Kindergarten here we come

Every parent probably asks themselves this question, but I keep wonder, how did we get here. In two ways honestly. First of all where did the summer go? It seems like it just started going and now one of my kids are starting school. Being that its the middle of August doesn't help things. I have had my kids 100% of the time for the last three weeks with no camps or anything and I feel like we just started getting on a roll and now its over. I hate to admit it, but I was enjoying summer and wasn't ready for it to end although mentally I knew it was time.

Also I wonder how my children got to be so old. The next two weeks are filled with milestones for my family and I am not sure how I am going to stop the flow of tears from change. Erik started kindergarten, Elliot is starting preschool and my oldest baby is turning the big milestone of 5 years old!! It is just a time of change and I will have to go with it or dig my heels in and still go with it. I choose to take the high road and just cry and move on to the next major chapter.

So this day I have to admit just snuck up on me. The end of last week we were in San Diego, then yesterday we spend the day at the beach. So mentally I didn't really adjust for today even though we needed to be out of the house 40 minutes earlier than we did for preschool. Although school starts 30 minutes earlier than preschool Carl and I have made a commitment to walk our children to school. It takes an extra 15-20 minutes each day because we're about 0.5 mile away from the school. So between Elliot and I walking to school and back twice a day, we're logging in two miles. No wonder my poor Elliot took an awesome nap today.

Erik was excited and right on schedule today, it was his parents that weren't. I didn't have his backpack, snack or supplies ready to go. So between rushing to get everything out the door, getting those first day of school pictures, and getting to school on time we were constantly rushed.

Here are the documenting pictures of Erik's first day with the sign I made up. I definitely need to use a larger font next time. Live and learn...

Then I moved to the porch and cleaned it off, even though there was a car and junk the way. It is a tradition to take pictures here. Besides the cement bounces the light nicely into his eyes. So by this time Erik was mad at my pictures and just ready to go.

 

For the first day they had everyone line up on the asphalt to wait for the teacher. Normally not a big deal, but it was in the 90s at 9 am this morning so it was hot and we were all miserable waiting. Also by this time Erik was sick of me taking pictures or embarrassed and refused to look at my camera. Also he was really nervous grabbing my hand and shirt anxiously and just needing to be with us. This entire process was a bit overwhelming.

This is the only day we get to go into the classroom unless we are volunteer parents, which I plan to do every Tuesday, or any of the school nights. There are 34 kids in Erik's class so between siblings, parents and the kindergartners it was a big overwhelming. I love Erik's room though because it is basically two rooms and HUGE.

When we went to pick up Erik he didn't have anything but happy things to say. He was excited for a gift his teacher gave him and even had his first homework he couldn't wait to do. He has to write his name 5x every night. Also I will say, when we met his teacher last Friday I liked and responded well to her and hope she teaches as well as I like her. She has a hard job with all those kids and I can't wait to get in the room and help. Additionally I think they put all the kids from his preschool in the same room because I noticed about 7 faces there from Erik's preschool. I am glad Erik had so many familiar faces even if he was never in class with any of these kids.