New semester

I went about eight years with semesters being meaningless to me. Once William started school in the fall of 2010, life fell right back into the familiar rhythm of semesters and breaks. Late August/early September was a busy time for me last year. I had already been a member of my MOPS group for three years and on the leadership team for two, but last summer/fall was when my new position as co-coordinator kicked into high gear. That job pushes me out of my comfort zone quite often, but at the same time, it feels great to get back to "work" in a way. All this is to set up the fact that I was doing a lot of MOPS stuff in September, including practicing a silly "synchronized swimming" dance at home. (The steering team performed it at the first meeting of the year - it was a good way to break the ice and show that we are there to have fun.) Anyway, William and Ryan loved watching me practice, and it didn't take long before William caught on and could perform most of the dance on his own.

Here's where the song says "I'm diving in!"

We had people holding up blue tarps to represent water. We stuck our legs up in the air and did synchronized swimming moves (scissor kicks, etc.). Here he is about to start a series of kicks with his legs in the air. 

This must have been when we were walking into the room to get started. Look at that concentration! 

William started in the Preschool 3's class this year. Talk about an old pro. He knew a lot of the kids in his class, including his great buddy and neighbor Jackson. Not to mention the same lead teacher he has now had for three years! The first day of school was a piece of cake for all of us. 

Sweet brothers! 

The boys love this bench. We must have gotten to school a little early, so we had time to sit and people-watch. 

I just threw my camera up and took one picture as he walked in on his first day. I didn't want to get that exasperated, "Mooooom!" look just yet.

We decided not to put Ryan in school this year for a variety of reasons. One being to save money, and also because he really didn't need school at that age quite like William did. William had a tough time adjusting to school and did a lot of crying at drop-off that first month. It made me so glad we put him in school (not to mention the fact that baby brother would be coming two months later.) Fast forward to December 2012. I substituted one day, and Ryan went to school for his first day ever. He did not bat an eye. The teacher said you couldn't tell him apart from the other kids who had been attending all semester. In some ways it made me feel bad that he hasn't gotten to experience school yet because he would love it. But it also reassured me that he will do great next fall. He gets way more social interaction that William did at this age. I have really enjoyed having some time with just Ryan. He goes with the flow so well no matter what we do, which makes it easy. 

We went to library storytime on William's first day of school. What a cool dude.

Storytime was a little awkward...I can't lie. There was only one other kid there with her dad, and we still sang all the silly kid songs. Ryan was a perfect angel at his first storytime though. 

A retractable seat belt - hilarious, right?