first day of kindergarten, second, and fifth grade

Sending them to school this year felt harder than ever for several reasons.  One being that we had the most amazing summer.  Two being that Mia was starting kindergarten.  Three being that we were moving 2 short days after school began and we knew chaos would come along with the move.  

The kids were all so excited.  Tyson's favorite day of school is the first day and after that, he is kind of over it but Avery gets crazy excited each year and loves it everyday.  Mia had been counting down the days until she was a big girl in school so she could not wait for it to actually happen.

It was a rude awakening that morning to actually have to wake up to an alarm clock and get everyone ready for the day.  Whew.  They all have tired eyes in these sweet photos.  Serious tans and tired eyes.  Both signs of a beautiful summer.

Avery's teacher team this year is awesome and we could tell from our first meeting with them.

After the first drop off of the day, everyone was in good spirits.

And then we moved on to the second drop off.  Our big second grader.

We loved his teacher right away too.  She has a great laugh and gives hugs.  My kind of girl.

The girls, especially Violet was not excited to see her bubba go.

We had some time in before dropping Mia off since she is in morning kindergarten.  She was more than happy to let me take one million pictures of her because she was proud and excited.

She was sporting french braids since Mommy finally learned how to do them and her newly pierced ears with pink hearts.

She was so excited to be wearing a special school dress designed by Mommy and sewn especially for her by Grandma.

Seriously, I cannot even put her excitement into words.  It was precious.  She reminded me so much of Avery when it was time for her to start kindergarten.  I love their enthusiasm for school.

And then it was finally time for Mia to go to school.  I cried like a baby as we walked out and her teacher hugged me and handed me some tissues.  It physically hurts me to leave them at school each year...but especially that first year.  It's rough.

Oh, how proud we are of our babies and how thankful we are for incredible teachers that become part of our "village" and build into them in so many ways.  Summer will always be my favorite though.

last day of first and fourth grade

The kids had such an awesome school year and we are once again thankful for God's faithfulness in providing awesome answers to our teacher prayers.  These two really are buddies and it's sweet.  Tyson thinks Avery is everything.  Being the oldest has its perks for sure.

Tyson had the same teacher as Avery did for first grade.  She is wonderful and it made the transition to first grade so easy for all of us because we were already comfortable with Mrs. Edwards.  Tyson's only issue this year was when he going to the restroom a hundred times during the school day.  His teacher asked me if something was wrong because she was concerned.  I talked to him about it and even asked his doctor who didn't think there was any problem.  It took me some time to figure out that I was making him smoothies before school everyday and he was drinking way too much which made him and his small bladder have to spend the day in the restroom.  I stopped the smoothies and the problem was solved.  Whew.

Love this girl and her devotion to crazy socks even when they have a hole in them.

It was her last year at this building before she would move on to the intermediate school so we had to do an obligatory sign pic of course.

Avery's teachers loved her and she did awesome.  She consistently got all A's and had a great attitude.  The girl LOVES school.

Her favorite friend this school year was Kaylan.

I thought I would have fun with silly string this year.  So me and the little girls bought some during the day and surprised Tyson with it since he was the first one to get home.  He loved it and had just the fun reaction I was hoping for.

Next up was Avery and they were ready for her.

Avery, on the other hand was not excited at all and could not believe they did that to her.  Oops.  That was definitely not the reaction I was hoping for.

Oh, well.  No more silly string for Avery.  Lesson learned.

my boy goes to kindergarten

I honestly get sick to my stomach and tears well up at the very thought of sending them to school for at least two weeks beforehand.  I literally begin acting like a crazy person and then will all of a sudden explode in tears.  It has happened to me every single year since Avery started school.  This time my poor sister-in-law was the recipient of my major outburst.  She so gracefully listened to me as I rambled on and on about the reasons behind my craziness.  Change in general is hard for me but especially when it involves my babies growing up.  I just don't handle it well at all.  I want them little and at home with me.  I am definitely not a Momma that looks forward to school starting.  Summers are my favorite and each year I run through the same thoughts in my head as I prepare to send my loves to school.  I really would love to keep them with me for at least a few more years.  Homeschooling seems like the obvious answer and I consider it each year.  However, after so much thought and prayer on the subject, Jason and I are sure they are where God wants them.  We feel that God wants our babies in public school.  I have felt guilty at times for not homeschooling them and wonder if we are doing the right thing. And as soon as I feel that guilt or wonder, God shows me some way that He's got my babies totally covered and that we need some Jesus loving kids in our public schools.

We took Tyson for his Kindergarten screening this summer and he seemed to like the teacher that tested him.  As we walked away he told me that he wanted her for his teacher.  When asked why, he responded that she was nice, he liked the way she looked and her pink nails (so obvious he has sisters).  We weren't even sure if she taught at the school he would be attending so we moved on with our topic and he didn't say much else about her.  Fast forward one week to the day that class lists would be posted.  I woke up thinking about Mrs. Pennix and just could not get her off my mind.  I searched for her on Facebook like any normal mother would of course.  I prayed for her and had a serious feeling that she would be his teacher.  We went to see the class lists that afternoon and the first paper I looked at had Tyson's name on it and sure enough Mrs. Pennix was the one.  It may seem silly to some but that was one of the little ways that God let me know He is in control and He hears our prayers for these babies.  We pray like crazy about school and specifically for their teachers and friends and God's faithfulness specifically in this part of our lives is amazing.  I like to picture Jesus writing Tyson & Avery's names on those lists under a teacher's name that He ultimately chose for them.

I had cried so much the few weeks before that I didn't shed a tear the day of.  My eyes got watery a few times and I could feel it in the pit of my stomach but it was as if I had no tears left.  I felt strangely peaceful that day and excited for my baby to have a new experience.  I had two things going for me...Tyson could not have been more excited and Jason took the day off.  

Taking first day of school pictures with boys is so different.  Love him.

He picked out his backpack by himself.  He was sold the second he laid eyes on it.  It cracks me up.

He let Momma pick his shirt on the first day.  He could not have looked any cuter.

Seriously, the boy was so excited and couldn't wait to be big like Avery and go to school.

He was literally running into school.  We had to call for him to wait for us.  I love his enthusiasm.

His teacher is so sweet and she really won me over with those polka-dot pants.

Seriously, our boy is such a stud.

As I looked through the pictures from the day, there were several that just needed to be black and white.  They weren't posed pictures but simple moments captured forever and I especially love this one.  Violet was all over the place sitting in the chairs and trying to read books.  She acted like she owned the place and had been there a hundred times before.

The Lord helped me that day to embrace it as an exciting change, rather than a dreadful one.  I still wish he wasn't 6 yet and this wasn't really happening and he was a tiny little guy at home with me but I am slowly learning to find the joy in change.  

It also helps that he is only gone for 3 hours a day.  I just love being this boy's mommy.