First Day of School

It was a mixed emotion morning for me today. I'm so proud of Garner, but so sad to see that real life is starting to creep into his childhood. Today is the official first day of kindergarten. He was so excited the day I pulled out all his new school uniforms. He said, "THANKS Mom. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new clothes!" Let's hope that he feels the same way in just a few years!

So we met his kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Hackett yesterday at the school open house. I'm cautiously optimistic that things will go well this year. Less play & more learning. Dear Lord... help my son to LOVE school.

We also took Braden to meet his preschool teacher, Mrs. Maccariella yesterday. He loves his school room. There is a slide, and tons of play area, water table and more. He was excited this morning, ran right in and wouldn't even look at me when I said goodbye. I'm happy that he is so happy to be there.

Still the house is quiet this morning. For as often as I have missed a quiet house now I miss the little voices more.

Last Day of School

It's over for the summer. No more pre-K. No more driving 20 minutes one way to pick him up from school. No more piles of school papers.

If we really want to, we can just stay in our p.j.s all day! Whoopee!

The PreK Days

As PreK winds to a close for Garner, I'm left with many thoughts about the last year. I'm a tiny bit sad, partly apprehensive to all the changes coming next year, and a largely proud of my son. He has really grown over the year. Every day I see more boy and less baby. He was my first child, so there is a particular heart string that gets plucked each time he passes life's growth stages.

We knew that preschool would be good for Garner. He was needing more to occupy him than I could provide or teach with two other children in the house. I'll never forget the night he sat at the dinner table and basically told us the whole story about Moses and Pharaoh and the 10 plagues (hand gestures included). Not only has he done well from an educational stand point, but preschool also helped him with other life skills and social behaviors too.

Here are a few photos of the past year.

First Day of School



Day at the Farm




Birthday



We will have a few more photos of the last few days of school and I'll post them then. For now a mom is just feeling rather nostalgic...