Cole's First Day of School

Cole started school on Tuesday. He was not even a little apprehensive, and happily posed for pictures for me before leaving the house. And since Chase was now over his first day jitters, he posed for a few pictures with Cole too.
Their school allows the older siblings to walk the younger ones to their classes, so Chase brought Cole to his building before going to his own. The teacher who got them out of the car grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of them walking into school for me.
Cole seems to have had a great first day, and was excited to go back again this morning. Here are a few pictures of them:

Secure in his Manliness

We were very fortunate that Cole's teacher this summer at summer camp was his Aunt Celeste. We never missed any important events or milestones, because Aunt Celeste always has her cell phone camera with her. Important events like this one:



Charles attempted to get her to destroy the pictures, but she sent them to me anyway. I'm pretty sure I can use them when Cole's a teenager.
I like this next one. Looks like he's checking out the other outfit and thinking "Mine is so much classier."

I was a little worried what he'd say when I asked him yesterday what he'd like to be for Halloween, thinking his dad would have a stroke if he said "Cinderella," but he has decided to be a dinosaur. That sounds more like my Cole. It was nice to have a daughter, if only for a little while...

Chase's First Day of 1st Grade

Yesterday was Chase's first day of first grade and first day at his new school. He was excited, but nervous too. I bought him an alarm clock, and he was pretty pumped about that. He hopped out of bed as soon as the alarm went off and couldn't wait to put on his uniform. This uniform excitement was a big deal considering how upset he was the day we bought the uniforms. He had been excited about going to get his uniforms, then when we got to the store, he saw the uniforms for another private school and liked theirs better, and became absolutely convinced that his life would be ruined if he had to wear the other uniform. He was just beside himself the whole time in the store, and swore that he'd never wear that uniform, until they put the school logo on his uniform shirt and he realized the patch was kind of fuzzy, then he was in love. He was disappointed again when we went to the shoe store and he found out that he could only wear certain shoes with his uniform. It was a VERY long shopping day. Anyway, I'm thrilled beyond measure that he now is anxious to put on his uniform.
So on the first day of school I, of course, insisted on a little photo session. I got lots of foggy pictures (too humid outside) of him scowling at me for making him pose for pictures. I did snap one of him and Cole (Cole's still in his pj's because he doesn't start until next week). Cole wasn't too interested in the fact that Chase was leaving (he just wanted us gone so he'd have Nana's undivided attention) until Chase was almost out the door, then he went running after him for a hug.

I'm going to try to take more pictures next week on Cole's first day. Maybe I'll leave my camera outside overnight so the lens won't be fogged up by morning.

When I picked Chase up in the afternoon, he was exhausted. He's never spent a full day sitting at a table before, and he looked a little disgruntled about that, the fact that it rained and they couldn't go out for recess, and the fact that he had homework. His second day went a little better. He's still exhausted at the end of the day, but at least he got to play outside, go to PE, and the snack shop was open. Hey, he's got priorities...