It's that time of year again!

The first day of school is here! The kids are so excited! I woke up this morning early, so I could get breakfast started and after a little bit I heard Dylan's door open and he came into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face-just beaming with excitement. "Good morning my big first grader! Did you sleep well?" He just kept smiling, nodded his head up and down, and gave me a big hug. We had fun making breakfast together just the two of us before everyone else woke up.

Last night we laid out the new school clothes, gave haircuts, baths and showers, so this morning went pretty smooth! A friend of mine offered to have Lola come over and play, so Allen and I could take Dylan and Meghan to school.

Meghan is a "peer partner" at the development preschool at the same elementary school that Dylan goes to. And come to find out their classrooms are right across the hall from each other! She was so excited to go back to the preschool room! We went to the open house last night and she did not want to leave! She walked right in this morning and was ready to play. I helped her hang up her backpack by her name tag and then off she went talking to the other kids and teachers and playing with the toys. She goes until 11:00, so Lola and I went to pick her up and she told me all about what she did today. The teacher handed me a little slip of paper with the days activities listed, that was nice to see so I could ask her about specific activities they did, the snack, songs, and books they read. She loves it!

While I was with Meghan, Allen went in with Dylan and took a few pictures. I just love the look Dylan had on his face as he hung his things up and found a place to sit. Just before we left I peaked in his classroom and waved goodbye. He was already writing on a piece of paper and ready to go! I sure love our big man Dylan! This summer he has been riding his bike without training wheels and he wants to ride his bike to school so bad. I told him we'd need to practice a few times first to teach him the rules of riding along the street, stopping and starting at intersections and watching out for other people! So I guess we'll see when this all happens. :) But he has surprised us before on things like this!

So with Lola at a friends houses and Dylan and Meghan in school, I had about an hour all to myself this morning before I had to go get Lola! The house was too quiet, so I got to turn on some mommy music as I cleaned up after breakfast and I even ended up cleaning the bathrooms! I realized that our house was going to stay cleaner during the day now, so I thought I'd start it off clean!

Lola starts her preschool next Wednesday. She'll go in the mornings Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And she is very excited. She felt a little left out this morning, so after I picked her up, we went together to sign her up for gymnastics. Which I have been meaning to do. She did a short session of gymnastics last fall and LOVED it. And it fits her so well. She doesn't walk from place to place-she hops, skips, jumps, twirls, or gallops everywhere. Soccer also starts soon, but she doesn't want to play yet, but wanted to do gymnastics again, so she'll have that on Tuesday mornings. And yes, my taxi driving days are back. oh well.

So here we are! Half way through the first day of school and starting the "school phase" of our family life. We love it and love that the kids love it too. We received an email from my mother-in-law yesterday and it is their first year in 34 years that they're not sending one of their children off to school! Amazing! And here we are-just beginning. :)