35th Day of School

Today was the 35th day of school, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from the first day - HA!!  

Tino sure loves to scrunch up his nose in almost every picture I take!

I thought it was funny how all my kids chose the same color palette of grays, blues and yellows for their first day outfits!

Last year Taylor was going to school at 8, Zach at 9, Tanner at 9:30 (twice a week) and Mason at 12:15.  Mornings were pretty relaxed and it was nice to be able to concentrate on getting one child off to school at a time. This year....not so much!  Mornings this year are hectic and noisy.  I am SOOOO not a morning person!!  Zach and Mason have to be walking out the door by 7:40.  Even though Taylor's start time isn't until 9, they've moved all the extracurricular activities to BEFORE school - so 3 mornings a week she leaves at 7:40 with the boys.  That means a real early wake up time for all of us that we're not used to.  I'm proud of my kids though - for the most part they get up and get ready by themselves (with the exception of hair and the occasional need for me to step in and save one of them from committing a fashion faux pas!)

There have been some definite perks to these earlier mornings though that I'm loving:

• Waking up so early = more afternoon naps for Tanner
• Andrew has been driving the kids to school almost every morning
• With hubby and 3 kids gone by 7:45 most days, I'm getting an earlier start to my day (and sometimes sneak in a morning nap)
• Kids are actually worn out and tired come 8:30 bedtime
• Getting up for 9am church every week is no longer a hassle

I think the early wake up time is starting to take it's toll on Mason though - just the other day he asked if he could stay home from school the following day because he wanted to sleep in!