back 2 school

Today was the big day!  I set my alarm extra early (for me), so that I could see Emm ~ and take pictures ~ before she left for school.  She has to be to her bus stop by 6:20am.  Here she is, all ready for her sophomore year of high school (notice the Gryffindor ID lanyard that she bought this summer):

And at the bus stop with her friend Samantha:

Their bus was late, but did eventually arrive.  (The same can not be said for after school ~ Samantha's mom ended up driving over to pick them up after they'd waited about 45 minutes!)  Thankfully, the rest of her day went well.

Around 8:20am, it was Nick's turn to head out the door.  Here he is, ready (or not) for 7th grade and a new school:

Ben and I walked him over to his bus stop:

We waited and waited, but, fifteen minutes before school was supposed to start, the bus still had not arrived, so I drove him to school, with a few minutes to spare!  He did find all his classes okay, and saw a couple people that he knew from elementary school, but otherwise was not impressed with middle school!  There were more bus problems after school ~ he never found the bus he was supposed to be on, and I didn't have the car to go get him.  In the end, they sent him home on a bus of his own!

About 11:45am, Ben and I walked over to his new school.  Here is my very excited Kindergartner:

In front of the school sign... a yearly tradition!

On the way to school, we ran into Ben's buddy Xander from preschool, who is now in his Kindergarten class.  They were very happy to see each other!

High fives!  (Actually, this was taken during the "on the side" part.)

I was a little disappointed that the parents didn't get to meet the teacher or go into the classroom or anything, but Ben went in with a smile, and came out 2-1/2 hours later with an even bigger smile!  He LOVED his first day! :)  He talked and talked about Kindergarten all the way home, and for about 20 minutes after we got home, as well, LOL.

I made some special back-to-school brownies, and when all the kids were finally back home again, we had them for our afternoon snack.  (It's supposed to look like a blackboard, but the icing was not cooperating real well!):

Hope tomorrow will be better for them all, especially Nick!