Here we go...

our life is changing...the Clayton Crew is starting a new adventure...and while we may be a little emotional...we are more excited than anything...that our favorite oldest son, Kason, aka...big K...started kindergarten today!

 While we had a little hiccup trying to wake up "during the night" as Kason thought since it was still dark, he finally had a good stretch to wake him up, roll out of bed, and head downstairs for his first day of school breakfast consisting of one of his favorites...

 homemade Banana Nut Bread. Now, I'm going to confess something top secret for the Clayton Casa...we are night owls...not early risers. Oh my friends, we like to wake up with the kids which is usually around 7:45-8:00 in the week and around 9:00 on the weekend...so this getting up before the sun might be more of a challenge for this momma than her son :). Thankfully all the kids were super cheerful once they got out of bed and had a few munchies. I mean, can you even tell that Kason was slightly excited...hehehe?

 This silly goose even had Zoe hamming it up before we hit the road!

Even our sweet Mr. Max couldn't contain his excitement for his big brother :)...

Daniel and I could not be more proud of these three munchkins.

Especially our oldest one who was strong and courageous today as he walked into his first day...

I must share with you that Kason was so proud to pick out all of his own school supplies, including his backpack, lunchbox, and first day of school shirt. He was incredibly pumped that Max was going to school with him too that he wanted them to be matching...isn't that too precious?!?

Of course my pottery barn kids and cute, preppy clothing days are almost over with this little man because he is all about the "sports" these days as you can see. I think one of the cutest moments this morning was after Kason nervously walked through the building, clutching my hand tightly as his anxiety was building, he walked into the classroom where he found out he had a locker to store his supplies for the day...

He looked at me with big, round eyes and a huge smile saying, "Is this my very own locker?" That right there pretty much sealed the deal that this was the most awesome school ever and he was absolutely going to stay if he got his very own locker :). After stowing everything away, he found his name and went right to work! Daniel, Max, Zoe, and I had to go sneak a hug and practically force a goodbye out of him before we left.

I think the second funniest moment of the day was when we got back in the car and drove off I looked back to see Zoe frowning. She looked right at me and said, "Where Bubba?" I don't think she was very happy we left her best friend and he wasn't coming with us! No worries though, I arranged for some of my other kindergarten mommy friends to come over, drink coffee, eat breakfast goodies, and let our littlest ones play while we encouraged one another to keep our heads up!

I have to agree with all my friends, when your child is so joyous and ecstatic over a new adventure in their life...you can't help but allow their infectious spirit to take over. There was no way I could have been upset or sad to leave this little man when he was beaming from ear to ear...

 so proud and anxious to conquer school all by himself!

 I will confess though that the day felt a little strange without having my helper around...especially having a nap time all to myself! At one point while I was making him homemade brownies for his after school snack, I got a little down that I didn't have my cooking partner with me to help measure and that there was no one there to lick the spoon. But to see Kason come bouncing out of the school and high five us when he got in the car telling us how "awesome" school was...there isn't much more that can make this momma heart smile.

So Daniel and I relished our time with him as we sat around the table, eating our back to school brownies, and sharing what all his school day entailed. We laughed our heads off when he said, "So, do I wake up in the night again and go tomorrow morning? And then the next morning? And then the next morning? And then the next morning?" Hahahaha...he can't seem to wrap his head around going everyday, but is already itching to go back. He can hardly wait to go see his new friend Brayden...he can't wait to eat in the cafeteria where you can "actually buy lunches when you forget your lunchbox" (and can he maybe forget his lunchbox one day!)...he can't wait to go check out even more library books after already reading his this afternoon...and he seriously can't wait to have two recesses again tomorrow on top of PE...I mean, these are important priorities to a 5 year old boy :). As for this momma, I can't wait to see him grow and flourish through this 2014-2015 school year...bring it on kindergarten!