There are so many preparations that go into the first day of school. It's funny how every mother pulls out all the stops and gets her child in tip-top shape. Then, after that it's every kid for himself. They can brush their own hair, wear dirty clothes, etc. :)

We clipped Ella's and Link's nails. I even ironed Ella's clothes. Trust me, they needed it.

We all bathed. Even Dad.

Got Father's blessings.

TA-DAH! SO cute. Ella, on the driveway waiting for the bus at promptly 6:59 am.

The bus turning on our street as our kids squeal with delight.

Is it me or is this backpack bigger than Ella?

The best picture I could get of her getting on the bus. I felt pretty silly for even taking one...so I didn't ask the entire bus to wait for to get a clearer picture.

Gone. My little tiny kindergartener is gone. Into the hands of....well, people I don't know. I had a few sniffles at the thought. And before you judge me....I had every intention of driving her the first day into school and walking her into her new classroom but it didn't work out logistically. I had to have Link at his school (with no bus option), 4 miles the opposite direction at 8 and Ella in the other direction, 15 miles away at 8. Tell me how that works? She was so excited to ride the bus so I didn't want to deprive her of that. Now Lincoln's turn.....

He asked me to get a million pics of his uber-cool spider man back pack. I always promised myself before I had children that I would not succumb to character ridden items. We'll get him a real backpack next year. He really doesn't even use this. It just stays at school to hold his blanket for nap time.

A little Clark Kent-ish...I know. We gotta work on that.

His little cubby. Ella's was in almost the same spot last year.

Lincoln was thrilled to find out his school had puzzles. He went right in, found one, asked me if I was going to come back and then said goodbye. And that was that.

Then it was just the two of us- Quincy and I. Quincy fresh from sleeping with his cute litte puffy face and all. We were able to accomplish an amazing amount with just the two of us today. And it was fun too! Wow...the things school can do for a mother's sanity.

P.S.- I didn't put this last picture it b/c it was necessarily cute....it's just sooooo Quincy. This is his perma-expression. The " I-smell-something-stanky" look. :)



These last two pics are of Ella coming home, running down the driveway to give me a hug. As you can see, she was all smiles and they both had nothing but good things to say about school. Lincoln even said his best freind at school is a boy with a surf board shirt and with some black on his chin. A beard perhaps? We are not sure. :)