.First.Day.of.School.

September 3rd, 2013 - first day of the 2013-14 school year.
 This was Brooklyn's first day of 1st grade and Lauren's very first day of her school career. On top of both of those firsts, it was Mommy and Nolan's very first "Mommy and Me" day! needless to say, there was a lot of excitement in the air!!! We had no tears, no fights or no '5 more minutes' that morning. Everyone jumped out of bed and started in on our morning routine. Once everyone was dressed and the girls had their hair curled and done up, we all sat down for a quick breakfast before we headed out the door for our 3 block walk to Steven's Elementary. First stop was the colorful preschool room. Lauren gave me a quick hug and said "bye Mom!" She was soooo ready for school! Honestly, it was easy for me to leave her at school. She was so excited and has been waiting 2 years to get as big as Brooklyn so she could go to 'Book-in's' school. She had already met her teacher at the open house the previous week, so there wasn't even an once of nervousness in her. (Also, her preschool is only Tuesday and Thursdays from 8:20-11:20, so I knew I was going to pick her up in only three hours!)
We then ventured up to the 1st grade classroom to find the new first grade teacher, Mr. Dorn, waiting! Once again, Brooklyn had already scoped out the classroom during the open house so she didn't seem at all hesitant for me to leave her, either.
So here we are, it's 8:20 am and it's just Nolan and Mom. We went for a long walk, picked up a few groceries, did a load of laundry and played some serious choo-choo trains. Our 3 hours flew by so quickly, before we knew it it was time to go and get Loey. We walked back up to the school and found the preschool class playing on the playground. It was fun to stand back and observe Lauren with her peers - the start of many long friendships! Once she noticed me, she was eager to tell EVERYTHING they had done, including the 2 bathroom breaks! She called Daddy on the walk home to tell him everything, and we stopped by our daycare Mom's house to tell her everything, too! We got home, had a quick lunch and Lauren was more than ready for her 'quiet time'. (She thinks she's too big for naps now, so she spends her quiet time looking at books, watching a movie or anything else to fight the sleep!) At 2:50 we made our final trip up to the school to get B. When I asked her to tell me everything about her first day, she looked at me and replied with "I LOVE school! I LOVE school! I LOVE school!" I guess the day went ok ;)
The day went smoothly, no tears from anyone! Both of the girls love school and can't wait for the next day to go back. Nolan and Mom finally had a couple of hours of alone time after 2 years. I have never heard that child talk as much as he did during our alone time. I guess his sisters do a lot of the talking for him when they are around!
I am thankful for a smooth first week of school and pray for protection, guidance, and growth for my two students this year. I am looking forward to cool fall walks with Nolan searching for that perfect crisp leaf, I am looking forward to watching Lauren's friendships with her classmates grow, and I am looking forward to Brooklyn learning to read in first grade. Another huge thing I am looking forward to is watching the progress of our new home project. We have a lot of things going on in our lives right now, dance class started for both girls last night and piano lessons begin for Brooklyn in a couple of weeks. We are a very busy little Party of Five and so very thankful for all our the blessings we have been given, including a safe and enjoyable first day of school.