Kindergarten, Here We Come!

The anticipation for school to begin has been building for weeks now. It seemed like we were waiting for The Big Day to come for ages. The last few days of summer were getting pretty long, and it was very apparent that everyone in our house was ready for school to begin. As a mom, I'm only so cool and so fun for so long - and that usually expires daily, right around lunchtime.

Naturally, as a mom, Day One was entirely bittersweet. Anyone who tells you the first day of Kindergarten didn't pull on their heart strings is either A) lying through their teeth or B) doesn't possess a heartbeat. How do you watch your baby walk into actual, big kid school, and not feel just a teeny tiny bit of sadness?

As emotional as it was to walk my main man through the gates on his very first day of elementary school, I couldn't help but be beside myself with excitement for Marcus. He's been so eager to start kindergarten for so long. His excitement to get in those doors was so contagious that I couldn't help but be thrilled for him.

Our neighbor, and one of Marcus' best friends.

There didn't appear to be any nerves from Marcus (or me!), just a readiness to get this next chapter started. At one point, as we were waiting in the courtyard to say the Pledge of Allegiance and morning prayer Marcus turned to me and said, "When are you going to leave, Mom?" And, surprisingly, the only one to shed tears about dropping Marcus off was Julia. I may have gotten a bit misty-eyed as Marcus headed into his room, but aside from that, it was such a smooth morning for us all.

At pick-up, Marcus gushed about his day. He met a new friend, had stations which they rotated through in the class room, his favorite part of the day was prayer time, and they got to play outside, which was so hot (his words). He also made sure to check that he'd be going back to school tomorrow, and the next day, and next week. If I had to guess, I'd say he's pretty excited to be there.

While Marcus is in school (full day, hallelujah!!) I'm looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with Julia. Up until this point she and I haven't had a lot of that kind of time very often, so I'm certain this next phase will be pretty amazing for all of us. We'll try to squeeze in all the things I used to do with Marcus when he was Julia's age.

Sadly, Scott has had work obligations all week which prohibited him from being home for the first day. So, we did what any crazy good parents would do, and we took the obligatory family First Day photos just a few days early. 

Aside from these two photos with Scott, all the other photos were taken from Day One.

To Marcus, 

I'm so excited to watch as you grow, and learn, and meet new people and make new friends. I hope and pray that this year brings you nothing but joy, excitement, growth, and memories you'll remember forever. 

Here's to Kindergarten, sweet boy!