the bus....we are the 1st stop, and there were 13 kids at our stop alone....and another 5-6 at another stop in our neighborhood. Ethan knows ALL the kids because we socialize with our neighbors ALOT. There are probably 6-7 Kindergarteners and another 6 or so 1st graders, so it is an ideal situation for him! It is a little party at the bus stop waiting on the kids to arrive too :)

Ethan brought home his first 'work' from school....it is a page where he had to write Addison (his school name). He got a smiley face on it! That's his first smiley face :) That's practically an A+ :)

Almost forgot my favorite story of all - on Ethan's first day, I picked him up in car pool, and I asked how his day went. I asked if he ate all his lunch, and he said that he tried, but it was over too fast, but that he really tried because he wanted to impress his teacher. He said it will all seriousness and sincerity...and it was just too much to handle!