First days of school

 Today was a dreaded day for me but an exciting one as well....the first day of school!

It is an honor to see my kids grow up but so many mixed emotions that go along with that too.  I am sad to not have them around as much, excited for new beginnings for them, and nervous to send both of them out to new friends and new experiences.  Although I knew Karis would be a little nervous, I knew she would do great but I was nervous for Brayden and this "new" thing called school.

I didn't have to wake either of them they were up and ready to go to school!  They were eager to get ready, eat and GO!

Brayden's breakfast and coffee...I wonder how many other Kindergarteners start their morning off with (decaf) coffee?! Ha!

Karis excited about her first day in 2nd grade!

I didn't want to leave Lucy out of the pics...she was posing so well.  I think she will miss brother and sister!  She kept asking when she got to go to school and I kept saying, "2 more years" and she would respond with "Yah in 2 more days!"  A little longer than that honey, thank goodness!  I couldn't take another one just yet!

We got ready early so we could have time to take pics of course.

LOVE these two so much!!!!

You can view Karis' previous first days of school in Kindergarten here and 1st grade here.  But here are just a snippet of her as she has grown up over the 2 years.

First day in Kindergarten...

And here is the first day of 1st grade....

And here is first day of 2nd grade...wow she has really grown up sniff sniff!

Can't believe my boy starts Kindergarten today!!!!

2nd grade!

Lucy wanted in on all the action shots!  She was sad she wasn't starting school today!!!

Us with our school kiddos!

Jay and I both went to take the kiddos to school.  We decided to drop Karis off first since she has done this before and we knew she would do great.  She went right on in and sat in her seat and started working on her first day of school packet. :)  We kissed her and said our goodbyes and then off to take Brayden to his Kindergarten classroom.

I was soooo nervous about how Brayden would do after Thursday night's open house.  But he went right in and sat down at a table of boys and started playing away with blocks.  He did great and NO tears (for him...I was a different story!).

Here is his cubby...

Ready to begin the day!

We kissed him goodbye and told him to have a great day and I knew at that point I had to leave because the tears were coming fast.  As soon as I hit the door, I cried all the way out the school.  It was kinda funny because every mom that walked out of the Kindergarten hall was crying.  There was a lady standing in the hallway comforting all of us Kindergarten mommas that were boo-hooing, "It's gonna be ok mom!"  I was just glad he didn't see me crying.

I wondered about them all day and what they were doing.  I could not wait until the end of the day!  Not only was it the first day of school, but it was the first day to ride the bus too.  Jay takes them in the mornings but we decided to try and let them ride the bus home in the afternoons this year since they have each other.  They were both really excited about it!

Of course, the gang and I were at the bus stop early and excited to see them and hear about their day!  Hazel had already left for the day.

We waited eagerly and impatiently for the bus to arrive!!!!

And then it was here and my heart skipped a beat!

Luckily, they were both smiles and had a FABULOUS day!  And they LOVED riding the bus!  They were the 3rd stop and I told them they had to sit at the front and sit together.  They said that kids kept yelling, "Shut up!" and they know they are  not allowed to say that.  So Brayden's only complaint was that and he said he kept putting his fingers in his ears so he wouldn't hear it haha!

Karis said her days was GREAT and when I asked Brayden about his day, he gave me a thumbs up and replied, "the best day EVER!"  He couldn't wait to go back tomorrow!  They both loved their teachers and met several new friends.  Of course I had 101 questions!

After snacks (fudge...their request!) and homework (not much), I decided to take them to the pool to celebrate their first day!  They were so excited!

Apparently Brayden learned this today at school and since Karis remembered it, they were quick to teach Lucy and perform for us.  It made me smile!

https://vimeo.com/47100305

This was Brayden's homework the first day.  I loved hearing about his first day of school.  His favorite part of the day was getting to go outside of course and when I asked him about his least favorite part of the day he said, "I didn't have one...I loved everything!"  Yah for a successful first day!

And he was on GREEN!  Yah!  Hopefully there will be lots of these!

And just for kicks, here is Karis' first day homework from Kindergarten...

(Sorry it is a little fuzzy when I tried  to blow it up. Hopefully you can still read it.)

Looking forward to a great year and some special time with my sweet Lucy.  :)