Back To School

Violet and Riley both started school at their new elementary school on Monday... Violet is in 3rd grade, Riley in Kindergarten.
They were totally excited about it!
Of course I had to capture this show of affection... who knows how much longer it will last now that Riley is in school all day...
Aside from Riley's "All Day Kindergarten" milestone, there was one more... Violet can now ride her BIKE to school! She insisted on riding to school the first day, so we let her... but I drove beside her most of the way. School is about a mile away, but there's a lot of construction on the main road, so Violet rode the back roads to stay out of the way of tractors and bulldozers.
And of course, we kept up our tradition and Daddy was there to help take the kids to school on the first day...
Here Riley got to meet his teacher. She put his nametag around his neck and told him where to pur his backpack and lunchbox...

And then the school mascot came out!! That got Riley really excited about school. He had no trouble at all going to class... no tears, no separateion anxiety. I started to think about how this was my baby, no longer a baby anymore, and I could feel the edges of my eyes sting a bit as tears started to form...
But right at the moment I could have gotten emotional, I saw another mom, next to me, completely sobbing. She was red-faced, breath coming in quick bursts, and her hand was across her face, right under her nose, as tears spilled from the corners of her face. I completely started giggling inside at her (no, she didn't see me), and my emotions were in check. So I called my friend, Erin, who also just dropped off her baby at Kindergarten and we decided that a celebratory breakfast was in order. So we went to Mimi's cafe, had Hibiscus drinks, and toasted to a new school year with all sorts of new possibilities!
After school, I met the kids and they both had GREAT days. Riley loved his class and loved his teacher... but especially LOVED lunchtime! He got to see Violet and she shared some of her sour Yo-go bits, so that was pretty awesome... and he also got to go to MUSIC class! As for Violet, she had a super awesome day, too! She got to be PRESIDENT of her class the whole week, which menat that if the teacher ever left the room, she was in charge. Perfect for my bossy girl!
And of course even 103 degree heat didn't deter Violet from riding her bike home!
It was a fabulous first week of school. Everyone keeps asking me what I am going to do with all my time, now that the kids are both in school all day. The answer is simple. I am going to actually end up going to bed at a reasonable hour because I will have time during the day to get my work done! Photo shoots will move from weekends to weekdays! The house will stay clean! No more photo editing at 2am! I *will* get a good night's sleep! And I will be able to get to the gym a few times each week! In short, I will have plenty to do all day long.

It's bad enough that I have to watch my kids grow up in real time... but then KMart put out this commercial and all of a sudden I was catapulted forward 5 years and I caught a glimpse of Riley... as a big boy. (don't forget to pause the music on the right before playing the video)

I am *SO* not ready for this!