Cute little schoolboys

 School started for Clyde and Will this week, which means I somehow have a kindergartener AND a second grader:

Gosh, I love their little faces!

This also means every other day I have an only child:

With an equally cute [if slightly more foreboding...] face!

Pictures by the tree before we left for school:

Clyde and Will were both so, so psyched for school to start. Clyde has Mr. Eilers and I think he's going to have a splendid year. Will's teacher is Mrs. Keene and she seems like an excellent fit for him. Chuck and I are planning on spending a lot of time in the boys' classrooms this year (Chuck already helped out in Will's yesterday for a bit) and we look forward to getting to know both teachers better.

Last shots before they headed in to school; Clyde hid his slight impatience with me pretty well:

Kindergarten is full day (every other day) but they eased the kids in by starting with just a half day and inviting parents to eat lunch with them. Or maybe the purpose was easing the parents... worked for me! (Although I still had to blink back tears when we left the cafeteria and he turned left and I turned right. I'm a lightweight.)

Jack and I used our two hours of 'mommy and me' time to make a Savers run (I really think Jack is going to enjoy this only child thing, haha) and then headed back to the school to reclaim our sweet boys.

Posing in front of the school while everyone and their mom drove by in the pick-up lane might not have been the ideal spot for my distraction-prone children...

but this one works for me!

I'm so grateful for the public school system and the boys' elementary school in particular. It's no secret that the Nampa School District is having a pretty rough go of it financially, but the teachers and staff at Park Ridge are so friendly and positive and work so hard to ensure that the kids stay as unaffected as possible. Clyde had such a terrific year in first grade there, and I credit his lovely teachers (both in his classroom and in library, P.E., etc) for so much of his success. 

Chuck and I were discussing this yesterday; we might be a bit biased as children of elementary school teachers, but we both have so much respect and admiration for teachers. They're charged with an incredible task of being mothers/fathers/disciplinarians/guidance counselors/miracle workers/cheerleaders, all the while teaching a variety of subjects and skills to kids at varying levels of preparedness to understand and learn those subjects and skills. And they have to do this while parents and administrators and politicians look over their shoulder and hold bonuses and job security over their heads! Ridiculous!

Whew, sorry about that :). My point was that we love school and teachers and buying new boxes of crayons, so we couldn't be more thrilled that school has started up again!