First Days of School

Jacob and Caleb started school on Wednesday, August 24th. Jacob started 2nd grade and Caleb started kindergarten. They were so excited. I had mixed feelings- I was excited for them, and knew that they were definitely ready, but there's always a part of me that's sad when school is back in session-especially since kindergarten is all day here. The first bell rings at 8:10 and class starts at 8:15 so they start the day early.

They each picked out their outfit for the first day of school.

Back in July when we were in Utah for the 4th of July, Jeff took the boys up to BYU to walk around his old stomping grounds. Before they left, he let each of them choose a BYU backpack. I was a little surprised since we've never spent more than $10 on a backpack for our kids, but they were all so excited. Wednesday morning when I had all the backpacks laid out ready to go, Jeff came walking into the room, got a big grin on his face and said, "That just makes me proud!"
We took a couple more pictures on the 2nd day of school too because I decided I wanted some outdoor pictures.
One of the reasons we were excited by our new house was because of it's location to the elementary school. We're just up around the block- so close that the kids can walk. Caleb was a little disappointed that he didn't get to take the bus to school, but I like being able to walk them to and from school and let them have the chance to walk to and from school with friends too.

Emily was all ready to go on the first day of school too.

She was so excited that afternoon when the boys came home that she immediately went and plopped herself down on Jacob's lap with her blanket. She loves her older brothers and is so excited when they come home. She often cries when they leave for school.
Matthew started preschool a few days after the older boys. I really debated putting him in preschool. I kind of wanted to just keep him home with me. I finally decided at the last minute to try and enroll him in a local preschool that many of my friends recommended. It's a very popular school that's been around for years and has a great program with fantastic teachers. I didn't know if he would even get in because they usually fill up, but when I called they happened to have one spot left in one of their afternoon classes, so we went for it & Matthew has been so excited. He goes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 2.5 hours. You might not see the excitement from his first day of school pictures though. He didn't want to smile for me, he was just ready to go to school!

Plus, he was distracted by all the cool bugs on the ground.

He finally gave me a total cheeser grin and then was off to his big boy school! I admit, I cried after that one.

And Emily? How do you think she feels about being the only child (at least three days a week for 2.5 hours).

Maybe sad?

Well...

Personally, I think she's kind of enjoying it....

But she is always very excited to see her brothers when they come home from school. Here's to another year! And how in the world did I get to this point where three of my kids are in school!?