First Day...

Today was the BIG day - Ethan started Kindergarten and Nina started preschool. There is nothing to prepare you for leaving your 5 year old across town all day long. That was the worst feeling. Thank you Melanie and Sonic for being there for me ;-).

I wasn't sure we had left the house in plenty of time, but we did. The conversation on the way was quite amusing. Ethan was full of questions. His main concern was tomorrow's agenda...today was only a phase in day and his next day isn't until Thursday, so Wednesday he's able to sleep in! He's already talking about that, not good! I was able to walk Ethan into his classroom today. Miss Debbie, the Kindergarten principal was there to greet us with a smile. She's such a lovely lady and obviously loves what she does! Miss Claire was at the door waiting for Ethan to arrive. As soon as he got to her, he informed her of his trip to the beach in a few weeks. Great, so we're already talking about sleeping in and when he's going to be beach. We snapped a picture and in he went. He did hug and kiss me, but by that point, I was fighting back the tears, so I got out of there.

I was able to get home in time to take Nina to her first day. She was more than ready and I don't know if she knew I even left. She's going to love going to preschool and I suppose I'll get used to the peace and quiet everyone keeps talking about. However, today, I did not get to enjoy that peace and quiet because Mark thought it was funny to "check on me" throughout the morning. Oh, and he did go on a bike ride and while he was gone, someone had to go get Nina. After getting back in the car to come home, I checked my phone and he had called several times. I had this panic feeling thinking that Harding had called and there was a problem. I quickly called Mark back only to have him answer in this really ticky tone and ask me where I was. "Um, honey, someone had to pick our daughter up from preschool." His tone changed drastically at that point.

Tonight I had to make the trek back to Harding (only 11 miles, but at least 20 minutes) for parent orientation. It was nice and very comforting to know that these people will be with my baby everyday all day. Once I ran an errand and got home, I went to check on Ethan. He was passed OUT and had only been in bed a few minutes. I leaned over to kiss him and he finally jumped a little and opened his eyes. He looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I just can't hold my eyes open anymore, I'll talk to you in the morning." Bless his sweet little heart! I'm surprised he actually ate breakfast - 2 pieces of bacon and cereal

Let's go!

Ethan and Miss Claire - by the way, I found out tonight that she started at Harding when she was in 1st grade. She graduated from there, went to Harding University. Went back to Harding Academy for her student teaching, graduated from Harding University and went back to Harding Academy to teach and has been there ever since - 21 years teaching there. She's going to be perfect for Ethan and us this year! And Muddy's strawberry cupcakes are her favorite - mine too, so we're already on the same page - and I know how to get on her good side!!

Nina ready to go!

Oh me - drama!

Out of order, but this little one got a gift from RoRo today - a pink backpack! When Ethan's new backpack came, I didn't order Nina one and RoRo felt sorry for her....Nina was thrilled to get this today!

When I went to pick Nina up this morning, the director asked her if she was going to go home and play with Ethan's toys while he was in school. She said no and I said, let's go home and jump on his bed while he's gone. Well, it wasn't 3 minutes after walking through the door, she went upstairs and put his Easter CD in and cranked it up as high as it would go....I knew what she was doing. Sure enough I went up to his room to find her jumping on his bed. Of course, I had to capture it on video!

Ethan and Miss Claire at pickup - looks like they both survived!!!

Hope these smiles continue!!!

Meet the Teacher

Ethan exploring his classroom

There are 16 kids - 8 girls and 8 boys - 2 Ethans....

Ethan finds his desk ON THE FRONT ROW.....Mr. Wendel's class was the only class I ever sat on the front row - all the other classes I'd sit towards the back so I could get away with chewing gum. I could never get away with chewing gum in Mr. Wendel's class. E won't be chewing gum, but I still chuckle thinking of him on the front row!

Ethan finds his locker

See you Tuesday!

Nina and Daddy at dinner

Ethan was done eating, so he played.
Nina showing off her new haircut!

Summer is over, well, for us, it's the last weekend of summer. We've had a good last week. Unfortunately we couldn't do much outside because it's been ridiculously hot - temps in the high 90s-100 and heat index has been up to 125 lately. Yes, it's been that hot. But we've had a great week of fun before reality sets in!

Tonight was meet the teacher night at school. Miss Claire is his teacher and seemed like the perfect teacher. Ethan will be in kindergarten, first day is Tuesday. Nina starts preschool, also on Tuesday. I now have a new appreciation for those that have birthdays in August and I now realize why I received items like my white Guess jeans and new shoes for my August birthday. Back to school is worse than Christmas on a wallet. I've been bleeding money right and left!

I have so many pictures from the summer to post, including our really cool (and by cool, I mean temperature) week at the beach with my Mom. Oh to have those temperatures and to be at Grayton Beach right now....sigh....enjoy these pics and hopefully this weekend I can post a catch-up post.