back to school

The first day of school finally arrived and while the boys were excited they were also tired! Ha! We didn't do a very good job this year of practicing early bed times and early rise times the last few weeks of summer and so the back-to-school schedule came as a shock to the entire family. Sigh.

Yes, I'm THAT mom and make my kids take a barrage of pictures for any and all milestones in life and the first day of school qualifies them for a TON of shots! Ha! They are pretty agreeable at first but tire quickly of mommy posing them and taking their pictures. They'll thank me one day...I think...

Ash is going into 2nd grade this year. I have NO IDEA where the time went. He's becoming so grown up. As you are all well aware, Ash repeated kindergarten and while we were hoping for the best when we had to make that decision this year we know for sure that holding him back one year was absolutely the right decision and was most definitely for the best. Ash is now entering 2nd grade reading chapter books, doing math and is EAGER to learn. He's so very smart and his excitement about learning makes me excited for him. Even though I still wish he would STOP growing!!

Maddox is going into 1st grade and talk about a shock to my system...Maddox still likes to be held when he falls asleep so sending him to 1st grade just doesn't seem right. I want him so badly to stay my baby forever. I'll always think of him that way. Maddox wasn't as excited for his first day of school. He cried when he had to get up and get dressed. He's definitely our home-body and loves more then anything to hang out with mama at home and let her bake him goodies and tuck him in for naps! Ha! We finally got Maddox dressed and kind of excited, though, until he then cried because he didn't want to leave "banky" (his blanky) at home. Talk about breaking a mom's heart. Finally, though, he was ready to go and after I bribed him with an after school snack he was a bit more excited.

Maddox was a bit shy and nervous at first but he gave me a hug goodbye once we got to his classroom and went right on in!

Ash hardly even let me walk him to his classroom. He walked three steps ahead of me at almost a jog to get to his room. I had to ask him to slow down so I could keep up! Ha! I think he might be just a little bit excited...!!! Ash was headed right on into class when I had to actually ASK for a hug. He was more then happy to come back and give me one but it was a sad moment for this mom. I know I should probably feel lucky that he'll even still hug me in front of his classroom at all in 2nd grade but it's so hard to let your baby grow up. I know I can't stop time but I sure wish I could slow it down a little...or a lot!

After school we braved 7-11 for a snack! The 7-11 down the street from the boys' school seems to be THE place to go for an after school snack and gets VERY busy...but we all chose a goody and a soda and went home to eat and chat about their first day. They both had so much fun and love their teachers. Whew! In fact, the only complaint I heard was from Ash when he said he couldn't wait to "get to work". Ha! I guess I can't complain!

The boys didn't bring home much on their first day of school but Ash did bring home this work sheet and it was too cute not to share. The teacher asked them to fill in how they arrived at school that morning and then draw a picture of it. Ash wrote that he came to school "by car ridr" and then drew a picture of our van dropping him off...the best part is though that the van has been modified, so to speak, with a jet pack attached to the back and fire coming out! Ha! Ash is so creative. I swear one day he's going to invent some awesome things that will make life much  much easier...and faster, of  course!