first day of school, 2010

my babies are growing up!

natalie just started kindergarten a little over a week ago.

thankfully, she was very excited about going back to school this year.

her first day was only a half day.

she had P.E. and didn't eat a full lunch.

when she got in the car that afternoon she wasn't overly excited, nor was she sad, or upset.

just normal, happy natalie!

i tried to pry every bit of information out of her after that first week and basically she said she liked her teacher, her class and seemed very happy.

she did, however, ask me if they could put her old class toys in her new class.
(kindergarteners don't get to play whenever they want to???)

this was the only real "complaint" i got from her ;)

first day of kindergarten, 8/11:

driving to school, very excited:

watching her walk away:

the end of her first day of school:

second day of school:

*****

now on to russell.

russell began pre-kindergarten this year.

he is in the same class that natalie was in last year, with the same wonderful teachers.

i couldn't be any happier about that!

they are about to discover just how different natalie and russell are.

at russell's orientation class last week, he cried and ran out of the room after i tried to drop him off for the hour.

they said he eventually did stop crying but it took him a while.

i knew he was hesitant about going to school because of this phase he was going through.

he is not particularly a momma's boy but he didn't like being dropped off to be "alone" anywhere.

i knew that this first drop off would be rough.

his teachers and i were all a little worried about how he would react to his "real" first day of school.

surprisingly, he grew very excited about wanting to go to school and by today, his first day, he couldn't wait to go!

he got dressed early, brushed his teeth early, grabbed his backpack 30 min. before we were ready to walk out, and had a huge grin on his face all morning.

when i dropped him off, it was a total breeze.

he jumped out (forgot to kiss me goodbye- but i called him back) and happily walked to the room hand-in-hand with his teacher.

we were all a little surprised!

as i drove off (very slowly, and taking pictures) i couldn't believe that that moment was the end of the toddler era in our house.

no tears were shed at that time.

it wasn't until later in the afternoon when the doorbell rang and all was quiet throughout the house.

normally, the doorbell rings and the kids go running like wild animals to see who it is, pulling back the shades revealling themselves and all.

i'm usually racing them to the door shushing them and making sure it's not a stranger to whom i don't want to make known that we are home.

none of that today.

when i was done talking to our mailman, i went back to the office,called russ and had a silly little cry about it.

an hour later, i was driving back up to the school to pick up BOTH of my babies.

first day of pre-k, 8/23

SO HAPPY!

watching him walk away: