A Seasoned Elementary School Veteran (aka...a First Grader)

Yesterday was the first day of school. It meant that we were back to waking up at a certain time, eating breakfast on a schedule, getting dressed right away, brushing teeth right after that and rushing out the door without forgetting to take his medicine or leaving his lunchbox on the counter. Yep, the lazy days of summer have ended and the crazy days of school have begun.

Except that our summer really hasn't been all that lazy. As soon as school was out, we left that weekend for Missouri and Arkansas for 2+ weeks (pictures being sorted still). Then, we had a few days after getting back before Daddy came home for R&R (yes, that deserves it's own post and it is coming...I promise!). The week after Daddy went back to Iraq, Austin did 3 days of football camp. The next week, he had 3 days of golf camp. Then, he had a week of summer camp at Camp Kanata! After Camp Kanata, we did have a couple of weeks of down time before this week. :-)

Anyway, it's hard to believe that it's here. First grade. His second year of school. More learning. More friends. More reading and math skills. More activities, field trips, library books, painted pictures, and more cereal math charts!

Austin's grown a lot since Kindergarten. In every way imaginable!




He doesn't exactly look like a little kid anymore, does he? In fact, I think this picture on the stairs gives me a little glimpse into what he's going to look like as a teenager!




I worked hard on getting all 3 boys ready to walk down to the new bus stop so that we would have time to take pictures. It was a hard job. One that I remember from last year, but still haven't mastered! Sigh. Mornings never seem long enough!




Austin's eyes change different shades of blue depending on what he's wearing. Since he was wearing a gray shirt, they are more of a gray blue. Such a handsome boy! I mean Cool. He's a cool boy!




Ok, now he's a little silly. We just won't tell him I said that.




And I had to get a detail picture of his shoes and bags. I love the shoes. He LOVES the shoes. It's a rare thing for us to both love the same thing like this. I'm hoping it continues with other things! He also loved getting a new lunchbox and he ended up with TWO "backpacks." He specifically wanted a "one strap back pack." That's exactly what he said. This is the style he pointed out. I looked at couple of different places and didn't find any boyish ones. Then, I was tipped off that The Children's Place had them. We went and he loved the camo messenger bag. I bought it, and as the cashier rang it up, I realized it was half-off! SCORE!

Then, we got home and I started thinking about how his backpack from last year looked. It should have been replaced after Christmas. There were holes in the bottom, but he pushed through the rest of the year with it. I wasn't sure this new bag was going to make it the whole year, much less until Christmas. So, I went searching for another bag as a back up. Found out that Land's End had a sale PLUS free shipping. I looked and found this one that was pretty neutral with two boy colors (although, it is technically a girl bag, don't tell him that! I am not sure why it was labled as only a girl's bag...it's not any different than the boy's bag other than the colors and I think these colors can be either!) I ordered it and he opened it up when we got it and loved it too. He chose this one for the first day and wanted to take his camo one today. I told him that we would only be switching every week...not everyday. So, I guess we'll see how these bags last. I did find out today that a boy has a backpack with only one strap...I guess it's called a sling bag? Anyway, Austin said that's the kind he wanted. I think he just changed his mind, but he's gonna just have to wait until next year to get it. His are bought already!

Ah, the joys of school. We'll see how his teacher is as the school year starts. So far, I like her. I go in on Monday for a conference since she says they don't have enough time during open house to talk to everyone. I like that. Anyway, I'm hoping she's a good match for him! So far, he likes it. And he likes her. That's a good sign!