First Day Of School

Yay! The first day of school finally came for our older boys. D and B were so incredibly excited. We had gone over to the school yesterday to check out who their new teachers and classroom assignments were to bring some ease to their anxiety. We were able to scan through the roster and check out if any of their classmates from years past would be there too. It was a great thing, since I had undersestimated the parent congestion this morning. I came about 30 minutes early after picking up our carpool and every surrounding street (even the short cuts I thought NO ONE knew about) were jam packed. In a desperate effort to get my kids to class on time, I dropped them off at one of the valets and asked B find D his class.

Fortunatel, B's Dad and Step Mom had already made their way down to B's class and were able to help him out. Can I just tell you how incredibly proud I am of B? He's such an awesome big brother, he made sure D got to his class, met his teacher, pointed out old friends, and even filled out some questions that teachers generally ask, like 'did you bring your lunch today? who's picking you up?' Granted, I felt horrible for not being there personally to see them walk through the thresholds of this exciting new school year, but I felt that I would do nothing but be rushed and irritated and maybe even nostalgic - wanting to hug and kiss my boys till they sat down, and even then contemplate whether or not I should let go??

I was especially excited for today because I learned from a friend how to get my kids to eat a more diverse diet for lunch and snack without me being there taunting them with bribes. BENTO BOXES!!! So last night I stayed up way later than I should have and made these cute Bento Lunch and Snack boxes. I have spent the last 2 weeks working up my supply box and I have but one more shipment to complete my collection.

After picking up the boys, I had nothing but great reviews and empty bento boxes! I had packed them molded boileed eggs, wheat thin crackers, baby bel cheeses, and sliced nectarines for snack. Then for lunch, I had sailboat and train pb and j on wheat bread cutouts, gold fish, cucumbers with ranch dressing, and strawberries with sugar. I couldn't believe they didn't even touch the sugar! WHOA! Of course, I had to ask if they got tease, but they said that the kids were more interested in what was next in their boxes, haha!!

Matthew had class today and it was our turn for snacks. I was a little worried because he had woken up about an hour before anticipated and just before leaving I could see that he was getting a little bored, tired, and irritated. I showed him these cute little snack bags I made for his class and suddenly he was excited again. I was cleaning his car seat so it was in the house, while I got his shoes and socks together I came down to see that he had already buckled himself in with a bag of animal crackers in one hand and a bag of animal figures that we got from the California Science Center in the other hand. I had to giggle, it was just way too cute!


Preschool drop off went without a hitch and as usual at the end of the day, he had nothing but GREAT things to talk about with a huge fantastic smile!

After school, D and M had Dr. Appointments - the wait was far more entertaining though haha!! It's amazing the things that we come up with to keep the time ticking and the meltdowns under control. We played with the tongue depressers and pretended they were swords from the medieval times, then they became light sabers on an episode of star wars, then shields from walking mummies. WOW!! Imagination grows wild with time and you can't help but relish in these moments, for they pass us far too quickly, well at least for us parents.