Parents to a Kindergartner

Riley's first day went better than could be expected. Our little girl woke up at 6 with a tummy ache, which I'm attributing to first-day-of-school jitters. She had a difficult time falling back asleep, so I took the opportunity to spend some cuddle time with her. We both fell back asleep and slept until Phil woke us up to make breakfast. He took the day off so he could see his little girl off for her first official day of school.

We let Riley choose the breakfast of choice, and since Phil was home, he's the master of delicious breakfasts. Me, I'm not so into the homemade breakfasts for some reason. Oh but I will eat them! Anyway, Riley chose chocolate chip pancakes, which were wonderful. She got dressed in her outfit she chose the day before, and I pulled out her lunch that we had both made the night before.

And to continue a tradition that my parents began, I took these pictures of Riley:

Riley, ready to head off to kindergarten.

I still can't believe she's old enough for this.

To compare, this was me oh so many years ago!

Me, ready for kindergarten, standing in front of my parents' house in 1981.

She walked down to the bus with her neighbor friend Lorelei and her family. Lorelei is a first grader this year, so she informed Riley about what she should expect on the bus. Additionally, all the other grades except for kindergarten started school the day before, so Lorelei let Riley know that they have a new bus driver this year.

Standing at the bus stop with the other grade schoolers.

Lorelei's brother, Hayden, and Jeremy point out the bus.

Riley and Lorelei pose for the camera while Jeremy gawks at the bus.

Once the bus arrived, Riley was beyond excited. She couldn't wait. There are about 5-7 kids at our bus stop, and the bus driver took her time to talk to the kids and get everyone situated. We're the first stop on the route, and the kindergartners sit up front, followed by the first graders and second graders in the back. She boarded the bus, gave us a wave, and before I knew it she was off.

Riley boards the bus, ready for kindergarten.

And that's when I started to cry. My little girl. Gone for the entire day. Lorelei's mom saw me crying, and she started to cry a little bit. I gathered myself together, went home, and enjoyed the time with my boys. We ran errands together, to which Phil commented that this was probably the first time it had just been the three of us in the car.

After lunch, the boys played some golf, and then J and I took a little bit of a nap. We had to wake Jeremy up to get Riley from the bus, so I'm going to have to adjust his napping time in the future.

The boys golfing. Jeremy waits for Phil to tee off, so they can do it together.

Phil admires his shot while Jeremy sees
if his golf ball went further.

We met Riley at the bus stop, and she greeted us by showing off a cheesy grin from the window. She bounded off the bus and went right for Dad's umbrella, since the weather wasn't cooperating. She told us all about her day, beginning with the "I'm SO hungry!" comment. The problem I have is that she doesn't have lunch until 12:45 with a snack at 3:15, which is an hour before she arrives home. Why the school couldn't have snack in the morning is beyond me.

Anyway, Riley talked about her gym teacher ("Mom, his name is Mr. Handsome!" Which it's not--it's Mr. Hanson!), about how she almost ate all her lunch (she only had half a piece of apple remaining), and how she had quiet time. I thought for sure she'd clam up and not want to tell us about her day, but I'm glad she did. She was actually a little sad she had to wait two days to go back. And honestly, who decides to have kids start school on a Friday?! Just tack an additional day to the end of the year if you need the extra day.

We capped off the day with a get-together with the neighbors and their kids at our house. The parents enjoyed some refreshments and the kids wore themselves out. Our kids actually stayed up until 11:15, which, I think is the latest they've ever stayed up! Now to get them back on schedule for the first full week of school!