Brendan's Big Day!

Today marked Brendan's official first day of school.

We started the day early in order to catch his 7:05AM bus. He woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to begin the day.
Halle wasn't quite as spunky at first...
Nor was Chance...
While Cary got the other two kids up and ready to roll, I gave Brendan his breakfast. He ate like a champ, grabbed his shoes and backpack, and was ready to go long before the allotted time. We packed his backpack, picked out his snack, and had everything set out and ready to go the night before, so we had little more to do then simply walk out the door by 6:59 sharp.
A couple quick snapshots before we headed down the driveway to wait for the bus...

(yeah, I know, could we have picked a bigger backpack?!? The teacher's instruction was to choose a large backpack - so we did!)
We set out down the driveway to wait for the bus...
A precisely 7AM (5 minutes early!) the bus arrives and a very excited Brendan hops on board!
Away they go!
I dropped off the other two at daycare, then Cary and I met up at the school to greet Brendan as he got off the bus and headed for his Kindergarten classroom. Check out the expression on his face and his goofy pose - this shot is TOTAL Brendan - he couldn't contain his excitement!

He got into his room and found his cubby right away...
And after placing his backpack in his cubby, he went exploring...


He seemed a little bit nervous at first, and came over and talked to us for a few minutes as though comforted by us being there. After a few minutes, however, he grabbed a few cars and was right at home. His teacher seems to be a wonderful lady that loves her job and will help Brendan to have a wonderful year!

After school got over Brendan got onto a different bus and was supposed to be dropped off at the bank in which I work. I asked one of the other moms what time the bus usually dropped the kids off at the bank and she said she thought it was around 3:30 or 3:35. Around 3:17 I was on the phone with a customer and suddenly noticed the other two boys that usually come to the bank after school walk into the lobby. No Brendan. I walked into the lobby and after talking to one of the boys discovered that while Brendan had gotten on the correct bus, he hadn't gotten off at the correct place! I immediately called the bus garage and they radioed the bus driver who turned around and brought Brendan back to me. Thankfully, he arrived safe and sound, about 10 minutes late. Nothing like a bit of "first day" excitement to liven the place up! :)

Once he arrived at the correct place he was very excited to share with me the details of the bus ride - "Mom, did you know it takes 10 hours to get to school??!! We just keep turning and turning and stopping and stopping!" - and his excitement of the day - "Mom! Guess what? I got to chooooooose what kind of milk I wanted for lunch today! I chose chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!" Not to mention - "Mom, there are papers in my bag that you need to fill out so I can get a sticker. I need to take them back to school by Friday, but you better get them done tonight so we don't forget."

What a day! :)