first day of first grade

today was hayden's first day of first grade!!! i thought for sure that i would be sad to see him gone all day, but after a full summer with the boys at each other most days, i was more than happy to see him off for the day!
i actually did get a bit sad when i was packing him his lunch last nite though. last year i never got very sentimental about it, maybe because he'd been going to school since he was 3 and even took the bus to preschool the year before. so kindergarten just didn't seem any different than preschool. but while packing his lunch, i started feeling the way i felt when a new school year was beginning. school has really started for him. he's in the big leagues now.
unfortunately for him, erwin orchards started picking their honey crisp apples today so he wasn't able to go. we actually didn't even tell him we were going to do that just to make sure there wasn't a full day of him at school complaining that he wanted to go pick apples!
so this morning at about 8:15 or so, mom came over so she could take some pictures and see hayden off to school with us. he was in a great mood this morning until dave was messing around with him and he turned his switch. he then became grumpy and difficult until right when the bus was coming when he actually asked for his picture to be taken.
he hopped on the bus, waved goodbye and headed off for a full day of school.
once he was gone, we all headed to mom's house (well, dave headed to work) and then we all went to erwin's to pick some apples. at about 3:45, i drove home to pick up hayden from the bus and then drove him back to mom and dad's so we could all have mom's apple pancake dinner.
when the bus pulled up, the bus driver looked out and said "we're just waking everybody up from their naps!" and hayden slowly stumbled down the steps with a big smile on his face. apparently he was OUT and he had no idea he was at home.
hayden said he had a great day at school, and just as i figured, he didn't really eat anything for lunch except for his batman fruit snacks. he did eat a pretty good dinner though!
so...so far, first grade is treating him pretty well. he was able to stay "in the school zone" (the behavioral light changing system starts in the school zone then gets moved to green, yellow and then red) even though "i did some bad things, but they didn't change my light!" ahhh, that's our hayden.





dave wanted to have his picture taken with hayden which is what sent hayden into his grumpy mood for the next 1/2 hour:
he was thrilled that i was still taking pictures:


the bus is coming! the bus is coming!:

off to his first full day of school:

after getting home from his first day of school. i couldn't take a picture of him getting off the bus because he was so groggy i had to help him down. so this is what i got:

first grade orientation

labor day was pretty late this year so the school year got started later than normal for most kids. but for hayden's school, it is starting even later than most other kids in michigan. most kids went back to school the day after labor day, but hayden still hasn't even started yet!
this afternoon we went to hayden's school for his first grade orientation. we were able to meet his teacher, mrs. taurence, went on a little scavenger hunt in his classroom, learned a bit about what he would be doing this year, colored, took a tour of the building and then made a skunk magnet (as he is in the skunk room this year).
his teacher seems really nice and he is so excited to have his own desk that he is able to put all of his school supplies in. he is in the same school as last year, macgowan, as it is redford union's kindergarten and first grade school.
tomorrow is hayden's first day of school. it starts at 9am and ends at 4pm. so he'll be leaving our house around 8:45am and he won't get home until after 4:30pm!!! he says he is ready for a full day of school and is excited to eat lunch at school. i'm guessing he won't be eating much lunch during the school year as he'll be too busy trying to entertain his classmates!

hayden's desk:

mrs. taurence's first grade classroom: