Jaydon's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Jaydon has been excited about kindergarten for months.  He even had a little count down which started before preschool ended.  He is going to Witt Elementary (even though the big boys go to Lukas) for free, all-day kindergarten.  Witt received a grant allowing all kids in the home area to attend all-day for free, that's a $315/month savings for us.  The school times for each school are at little different (Lukas 7:45-2:30 and Witt 8:50-3:35) which makes a little more running around for me, but I get an extra hour alone with Jaydon in the morning and an hour with the big boys after they get out of school.  So it's kind-of nice to have them staggered for this year.  I'm sure by next year, I'll be ready for them to all be on the same schedule.

Jaydon snapped a few pictures of the things he saw on the way to school.  He loves the school bus and begged to be able to ride it.  The bus stop is really not very close to our house and you have to pay for your kids to ride the bus this year.  The economy is forcing the school districts to cut costs.

 He really didn't want his picture taken.  He wanted Corey and I to drop him at the curb and leave, but we walked him in anyway.

All of the kids enter through the gym and then head to class.  He stopped at the doorway and said, "I know where to go from here, you don't need to come with me."  But we did anyway...

Then he hung his pack and said, "OK, you can go now."  But we didn't...

Instead we followed him into the classroom and watched him for a few minutes.  He immediately found his friend, Logan, from preschool and they quickly got reacquainted.  After talking for a few minutes, he looked up and saw us still standing there and said, "Leave...go home!"  So my independent little boy didn't want his mom and dad to make a big deal of their last baby going to kindergarten.  So were there tears involved?  Definitely not from Jaydon, and we were glad to see he was so comfortable at school.  However, the next day, when he wanted me to swing into the "hug-n-go" zone and just drop him off at the sidewalk from the car, I did tear up when I watched him jog away from me with his backpack bouncing on his back. 

1st day of school for Josh and Jared

Talk about a couple of goofballs.  They were both excited for school to start this year.  Every year the kids line up on the blacktop next to the school and find their teachers.  We all say the "Pledge of Allegiance" together and moms and dads give last hugs and kisses, snap a few pictures, and wave goodbye to the kiddos for a few hours. 

Josh is in 5th grade...oh, my!  I can't believe I'm the mom of a 5th grader.  He was happy with the teacher he got for homeroom this year, Mrs. Sutter.  He will start rotating to other classrooms for different subjects this year, a precursor to middle school I guess.  As the smell of Axe body spray rolls out of his room, I realize he is starting to take hygiene a little more serious this year.  I just wish someone would invent "stinkless" socks and shoes.  He could use 1/2 can of body spray, but I can still smell those feet!

Jared is super excited for this year.  He is with Mr. Knight, who Josh had last year.  What a great teacher!  You can just tell how much he loves his job and treats each child with respect.  I'm looking forward to spending some of my free time in the classrooms helping out.