How do you eat an Elephant?/ First day of School

So we're in our new place and starting to settle in to our new routine.

Technical difficulties now resolved I am ready to get back to regular blogging.

Get this:

Between tonight and last night we downloaded 1470 pictures off of our camera and on to our computer. Cool eh?

No. Not really.

It means a lot of sifting through and organizing and deciding what absolutely cannot be lost in the history of our lives and what I can bear to part with since there is no way in heck I have the time to sit down and get it ALL out there.

Goal:

One post a night until I am caught up. Caught up being defined as: I have posted everything that I just can't bear not to have posted, intermixed with posts about things happening currently so that I never get this far behind again... EVER.

Reward:

Ummm... a trip to Utah?

Not likely.

I'll settle for a pat on the back from anyone who cares to give it to me.

First item of business on the blog:

My first baby has started preschool.

He didn't go last year at age three but we really wanted him to go this year.

On his first day he was... in a word... adorable.

Please don't tell him I said so.

He was ever so serious. Didn't even crack a smile.

I think he could sense what a momentous occasion it was.

I of course wanted a picture of him before we left... wearing his signature color and sporting his new winter boots (chosen by himself of course... I voted for sketchers), and Grampa's old watch.

I asked him in a really peppy voice to smile and say "First day of school!" He looked up at me, took one slight step forward, and said it in the most important voice I had ever heard come out of him. Not a hint of silliness did I detect. He wasn't even like trying to get a smile under control as in other situations. He really was just dead serious.

I really had to coax it out of him to lighten up a bit. This was the best I got:

Then there was poor Alaster. After I took Jack's pictures he said "A Too!" (me too!) So I said "K Aly... say first day of school!" You can kind of see his lips trying to say school:

Pretty cute. He was not so thrilled that Jack gets to do this and he doesn't. I still don't think he understands why. He just doesn't put up a fight about it anymore. The only true tantrum he has thrown his whole life happened after the meet-n-greet the school held the week before classes started. When it was time to go he really lost it. Bad.

One more shot. I told Jack we should write his name on his backpack. I wrote Jack B. first on the front and he wanted to write it on the back. He didn't just write Jack though. He wrote "Jack Edward Robert Burton." I had to help with the spelling of the middles and last name, but he did it.

Oh how I love that Jack.

I was such the stereotypical mother that first morning. He had absolutely no problems leaving me and even though I was so happy for him and so proud of him I was fighting back the tears the entire drive home. This year it's just 3 hours 3 times a week, but NEXT year it's 5 days a week for ... like... the whole dang day. The beginning of the end... 13 short years after that, and he'll possibly be gone for good. It's just knowing that the having him home with me all day phase is coming to a close. It really hurts.

And on that depressing note I finish my post.

See you tomorrow!