First Days of School!

After a fun and action packed summer, it all came to a screeching halt for Lia and Logan last Wednesday, September 4th, and for Ella today.  Although no one was really excited for school to start since we are all just summer-lovers in this household, both Lia and Logan perked up once we got to school.  We managed to park out on the side street and get to the black top in the back of the school several minutes before the bell rang (which is always a miracle for us--especially since Emmett joined the crew).  I first got Lia situated in her class line with a few familiar faces before escorting Logan over to his line.  I then stood by him until the final bell rang and his class walked into school.  Ella, Emmett, and I were then able to head back down to school 1.5 hours later for our one-on-one meeting with Ella's new teacher which is something our district does every year with the incoming Kindergarten children.  Afterwards, we went and peaked in on Logan eating lunch in his classroom (that is actually right across the hallway from Ella's room) and on Lia who was listening to her teacher lecture in her classroom.  It was fun to see them in their classes on their first day of school!
The kids came home on the bus later that day full of smiles and happy reports of their teachers, classroom activities, and friends.  This was especially a huge relief for me and Lia since all three of her closest friends got put together in another 6th grade class.  Luckily, she has enough friends from previous years to help her feel comfortable in her new class and she was able to find and play with her closest three friends during recess today.  So, hopefully, it will be a great year for both of them!

All four children lined up on Lia's and Logan's first day of school!

Logan--our cute 2nd grader smiling and ready to go!

Lia--our tall, leggy 6th grader striking a pose.  I just can't believe that this is her last year of elementary school.  It's just going too fast.

Although it wasn't Ella's first day of school, she wanted to put on her backpack and have her picture taken, too.

As we approached the back of the school, two of Lia's good friends (Sienna and Allison) who are now in the Quest program, ran up to say 'hello.'

We managed to get another picture of these girls who have known each other since PreK when they were all in the same preschool class.  Although we were unable to find Mila for the picture, here is Addyson, Mollie, Lia, and Sienna.  Addyson and Lia are in the same class again this year.

Logan giving me a smile once we got him situated in his class line.  He waited patiently and quietly at my side until the bell rang.

And then he was off!  I am so grateful for how much he has grown up in the past two years and how he can handle this kind of big change while being calm and courageous.

Lia was so busy talking to her pack of girlfriends that she wouldn't even look at me while I was calling her name to take this picture.  Can we say sixth grader or what?!

Hours later, a happy Logan and Lia got off the bus that they are taking home for the second year in a row with our friends who live in a neighborhood two minutes from our own.  This saves me from making a daily trip down to the school every afternoon to pick up the kids which is such a help to me.

Lia and Logan posing with Sienna, Connor, and Aria who they will be riding home with again every day this year.

The pack walking down the sidewalk.

When I tucked Ella into bed last night, I asked her the question, "What day is tomorrow?" to which she yelled, "Kindergarten!" and screamed with excitement!  It was so cute!  She was so excited when she got up this morning.  She happily got dressed, ate her breakfast, and packed her bag before climbing in the car.  I couldn't get over how calm and cool she was about starting school today.  Here is Ella posing in front of the front door in her new outfit and wearing her new Jasmine backpack and carrying her new Jasmine lunchbox.

The gang all lined up again for Ella's first day of school.  Look at that smiling baby!

What should have been a relatively smooth morning of getting Ella off to class actually turned out to be a quite different one.  As we were getting ready to leave, the rain started falling which meant that we had to stop and get everyone's umbrellas.  After loading everyone up into the car and driving down to the school, I had to push Emmett in the stroller for a second time in a few days through the side gate of the school and across the field to get to the main entrance.  As we were approaching the edge of the field, Ella burst into tears.  I was so confused at first.  When I turned around to talk to her, she kept on screaming that something had poked her in the head.  I just assumed it was one of the spokes from her umbrella, but was able to learn from her that it was something else.  She then started screaming that she had gotten stung by a bee and then started crying about her finger hurting, too.  With the rain falling and students/parents around us everywhere, it suddenly became a very chaotic and crazy moment!  After saying goodbye to Logan and getting through the second gate with the stroller and trying to calm Ella down, I decided that we need to move under the covered area of the school near the main entrance.  I had to first help Lia close her umbrella so that she could push the stroller to the covered entrance while I slowly coaxed a crying Ella to come with me.  While I was trying to inspect her head and finger for a bee sting, Emmett burst into tears.  Lia starts freaking out because he had blood all over his ear and hand.  Since he currently has a habit of scratching his ears and since I hadn't trimmed his fingernails recently, he had suddenly sliced his left ear open causing a huge pool of blood to form inside his ear that he then got on his hand and on his pants.  I felt like all heck was breaking loose at once!  After wiping down Emmett's ear and hand with a wet wipe and calming Lia and Emmett down, I proceeded to inspect Ella's head and finger and could not find a sting or any redness.  The four of us then walked into the gymnasium to find Ella's class line inside.  After showing Lia where she will need to bring Ella to school every morning, we said 'goodbye' to her so that she could go get in her class line.  I then had a few minutes to try to calm down and comfort Ella before her teacher arrived in the gym to pick up her class.  She was still very upset and unhappy and kept on telling me that her head hurt, but she managed to pull it together enough to bravely walk away with her class at the end of her line.  I felt so sorry for her that she had to deal with all of this on her first day of school!

Here is Ella trying to give me a smile while we waited for her teacher to come and pick up her class.

Ella bravely walking away at the end of her line.  I had to hold back a few tears as I was saying goodbye to her.  She has seriously been my little buddy these past two years since Logan went to school full-time and it was a bit hard for me to say goodbye to her--especially since she was not feeling well due to the mysterious sting fiasco.  I thought about her all day long and kept on wondering where she was before realizing she was at school and then I kept on wondering how she was doing.

I am happy to report that she came off the bus later that day happy and smiling!  Her first day of Kindergarten was a big success although it had a rocky start!

Our cute, Kindergartener running towards me!

All three siblings lined up together.  I absolutely LOVE that they get to have this one year of school together!  This will be Lia's and Ella's only year of school together and also Lia's last year of her public education career with a sibling at the same school as her.  I am so grateful that our district has junior high schools instead of middle schools to make this all possible!