First Day of Preschool & Mother's Day Out/Back-to-school Traditions

Last week was a BIG week at our Mimi & PopPop's house!! Caroline had her FIRST day of PRESCHOOL and Matthew had his first day of Mother's Day Out. I was so inspired by this post on Kelly's Korner (love her BTW!) and by my newest obsession that I decided to start some back-to-school traditions for Caroline (and eventually Matthew once he starts preschool). The first tradition we began was a mommy/daughter date the day before school started. Caroline picked the date...she wanted to get a slurpee and go to the park. I thought that was a great idea!
Heading out for some fun...just the two of us!

 She is definitely my daughter...she picked wild cherry which is my favorite too

 Park time!

 "Ladies and Gentlemen..."

 The night before school, we gave Caroline and Matthew their baths then read two of our new favorite books: this one and this one. After our reading time, we had a family prayer for Caroline, her new teachers and her classmates. Then it was time for bed and many sweet dreams of preschool.
Backpack, napmat, lunchbox...check! A big bag for Matthew packed with too much stuff...check!

 Caroline requested PopPop's special pancakes for breakfast and he was nice enough to make them for the kiddos. (one of the perks about living with the grandparents)
Matthew inhaled them as he does most food :-)

 SO happy about PopPop's pancakes!!

 The traditional picture in front of the door...can't wait to have our own front door next year! (please excuse that crazy lady's reflection in the glass)

 Bubs' turn!!

 Signing "more" but I don't know what he wanted...

 Clapping for Daddy

 Trying to get away...

 ...not successful

 My best attempt at the two of them. Why do I bother??

 Finding her star:

Matthew with sweet Mrs. Dina:

All smiles+lots of excitement=a successful drop-off with no tears!!

The first drop-off of the year is always kind of sad for me. Not hysterically crying sad or anything (although there is nothing wrong with that :-)...just a pit-in-my-stomach general sadness because my kids are growing up SO fast. Each new "school year" is always a big reminder of that and it's hard. But all I have to do to feel better is ask Matt, after we've just dropped the kids off, "aren't you so sad?" Matt's response? "Nope, we'll see them again in a few hours!" Um, oh yeah.

When we picked the kids up, Caroline's teachers said she did great!! Matthew did okay but had a hard time adjusting to the new nap schedule at Mother's Day Out. The boy likes his schedule and he likes his sleep. He'll get it and, luckily, he's just going one day/week so I can do some private speech therapy for a few hours/week.

We came home from school and had a low-key afternoon while Matthew caught up on his sleep. One last tradition we'll do every year...pizza for supper! Nothing fancy but it's Caroline's favorite food, and I figured the first day of school will always be too busy to cook a meal. So pizza it is!

And a back-to-school cake. Please don't make fun of me. I'm not a baker and this is what happens when I try. But I'm committed to getting better and next year I might even attempt this (gasp). Kate, I'm gonna need some help!!!

I can't believe I'm about to post this picture on the world wide web but in the interest of keeping it real...here 'tis (I ran out of room...it was supposed to say "Happy 1st Day of Preschool). Good thing Caroline can't read ;-)