First Week of School

Free haircuts at JCP before school started, and Hannah wanted her's short

Last day of summer...

My life has completely changed the past couple of weeks since school has started. I have had at least 3 kids at home with me for almost 3.5 years...so when school started and 2 of them are gone for 8 hours a day and Weston has preschool for 4 hours twice a week, I found myself having a really quiet house during the day and it can stay clean for a matter of hours now instead of minutes. Weston and Audrey don't fight a lot and Audrey takes long naps still. So I can't quite figure out what to do with myself. I had all these plans of being super productive and getting all kinds of stuff done...so far none of it has been done. I have now decided to take the first few weeks to adjust and enjoy not being crazy 24 hours a day. So hopefully next week, I can be productive.

Meeting the teacher night was a relieving feeling for me. Hannah and Chloe (best friends since about 9 months old) somehow ended up in the same kindergarten class out of the 11 kindergarten classes at their school. This is her teacher's first year teacher, she just graduated from A&M. The classroom is Abby's old preschool classroom so Hannah had been in it a few times before with some of the same furniture. Hannah was sooo excited and I have been worried about her going to school for years now. She loved it! And as soon as we left the meet the teacher night, the first thing she said was, "I can't wait to see what shirt my teacher wears the first day of school!"

Abby has a friend from church in her class too but no one from her class last year, which seems a little weird, but I guess with 11 first grade classes, it's possible. When I told someone what teacher she had, I was told she is the best teacher in the school! She even emails us weekly to let us know what is going on. So we are excited to have great teachers this year.

First day of school! Hannah and Abby loved it. I went to take them to their classes and both girls didn't really even care I was there. I was kind of in shock about Hannah since she has been so clingy since the day she was born. She did great...me on the other hand, not so great. I had been waiting all summer for school to start so I could actually get stuff done during the day, and then after dropping her off, I took it all back. She was used to preschool for a few hours twice a week with all friends from church, to this huge school of over 1100 students and gone for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. That seems like a huge change and I was worried about her. She came home that day on the bus and loved her whole day and still had a smile on her face! I was so relieved. Abby's always been fine with school so I wasn't so worried about her, I knew she would be fine and she loved it and was so happy that she got to see lots of old friends from last year.

waiting for their sisters to come home

waiting for the bus the 2nd morning of school






















The second day I had them ride the bus to school, they did great. However...Wednesday, Abby got on the bus and Hannah started to step up to the bus and then came running down crying saying she didn't want to go to school, she never got to see us and was never home anymore. It broke my heart. But with Hannah, you can't give in or it's over. So I told the bus to leave, Abby had no idea what happened, and after talking to Hannah for about 20 minutes she got in the car so we could drive to school. But when it was time to get out she wouldn't get out, she just cried and cried. Finally, I had to have a teacher come pull her out of the car, so she would go. She came home happy, and said she loves everything about school. Thursday I had Joe come out with me to put them on the bus. She did the same thing. So Joe picked her up kicking and screaming and walked on the bus, sat her down, and got off, after getting a not so nice look and remark from the bus driver. But when she got off the bus that afternoon, the bus driver said as soon as Joe walked off the bus, she stopped crying and was completely fine.(which we knew would be the case, because she does it with everything). So Joe continued to put her on the bus for a few more days, and she didn't cry anymore, and she knew she had to go, and now she's over it. She will get on as long as I walk up to the bus, and then wave to her once she is sitting down. Some think I should just take her to school, but it would be the same thing or harder, and I would have to have a teacher get her out over and over, so the bus is better, and Abby loves the bus, and Hannah likes it too, it's just the initial getting on she doesn't like.

And this week Hannah started getting homework. She came home and said she had homework and was so excited that she finally got to do homework. I love that my kids love school (just not the actual going part) and love learning...

Weston started preschool at the same place as last year, but with lots more friends that he knows this time. And he loves it. And he has enjoyed being home without all the chaos lately too, we've had a fun time hanging out more.  And he loves playing with Audrey too, so it's fun to see them interact more. And Audrey is enjoying her alone time with me. She thinks it's show off time the whole time and thinks she is so funny because she gets all the attention.

donut day...

 first ponytail...

climbing and getting into everything these days...including climbing on the counter and throwing all my spices from my spice rack, eating everyone else's food off the table...and she thinks she's pretty cool for doing it