Back to School

School is officially back in session!  And, this year, all four of the kiddos are in school!!  Yep, all four of them!  Connor, Aiden and Vivienne were the first to start school a little over a week ago.  Here are Connor and Aiden ready for the big day...

Connor is in 6th Grade this year and Aiden is in 3rd...

Connor's teacher is Mrs. Rohde and Aiden's teacher is Mrs. Heywood...

We already love both of them!  Mrs. Rohde is a complete 180° from Connor's teacher last year--which is a definite good thing!  I can tell that he will mesh so well with her and her teaching style and I think this will be a great year for him.  Mrs. Heywood is a new teacher to our school, so we don't know much about her--but she seems very sweet and loving, so I think she will be great for Aiden...

Here's the big 3rd Grader waiting to go inside the school...

And, the 6th Grader waiting as well.  Do you know how hard it is to get a 6th Grader to smile for pictures when his friends are around?  I just kept hearing, "Mooooooooooom!  Can we be done with pictures, please?!?"  And so it begins.  I can't believe this is Connor's last year of elementary school!  Where did those years go?

About an hour after Connor and Aiden left for school, it was this girl's turn...

I can't believe she is old enough for preschool...

My *baby* is off to preschool!  I'm feeling really old lately...

Vivvie is going to Learning Dynamics Preschool, just like all her older brothers did.  Her teacher is Mrs. Johnson.  We love Mrs. Johnson!  I had originally requested for Viv to be in Mrs. Covington's (Cohen's old teacher) class, but then her schedule changed.  She now only teaches four-year-olds and the Kindergarten Enhancement classes.  I was devastated when I found out.  Mrs. Covington is our absolute favorite!  The preschool director suggested I request Mrs. Johnson instead.  She thought that Mrs. Johnson would be the perfect fit for Vivienne--and, boy, was she right!  As soon as we met Mrs. Johnson, we fell in love with her.  She is such a wonderful person and loves her little students so much.  We started taking Vivvie into her classroom last year when we would pick up Cohen--just to get Viv familiar with the room and with Mrs. Johnson since she is so shy and hates new places and situations.  Each time we went in there, Mrs. Johnson made Viv feel like the most important person in the world!  So, when the big first day of school arrived, Vivienne was more than ready to go!!  She was so excited and couldn't wait to start school.  She's doing great so far and is loving every minute of it...

Cohen was the last to start the school.  His first day was yesterday because Kindergarten always starts a week after the other grades.  Cohen was more than ready to move over to the "big kid school"...

After three years of preschool, he was more than prepared to take the Kindergarten world by storm...

His teacher this year is Mrs. Bahr.  We have heard excellent things about her.  She seems so sweet and loving to the kiddos...

I think she will be a great teacher for Cohen...

Here's the big kid waiting to enter the public education system...

There he is in line to go inside.  He ended up having sort of a rough first day.  His backpack broke and he ended up missing Learning Dynamics and said he wished he could go back.  But, today was much better and he came home happy as could be!  I think he will have a great year...

So, there you go!  All my kiddos are officially in school!!  And, that means I have approximately 5 hours a week all to myself.  I don't even know what to do!  This is the first time in twelve years that I haven't had at least one child home with me.  It's definitely going to be an adjustment, but I must admit that those few hours of peace and quiet are pretty nice too!  To celebrate my new-found freedom, I met my sisters for breakfast at Kneaders.  Yummy...

Ella and Landon came along too.  Ella made it into the above picture, but Landon didn't--so here's his shot.  You can call him boss--just FYI...

So, the 2014-2015 school year is officially underway!  I think it will be a great year for all four of the kids.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go help with homework.  Blah, homework!  Uggghhh!  --Lindsay