back to school

Today was the big day!  I woke up early to see Emmalie before she left for her first day of 11th grade.  (And to take pictures, of course!)  She has to be at her bus stop by 6:30... bleah.  I'm glad I don't have to do that every day ~ way too early for me!  Here's our junior, all ready to start school:

 At the bus stop:

 Bye, Emm!

 Luckily, the boys don't have to leave till 8:15 or so... a much more manageable time!  Here's Ben, our big first grader!

Apparently the sunshine was hurting his eyes, and he couldn't smile and keep his eyes open at the same time.  (Or so he said.)  Ben wanted to wear his new Panthers shirt because his school mascot is a panther and the school colors are blue and white.  Can you say "school spirit"? :)

And here's our big (tall!) 8th grader.  What?  Is that a smile on the first day of school?  Must be a trick of the light....

 The boys:

 Off and running!  Ben couldn't wait to walk (run) to school with his buddies across the street:

Nick at his bus stop.  His bus was actually on time (so was Emm's) ~ something that has never happened on the first day of school in the past 7 years that one or more of my kiddos have been riding a bus!

 Ben with his friends Ryan and Jack (from across the street).  They started Kindergarten today:

 Excited and eager for school to begin:

Once Ben and the rest of his class went inside, I took George to work and then... I actually had the whole house to myself until school got out at 2:30!  Wow.  I was able to get several things done, and even spent time writing, yay! :)

Ben LOVED his first day of first grade!  He couldn't wait to tell me every single detail.  He was happy to see some of his friends from last year, and thought his teacher was really nice.  He can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Emm was not as chipper when she got home from school.  There was a problem with her schedule, and it looks like she'll be unable to take any of the electives that she wanted.  I know she's very disappointed about that, and I can't say that I blame her. :(

Nick was also not real thrilled with his first day, after having lock/locker problems all day long and being given the wrong bus info for after school -- he ended up getting home much later than usual because of it.

All 3 kiddos were excited about back-to-school brownies, though! (Even if two of them don't look it in this picture.)  This was our after-school snack.  Yum.

Hope the 2nd day of school will be great for all three!