Goodbye Summer Break

And the school year has begun!!!  Ben is now a big first grader!

Tuesday evening, all of the students at Ben's school, with their families, were invited to drop off their school supplies and have an ice cream social.  Shawn had to leave for Chicago, so he couldn't be there. I had my hands full, but we were determined to have a good time, and we did.

We dropped off all of Ben's school supplies and Ben caught up with a friend he hadn't seen all summer long.  Rylie loved that there is a fish tank in Ben's classroom.

At the ice cream social we all got to choose between popsicles, fudgesicles, or ice cream sandwiches.

Would you believe that not a single one of my kids completely finished their ice cream?

Scottie was sad she didn't get any ice cream.

After eating ice cream, signing up for PTO (which is usually called the PTA, I don't know why it's different here) and ordering shirts for Shawn to do Watchdogs, I let the kids play on the playground equipment.  I have to say, with that many people there it was complete and utter chaos and I may have had a couple of mini panic attacks in the 45 or so minutes they played.

We had to hurry and get home though, because the children's bedtime was fast approaching and they needed to shower before bed.  I packed up Ben's backpack with his snack and water bottle, made his sign for pictures, cleaned his glasses, laid out the outfit he picked out for the first day of school, and got everybody to sleep.  All three of the big kids slept on my floor as they often do when Shawn is gone.  It doesn't bother me as long as they stay out of the bed.

Yesterday morning, Wednesday, we got up, bright and early at 6:00 to start getting ready for school. I made cheesy scrambled eggs (one of Ben's many favorites) toast with jelly and chocolate milk for breakfast.  After breakfast Ben and Sydney took off to brush teeth, wash their faces, and get dressed while I got myself, Rylie, and Scotland ready to go.  Finally when we were ready to go, I gave Ben his sign, backpack, and water bottle, grabbed my camera, phone, keys, and the babies, and off we went.  First we only went right out front to take pictures of Mr. Ben.  This is the moment I noticed just how nervous my sweet boy actually was.

He had even "forgot" how to do his goofy fake smile.

I loaded the little girls in the stroller and off we went, walking to Ben's school.  His school is literally about half of a mile from our home with crossing guards at the two big intersections we cross,  so there really is no excuse to not walk if the weather is nice.  (We didn't walk last year due to how crappy and drowsy I felt during pregnancy.)

While on our walk to school, Ben got to talk to his Dad and his Granny who wished him good luck on his first day of First grade and told them they loved him and were thinking of him.

When we got to his school, right before going inside, I made sure I got another picture or two.

When we went into the classroom, we hung up his backpack, he found a place to sit down, and found a book to read.  He was so cute and so nervous.  I just wanted to hug him and take all the fear and nerves away from him.  None of his good friends from last year, or from t-ball are in his class, so it was almost like starting from scratch all over again.

I hugged my big, grown up boy, kissed the top of his head, told him to be great, and off we went. Rylie was devastated to leave him there, and Sydney was very concerned that he would get hurt or something at school.  It was a rough walk home, but it was fixed by a trip to the grocery store and Starbucks. Birthday cake pops from Starbucks fix everything, in case you didn't know.

Here, Wednesdays are called Wacky Wednesdays, because they are short days.  They get out an hour and a half earlier on Wednesdays than they do any other day of the week.  That's a nice little way to ease into your first week of school.  A short week of three days starting with a short day.  I don't know, that's my opinion anyway.

Shawn's plane got in around 9 pm last night so he decided to work from home today.  He could walk Ben to school with us.  I got up and made cinnamon rolls (from the tube) and then got everybody else up, fed, and ready to go.

The rest of the day with Shawn at home was like a normal day.  He works in the office with the door closed although we see him at lunch time and on occasion.

Also, I'm not the only Starbucks addict here.  I do love my mochas and shaken iced peach green tea lemonades.

And of course, this post didn't have enough adorable pictures of my little model, Scotland Paige, or as we like to call her "Scottie P."  If you've seen We Are The Millers, Scottie P is the guy with the long hair and the "No Ragrets" tattoo on his chest who says "you know what I'm sayin'?" after everything.  Yup we are huge dorks in the family.

You should also know, Ben had a nice time at school.  He likes his teacher and gets to play with his old friends at recess.  Soccer starts for him next week and I'm hoping that I can get him together with some of his friends outside of sports and school.  He's growing up so fast!

Alright, time for sleep so I can get everyone up nice and early for the day tomorrow and pack while Ben's at school.  We are going to the fair Saturday and staying in a hotel tomorrow night since the fair is a few hours away.  Sssshhh.  The kids don't know yet.