Ashton's 1st Day of Preschool

My little guy started his first day of preschool.  He has the same teacher as last year with a new teacher's assistant.  He attends twice a week now and loves it.  It was way easier watching him go to preschool than Caitlyn going to Kindergarten.  He's going to have this year and next year with his current school and then he's off to Kindergarten... My children are growing so incredibly fast.

Ashton was more interested in attending his first day than the pictures.  I love the above pic though because he is holding onto Ashley's GPS (just in case he gets lost on the two minute drive to school.  

He truly makes my heart smile!

Caitlyn's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Well, She did it... My daughter attended her first day of full day kindergarten.  

She loved it.  Her teacher's name is Mrs. Odman.  She has her school, teacher, classroom number, and bus name all memorized.  She is Brilliant!

***

Let's start with the day before school started.  I decided to read a poem my friend put on Facebook.  I barely made it through the first few sentences before crying... so what did I do next?!?! Decided to call my mom and attempt to read it to her... Cried again through the entire thing.  

That night we laid out her clothes, we set her alarm to music for 7:00am, read the book Someday (I cried some more) , said our prayers and Caitlyn fell fast asleep.

The next morning, I get out of the shower at 6:15 begin my morning routine and much to my surprise, little miss Caitlyn comes walking into the bathroom fully dressed and ready for her first day of school.  We ate a big breakfast and then had a surprise visit from her cousins Brayden and Kellen... we stopped for a photo shoot....

 ...then we walked to the bus stop....

The above pic reminds me of the book we read, Someday, I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me until I no longer see you.  

And one last picture before she gets on the bus.

She did great... She was so excited... I don't mean to toot my own horn... but I did great too!  All the crying and anticipation of my sweet baby girl leaving me to go out into the world of public education was way worse than the actual big moment... I was and AM so PROUD of her.

Then my Mom, Ashton , and I piled in the car and drove to her school.

I peaked my head into the classroom trying to see what she was up to... and I saw this...

My daughter, whom I was worried wouldn't know where her class was,

wouldn't know where to put her back pack or lunch.

I was worried she would be lost without me, 

but no... she found her way.  

She found her way right to the front of the classroom, 

perched herself on a stool and was reading a book.  

 Seriously... melted my heart!
♥

I am so PROUD of my daughter, Caitlyn Leigh... the Kindergartner!

Kite Festival 2012

 This year, the kids and I went up to the Kite Festival early with my Mom, Dad, and Brayden, and Kellen.  We had a blast. We camped for 8 days.  The rest of the family trickled in about mid week.  It's getting more and more difficult to get every single person in our family together, but we did it.  I didn't take my camera out enough during this trip.  I did convince everyone to jump for our second beach shadow picture.

 I also snapped this picture of the cousins all drinking their morning hot chocolates.

♥

A few memorable things from this trip included:

Sven Miller coming (even though she wasn't invited)

Ocean Park Welcome Wagon

Megatron levels

'Is today the same day as yesterday?!?'

yoga poses on the beach

s'mores & more s'mores

conversation starters, &

the SUNNY beach.

♥

I look forward to next year already...

(I think I'm getting a hang of this camping thing).