♥Jackson and Beatrix♥: August 2009

It was a dark and rainy Wednesday, thunder clapped and rain poured down, it was the perfect morning to curl up with a cool pillow and sleep in. At the Sears house though, we had a different agenda...THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! After waking up at the ungodly hour of 6:45 am (at least for this mama whose little ones are late risers!), Jackson says in a barely audible groan "why does school have to be so early???" a question I often asked myself growing up and am now discovering I still feel the same way! Shower, teeth brushed, hair combed, clothes put on, Dad decided that first days deserve a treat of McDonalds breakfast which Jackson thought would happen every day...he will learn it does not. We are ready to pack up ourselves, Jackson and his backpack, a very confused Beatrix (I did say they were late risers), a camera and baby bag that had way more than we would need for 15 minutes in a school, and we are on our way...

He is thrilled to be up!

We arrive at the school to find utter chaos. Jackson being my first child I have never experienced the first day of school...it will stay with me forever. People are triple parked, it is a downpour at this point and Bea is realizing that 8 am is just to damn early to be awake and she really wanted to let us know that. Chris pulls over and we decide that to save ourselves from truly going insane he would stay in the car with Bea and I would take Jackson inside.

There is his name, it's official, my baby is in school

At the entrance to a whole new world...will everyone there realize that Jackson is one of the greatest things in this world??

After fighting past the moms, who were not as super prepared and great as I was, who were throwing Target bags full of supplies at the teacher who looked like she wanted nothing more than to hide in a closet with a cold drink, Jackson and I found his pencil box and he sat down to color until the insanity of the classroom died down.

He is looking a little nervous at this point

He's got the name tag on and he is ready to rock the stuff out of kindergarten

After realizing that this place was okay, Jackson said "Bye mom, I'll see you later, don't let Bea miss me too much" and started to color. I have to admit I was a little proud of my brave little guy. I think there were at least 4 crying kids. Not my guy!

After leaving the classroom a teacher offered me a tissue and I wondered why, until I saw the women walking around crying. I have heard of this phenomenon, women having the empty kindergarten nest syndrome. I wanted to yell at these women "Are you all crazy??? We now have 7 hours of sweet freedom everyday!!!" Instead I politely declined the tissue and skipped down the hallway. As I was leaving the school I did have a little ping of sadness, but it was real little! Jackson is a late starter. His birthday is in September so I have had him with me almost constantly for close to 6 years. It was time to cut the cord!

After a long day of not knowing what to do with myself my guy came home...super excited because he FINALLY got to ride the school bus. This is something that Jackson has been wanting to do since the day he was born I think. Ever since he could communicate he has always made it clear that the school bus was probably the greatest thing on earth. Right next to Star Wars and spaghetti. Well it did not disappoint...he loved it. Yelling "bye Mr. Bus Driver" and running into my very happy arms.