1st Day of School...2012

Today Jantzen and Jaron had their first day of school. They were both excited and not so excited for this day to come. They didn't want their summer fun (mostly sleeping in) to end, but they wanted to see all of their school friends again.

This year is going to be a little more chaotic in the mornings because their schools start a lot earlier this year than they did last year and they're at different schools this year. Jantzen is starting 2nd grade and his school day starts at 7:25am...stupid, I know! I've been complaining about it and trying to get it changed all summer with little success. He was supposed to start at 7:05am, but they pushed it back, not by much, because a lot of parents were complaining. Can you blame us?!?! Last year they started school at 8:55am, so this is a drastic change for the kids, plus there are high schools in our area that don't start until 9am, so I think it's a little ridiculous to make the elementary age kids start as early as they are! Okay, enough of my ranting now.

Jaron's school starts at 8:05am and I got a zone variance for him to go to a school (a much better one than he's zoned for) that's farther away from our house, so trying to figure out how to get both of them up, ready, and out the door in the mornings to be to school on time has given me a little bit of stress! Luckily for me, the first couple days of school it's easy for me to get the boys out the door. It's that excitement of seeing your friends and meeting new ones that makes them wake up earlier than their alarm.

After the boys got all ready for school (they even got their beds made...yay!!) I got some quick "1st day of school" photos before we headed out.

I think my boys looked very handsome for their first day. They always have to pose on this rock in front of our house...they're ready to go!

  Both of the boys got new backpacks this year. Jantzen chose another "Mario" one, of course...      Jaron chose a black backpack, of course, and it's almost as big as he is, especially with all his school books in it! Jaron also has a uniform dress code this year. I'm not an advocate for uniforms in public schools, but most of the middle schools here have a uniform dress code, so there's really no getting around it. Luckily for Jaron, the school he goes to doesn't have a super strict dress code. He can wear any solid colored shirt, so it's not too bad, I guess.     Here's my big "Tartan Tiger" all ready for his first day of 2nd grade...     ...and my big "Cram Wildcat" all ready for his first day of 6th grade...      We all got loaded up in the car and headed to Jantzen's school to do a quick drop off. As I was walking him to his class line, I made him pose for another picture. I'm not sure what this face was all about, but it sure made me laugh!      Jantzen went in with his class and then I rushed back to the car to drive Jaron to his school. When we got there, his cousin Kennedy was waiting for him. I wanted to get a picture of the two of them, but I was strictly instructed that I was NOT allowed to get out of the car to take the picture. Instead, I had to take one from the drivers seat. I'm really going to miss being able to embarrass Jaron at school this year.      After school both the boys told me they had a good day. Jantzen has one of the new teachers at the school and he really likes her, plus he has one of his best friends in his class this year, so that helped make it a good day. Jaron got the elective class that he wanted...guitar, so he was really happy. I thought it was weird, but he didn't get his class schedule until today, so he had no idea what classes he was going to have. He does have four accelerated classes this year, so I told him he's going to have to work extra hard.    As a family tradition, we have pizza for dinner on the first day of school. This year we went over to Nena's house to eat with her family. As always, the kids really enjoyed it, even Sadie with her third eye!    **Check out the weird guy (Josh) in the background flexing...he's such a nerd!      I'm happy that my boys had a fun first day of school, I hope they continue to enjoy it as the year goes on. It's going to be a crazy year with them being at two different schools, but I think I can do it. Luckily for me, a friend of mine offered to pick Jantzen up for me in the morning (since it's hectic for me) and I will pick up her Jansen after school (when her youngest is napping) to help make it a little easier on both of us for the rest of the school year. We'll see how things go.    Good luck at school this year boys, I know you'll do great!