And He's Off!

As August wrapped up today we kicked off a new preschool year with quite a bit of gusto at Casa Marx. But please head my warning -- do not ask Hayden how he liked his 1st day of school should you have the chance to dialogue about this adventure. He will quickly and firmly remind you that this was NOT his first day of school. That was last year folks -- keep up! This was his first day in Miss Amanda's class.

Miss Amanda came over for a visit a few weeks ago. I was thrilled to see that she and Hayden hit it off. This was lovely to me as a Mama who wants to see her son treasured and as a former teacher who knows how much easier it is to enlighten a student who is enchanted by you at least an itsy bit. Last week Michael and I had the chance to attend parent orientation and Daddy got to meet the new teacher in our lives. We are excited that she is a former kindergartern teacher which gives her a fabulous frame of reference for where Team Marx needs to be this time next year. The next morning, Hayden & his weekday peeps (that would be Bailey and Mama) hustled over to student orientation to take a peek at his new classroom and meet a few classmates. Here's a shot of H with Miss Amanda.

Finally the big day was here. The book bag was packed and ready 24 hours in advance. After much pondering I had a comfy yet boyishly stylish ensemble selected for the first day and it's accompanying photo ops.

And then Hayden happened. To say he was excited would be an understatement. One would think there were stockings involved in this shindig given the heightened state of exhuberance that this "non-first day" created. Silly Mommy took the time to set an alarm to be certain none of us overslept. But somehow at 7:00am we were awakened by our first born. This clever creature who has spent the better part of summer vacation striving for a pajamas only existence showed up for morning snuggles fully dressed -- in clothes of his own choosing. If that trend keeps up we are going to be obligated to hunt up some Garanimals (remember those?). Check out our very own Glamour Don't...

In case the pic isn't clear that is a hand-me-down Cars T-shirt and orange paisley board shorts. Nice combo dude! I half heartedly offered up my outfit of choice but was secretly happy when he stuck to his guns and said he was just fine in the clothes that were already on. Despite the visually jarring combination, it is rather endearing that he was so very motivated to get to school.

He chose Mighty Bites cereal for breakfast. During his second helping Hayden carefully explained to me that he needed to eat lots of Mighty Bites to keep his muscles strong in case he needed to lift anything heavy at school. It made me think of Popeye cartoons from when I was growing up and the superpowers that spinach seemed to instill in that nautical hero.

After a few pics, we headed off to school in the Grocery Getter with Daddy following behind. Bailey was ecstatic to see Daddy when we pulled into the parking lot. Once our motley crew ambled inside and got settled, Hayden slipped right back into his routine and got started signing himself in.

Admittedly this is quite a collection of instersecting lines but I must go on record at being impressed with his ability to make it fairly recognizable while still keeping all of the letters in the space allotted. I'll have to remember to take a pic of his last sign in before graduation (sniff, sniff) so that we can compare things at the end of the year.

We topped off the day with a back to school family dinner at Red Robin which was great fun. We can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead!