The First Day of School. Ever.

So!  Last week my Dude started preschool.

That nervous smile just kills me. And his answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up" seems super legit.

On the very first day I got to go in with him for a little practice day.  Check out the classroom, meet the teachers, learn about circle time.  You know... the highlights:

Tiny got to come in and learn about preschool, too.

ROAR.  YUM YUM YUM.

The dude did great.  No problems.  He was too busy to color his name tag but no big deal.  Most exciting was hanging out with his buddies.  He's lucky enough to know and be friends with quiet a few of his little classmates:

On the way home I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he requested smoothies.  One of his favorite foods since he was little. We saved them for a special bedtime snack:

And I have to include the throwback picture because LOOK HOW BIG HE IS NOW AND HE'S GOING TO SCHOOOOOOL AND IT GOES SO FAST:

 Speaking of things going fast - Tiny got to have a smoothie, too.  His very first one!

THIS.

The next day things got real.  The first day of drop off.  It was... yeah it was awful.  He was great up until getting in the car.  Then he decided he didn't want to leave me.  That school wouldn't be fun if I didn't come with him.  It escalated into tears and woe.  The school was great about it, though.  The school director (who is helping out with the 3yo class in the beginning) took him and told me "It's fine just GO."  So I did.  And then I pulled around the corner and freaked out.  But!  My friend pulled up next to me and was very reassuring.  It's so nice to know some of the parents this time around!  A bit later I texted the director (because that's how you parent in 2014) to see how he was doing.  Apparently he calmed down immediately.  Cried literally one tear.  They wiped it up and he went on with his day.  She even sent me a picture of him participating in circle time.

Not crying.  Score!

When I picked him up the look on his face was AMAZING.  He was SO PROUD.  So EXCITED.  So HAPPY.  And he didn't stop talking for a solid hour.

You know what, mommy?  ....  Know what? 

I think I heard every single detail of the day.  Who he sat next to in circle time.  What they ate for snack.  What song they sang.  The whole sub story of the book they read.  What his favorite car was and what the other kids played with and on and on and on.  It was awesome.  And crazy how different the preschool experience was from when my daughter first started.  She had no hesitation but also told me basically nothing about her day.  But the verdict from both of them was the same:



YAY SCHOOL!!!!!

First Day of School 2014.

So!  It happened!  She's officially a Kindergartner now!

And it was fine.  The worst that happened was that the sign we made said "2013" instead of "2014"

she wanted to add the part about what she likes

Something had to go wrong and if that was it I'll take it.  I can even ghetto photoshop it out:

Nailed it.

As long as I got some pictures of how nervous/excited she was:

And a picture of the backpack.  She was very proud of the backpack.

And she was SO nervous and excited.  Here she is waiting for school to start with her friend:

The same picture with the same friend from last year they are all smiles.  Not so much this year.

Drop off was tough.  Normally Matt will drive her to school but I did it the first day.  For both our sakes.  But everything went as it should have - both Matt and I cried.  She did not.

Then it was home to face my forlorn boys who missed their sister terribly.  To make them feel better - and celebrate her first day - they made her some cupcakes:

Then we went to the pet store where my Tiny had a milestone of his own.  First time MEEOWING at the hamsters.  It's probably my favorite toddler trick:

MEEEEEEOOOOOOOOW.

Amusing them is going to be a whole different ballgame.  In the morning we painted, made cupcakes, went to the pet store, frosted cupcakes, read about the frog he's going to get when the fishtank filter is working again, and ate lunch.  As I was putting the dude down for a nap he says to me "I think I'm going start preschool tomorrow because you are boring."  GAH.

Pick-up was more nerve wrecking than drop off.  I couldn't wait to see her!  To hear all about it!  And then she got into the car and was silent.  For about 5 full minutes I couldn't get her to say anything at all.  And then all of a sudden she busted out with "MOMMY I JUST CAN'T STAND IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!"

And went on to tell me all about her amazing first day.  All about the friends she made and the hunt for clues they went on through the school.  About how her buddy had a note from his mom in his lunch, too, and how cool it was that they could read their notes without help from their teacher.

She was also SO excited to see her siblings:

When I took Tiny out of the car she ran over to me and was all "I just can't wait to hug him!"

 I tried to get a revised First Day picture with a 2014 sign but.... yeah:

The cupcakes were a hit, too:

The rest of this week has been pretty rough, though.  This new schedule (of actually having a schedule) is taking it's toll on all 3 of them.  And me, honestly.  I'm exhausted beyond all reason.  I might adopt their new 8PM bedtime.   But I think once we're all used to it this school thing is going to be pretty great.

Also great?  UNIFORMS.  For seriously.

Although she is already on day 3 wearing Hello Kitty socks b/c they are "almost white and I don't think I'll get yelled at"  UM.... As someone who used to wear hot pink tights b/c there was nothing in the dress code about the color of tights we were allowed to wear I get it.  They changed that rule the next year btw.

YAY KINDERGARTEN!

Kindergarten Eve.

So I just put my little girl down for the last time before she starts REAL school ALL DAY EVERY DAY.  And... Yeah.  I decided that since Matt is at basketball the best way to cope was to pour myself a big glass of wine and open up a blogger window.

This should end well.  Like my fancy coaster?

You guys.  HOW DID THAT GO BY SO FAST?  I don't understand.

Pictured:  yesterday?  Pretty sure that was yesterday.

