First Day

After much anticipation, the first day of school finally arrived! The kids were really excited and were up at the crack of dawn to get ready. Mom, on the other hand, was sad to see summer go and had mixed emotions about letting another one of her "babies" go off to Kindergarten.

Dicie is really growing up! (sniff!) Like, time seriously needs to slow down here, I can't keep up!

Mr. Dallin was almost as thrilled to start Kindergarten as he was to ride the bus! At least he still looks like a cute little Kindergartener... not too grown up yet, but definitely too much at the same time!

Can you just feel the enthusiasm emanating from Dallin?!

Getting on the bus . . . . and getting off the bus at school!

I decided to let the kids ride the bus to school the first day, mostly because they were so excited to. But I still wanted to get Dallin settled myself in his classroom. Mia, Jameson, and I arrived at the school a good 10 minutes before the bus did and it was so fun to see the kids embark! Dallin was so thrilled that he'd just ridden the bus! Then, as we began to head into the school, he got the "deer in the headlights" look on his face. You could just see the thoughts in his mind as if he hadn't quite thought through anything past the bus ride, and now he was unsure of what even came next! I was glad I was there to walk him to his classroom and get him settled in. Mia was sure she was going to get to stay and burst into tears when I had to stop her from sitting at a desk and joining in the fun. Even Jameson began to cry when we left the room and the fun behind!

But the adventures weren't over yet for the day. For several days now I have been a little worried about the whole bus thing. No one in our little neighborhood was contacted by a bus driver to be told when the bus pickup would be. We had to just guess, according to the schedule last year, and head to the bus stop around then. My greatest worry, though, was about Dallin being brought home on the bus. Our neighborhood is the last drop off on the bus route, and I was worried that he'd be all alone for a long time and that the bus driver wouldn't know where he lived or anything. Also, because of the nature of the magnet school that the kids attend, whose boundaries cover a larger area than normal, the students have to be bussed with kids that go to the local school, then shuttled from there to our school. It is a logistical nightmare every year and inevitably a child or two is left at the wrong spot. I've been paranoid that something would go wrong and Dallin would be the mix-up child. So paranoid in fact, that I had trouble sleeping last night!

Well, at 12:10p when the phone rang and I saw that it was the school calling, I decided that I'm not paranoid - I'm psychic! It turns out that our neighborhood is an afternoon-Kindergarten bus route, but the school accidentally placed Dallin in the morning class. The transportation absolutely will not bus him home and there are no exceptions. We cannot switch him to the afternoon class because it is full. So, basically I have no choice, through no fault of my own, but to pick Dallin up myself for the rest of the school year! Won't that be fun when I have 3 children ages 3 and under (including a newborn) to tow along with me?!

It's definitely been an adventure today, but I actually don't mind. I'm relieved that Dallin wasn't lost somewhere and I'll survive just fine busing him home every day myself. The worst part is how acutely disappointed my poor little guy was when he was told he won't be able to ride the bus home! I arrived at the school today to pick him up and he was one sad little dude. I finally promised him a snow cone to help him feel better. It was a big bummer for him, but he'll survive too and be all the more excited to ride the bus both ways next year.

All in all, we're glad to be back to school! Life is suddenly picking up the pace now, but in a way it is good to be busy and to have more structure. And having a few more quiet moments at home isn't gonna hurt a bit either...