First Day of School!!!

Yesterday was the first day of school and the kids were so excited!! Ethan was up bright and early for his first day of school breakfast of eggs and sausage with orange julius. He loved it. He got all ready, practiced the piano, we read scriptures and said prayers and then the "when it is time to go outside" mantra began. Since our house is the bus stop it means that we don't have to rush as much as other kids, but it also means that Ethan hears all the other kids outside playing long before I let him go out. But that's life.

Finally, it was time to go outside and take the traditional picture on the porch. He is getting so tall!! Then he got to play with friends until the bus came. He was a bit nervous because his classroom is the only one upstairs and he was afraid he wouldn't know what door to go in, but I told him that he would be fine and he was good.





Courtney, on the other hand, doesn't start kindergarten completely until next Wednesday, so it was a bitter/sweet experience watching the bus roll off without her. Courtney had an appointment to "get to know" her classroom at 11:00 to 11:30 so I decided to take the opportunity to shop for her birthday present. I dropped her off at my parent's house to play and then ran to buy her present. I was back to pick her up in plenty of time to get her to school on time.

She had to take her backpack so she would know where to put it in the room. Then we got to meet her teacher (who was Ethan's teacher and who Courtney LOVES, so it wasn't really a "meet" so much as a "warn" ;) ), do some activities to teach Courtney where things are in the room, and then we got to go. It was fun because now she feels more comfortable in the room.




We then went home to get the house ready for a load of Priests who were coming for a dutch oven dinner at our house for Mutual. Courtney kept telling me that I could bring her presents in the house and she wouldn't peek, but I didn't fall for it. I got Courtney's family cake decorated (I baked them on Tuesday and froze them to make things easier) and the cupcakes for her party.



Ethan wanted me to make blue popcorn balls to hand out to all the kids who got off the bus after the first day of school, so I did that and discovered that I don't like making popcorn balls. But that's life!



Then I made a "locker" cake out of scraps from the cupcake batch for Ethan. He saw this in a magazine and wanted one for the first day of school. It turned out okay.



It was then time to clean up. I got the kitchen, living room, kid's bathroom and the tv room all cleaned up while Courtney played at a friend's house. By then it was time to watch for the bus (I had fears of missing the bus and having all these popcorn balls to ourselves!). I went outside with the popcorn balls to wait for the bus. Soon it came rushing around the corner and the kids all spilled off...running right to me. I guess Ethan told them all they would be getting popcorn balls so it's a good thing I did it! We even gave one to the bus driver, who is super nice.

Ethan then unloaded about his day. He loves his teacher and classroom (there are hermit crabs and betta fish in tanks); his friends in his class are nice; he had a great lunch; and the popcorn balls were the "best." He spotted his locker cake and gave me a huge hug before inhaling it before I could tell him to cut it into pieces. Oh well.

Bryan came home early to make the dutch oven. We made way, way, way too much but Bryan is loving it because he will have his favorite dutch oven dinner for the next week! The boys had fun.

We put Courtney to bed and Ethan, Bryan and I decorated for her birthday the next day. Then I went to bed because I was exhausted!!