School Days

I have to say that I was looking forward to the first day of school.  Nearly six weeks of being cooped up inside and around the house was pretty boring for Boy O, resulting in more than the usual picking at his brother and fighting over the silliest of things.  Boy O was incredibly excited for his first day of first grade.  Here he is posing with Baby O who was proud to dress himself that morning-can you tell? 

New school, new teacher and a whole new routine.  At his old school, we lived just a few houses down from the school and I walked him to and from school every day while he would wistfully look at the kids getting off the bus or being dropped off by car.  Now he gets the best of both worlds-Daddy O drops him off in the morning and he gets to ride the bus home all by himself!  I have never seen him smile so big as when he got off that bus the first day to tell me about it.  Unfortunately that picture didn't turn out so great, but I certainly managed to embarrass him plenty.

First grade seems to be going well.  I was so involved with Kindergarten last year that I was a little bit nervous the first week not really knowing what was going on, but now that we are into the third week of school and a sort of parent orientation has taken place in addition to several conversations with his teacher, I feel much, much better.  Most importantly, he's loving it.

WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY, THE MICE WILL PLAY
We still do fun stuff when Boy O is around, but we can't just sit around all day...so we decided to pack up, play some tennis, walk, ride scooters and feed the ducks yesterday.  Newbie O seems to enjoy all the activity.  She's all smiles now.

When we have these outings, I am reminded of this post from years past.  Doing any type of prolonged activity with Baby O, I still have to remind myself to smell the roses.  Enjoy the journey and don't worry so much about the destination.

Tennis does not last too long.  Maybe ten minutes or so.  Then it's off to riding his scooter.  You might think that he's far away and I should call him to come back to the stroller, but I know better.

There are too many distractions, like trees to climb...

...pebbles to examine....

 ...tarantula exoskeletons...yes, we live in Texas and they are so cool!...

...a better view...

 ...feed the ducks...Baby O would rather eat the bread himself...

...check on his new sister...

... and by the time we get home, both kids are ready for naps.  Newbie O is a fighter though-she much prefers to hold on as long as possible.  I think she's just taking a lesson from her big brother and trying to smell the roses for as long as she can.