I mean I know some time has gone by by virtue of the sheer amount of other children that I have but all of a sudden I'm the parent of an actual school aged kid.

Or based on this photo a sullen teenager.

This is the end of an era.  This is the start of a whole new chapter for us.  Between her starting Kindergarten, the Dude headed off to preschool in a few weeks, and Tiny walking... well.  The future is now, my friends.

Pictured:  The future.  Those are our penguin overlords.

A future that maybe doesn't involve the insane management of minutia, the sleep deprivation, the base needs, the... poop... that these last 5.5 years have been centered around.

Quick you just wrote about poop - throw in an adorable picture of a pony so they forget!

I feel like we're pretty tops at this toddler thing by now.  And newborns/babies?  Bah.  Owned. It.  But school aged kids are a whole new ball game.  I have NO IDEA what to expect.  I feel like I'm starting over at parenting.  Like they just handed me this tiny baby and sent me off with a few handouts and well wishes.  Sure.  It will be fine.  Millions of people have done this before, right? 

GAH GAH GAH GAH.

This time with her going from that itty bitty baby to a KINDERGARTNER OMG has been so amazing.  Watching her grow up has been such a privilege.  So much of parenting is done in these first few years and I'm so very proud of the little girl she has become.

She is READY for this new chapter.  Nervous, sure.  But also really, really excited:

Packing her lunch for tomorrow.  Of course her brother wanted to help.  Also I am completely resigned to the fact that anything I send in for lunch will NEVER wind up on pintrest.  SLACKER MOMS, UNITE!

I've tried to make sure that this summer would be the best ever EVER.  We've done camps and gone to the fair, and stayed out late, and gone to the movies, and built cardboard castles, and rode bikes, and read chapter books, and even squeezed in a little time at the pool:

And gone on so, so many adventures:

Akron Zoo.  We went one day b/c my daughter told me "I want to go on an adventure today."  Adventure, acquired.

Erie, PA.  Just because we could.

I can't believe that is coming to an end.  Her adventures will be mainly school related now.  Which we wanted - we purposely picked a school with all sorts of amazing opportunities who's whole mission is "to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, lifelong learners, who have the courage to act responsibly to make the world a better place"  She's going to LOVE it.  The whole world is going to open up for her.  But (and I know this is selfish) man I'm going to miss her.

Pictured.  Project Runway Friday Afternoon.  My favorite part of the week.  We'd put the boys down for naps and for an hour watch this silly show together even though I don't usually allow tv during the day and even though I probably had laundry to fold or something else that needed done.

Also the dynamic of two boys?  How does that even work?  I"m entering a world of cars and things that vroom and belligerent amounts of energy and incredibly gross books from the library (eyewitness amphibians?  DISGUSTING.  Frogs are not pleasant creatures.)  Hold me.

So yeah.  Tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

Three turns ONE.

You guys. I'm not sure how this happened but all of a sudden the little guy is ONE:

Who, Me?  I was just born like yesterday

His first birthday was spent like much of the rest of his life... being dragged around after his siblings:

You would think I would have a problem with this.  You would be wrong.

But between the ballet camp performance (you tube video here) and picking the dude up from grandma's house we made plenty of time to celebrate:

Balloons!!!!  BEST DAY EVER!

We just had a small family get together.  Like we do for first birthday's.  Just some grilling out with the grandparents.  And to be honest his gifts from us were new to him hand-me downs from his siblings (sorry, kid.  I love you but we have enough plastic in our house):

I don't know the difference.

But we made sure to include his favorites.  We had cheesy mashed potatoes as the side - his favorite food EVER.

For dessert we skipped the cake.  I know there's the whole cake smash tradition thing for first birthdays... but he's no stranger to the cake game.  One of the many benefits to being #3 - you get cake way before you probably should.  And it's just not his favorite.  He likes it but not nearly as much as he likes bananas.  Or ice cream.  So we skipped the cake and did banana splits.

GIVE ME THE ICE CREAM!

It was a celebration all around.  We made it!  We handled the Year of Three Kids 4 and Under!  We got through the newborn/toddler/preschooler insanity!  

 And it is so, so worth it.  I am so glad this little one came into our lives:

 He is a very serious guy.  You have to earn your smiles with him.  He doesn't give them away easily:

But that doesn't mean he's unhappy.  Just thoughtful.

 He doesn't talk much - even now that he has a few words he's content to point at what he wants instead of vocalize.  Part of it is his serious nature - he's never going to be a person who fills the air with words - part of it is having an older brother who never lets anyone get a word in edgewise:

He's happy to go along with whatever his siblings want.  I've joked that he's the chihuahua who thinks he's a mastiff because he's a baby who thinks he's a big kid.  He wants to be in the fray no matter what adventure we are dragging him on or what his crazy siblings are doing:

His siblings dressed him up like a pirate and put him to work in the ship's kitchen.  Seriously.

His likes and dislikes are becoming more and more clear every day.  Likes:  Sand, wheels, army crawling, mashed potatoes, ice cream, stuffed animals, his hedgehog, pointing, and chasing his siblings. 

Wait for me!!!!

Dislikes:  Snakes (seriously the kid is terrified of them), being treated like a baby, crackers that don't have peanut butter on them, and his car seat.

It has been so fun watching him learn and grow and his little personality develop.  I can't wait for all that comes next!

Happy Birthday, Little Guy!