first day of school

Today was our official first day of school, since Irene came through town and delayed all the schools one day.  Today is the first day they are all in school full time.  To be honest, I was a little worried about the timing of everything. 

Grace and John both have a pick up time of 7:50 and although I can see the bus stop from our house, I hated the thought of him being at the bus stop without me on the first day (or maybe it should read; I hated the thought of me not being with him at the bus stop on the first day of school).  However, we still have some back roads closed in our area due to the Tropical Storm over the weekend so Grace's van was late today.  I was so happy to be able to stay at the bus stop with John until his bus came for him.

I love his totally posed picture at the top of the bus steps.  Thankfully, he will still pose for me and kiss me at the bus stop.  He is ready for 2nd grade and really happy to have the same teacher from last year.

Grace has the same van driver and (Praise God) aide as the past 2 years.  We were told that there may not be an aide on her van this year.  Which seemed like a bad idea to me, since they transport 5 disabled kids and none of them can talk but I know that not all decisions are made with reality in mind.  Grace has a new teacher and I'm looking forward to having Grace make some progress this year.

Luke is my last one to get to school and I am determined to be on time.  We live (literally) 2.1 miles from his school and have been late most days for the past 2 years.  Since he is going to Kindergarten (sniff, sniff) this year, we need to be on time.  Today we made it!  He seems really excited to be back in school, but I'm not sure he realizes it will be every day.  As we were leaving he said, 'I so happy it's just the two of us!'  I will miss this sweet boy and our time together.

I told him I was going to be a little sad leaving him and hoped he had fun today.  As I was leaving he said, 'Mom, I'm not scared I'm brave and I love school'.  It made me smile, which was good because I was feeling a little teary eyed.  But they I came home to an empty house.  Let me repeat that so it can sink in, I came home to an empty house. 

I am going to spend some time organizing and straightening up things around here reading blogs, editing pictures from our summer and enjoying the quiet.  Then before I know it it will be time to pick up Luke.  We are going to go to the grocery store, I'm hoping they have restocked from the panic buying of Friday and Saturday.  We are going to make Happy 1st Day of School Cupcakes!  I can't wait to see how all their 1st days were.  So far mine has been good...