Wow, what a week it’s been! Time seems to move faster and faster and now all of a sudden – poof – our first born begins Kindergarten. Man, I’m not ready for this. I remember back to the day he first started pre-school at age 2 1/2. Now, here we are 3 years later, and I can hardly believe it. Griffin is more than ready for it – me, not so much!
And then Facebook and Google show me these photos from years past and it gives me all the tears! Look at our sweet baby – I remember the day this photo was taken. And the next photo when he was such a big boy as he began sitting in a high chair. Whew, now he’s riding a bus!We began the week on Monday with his Elementary Open House. Upon arriving at school we found his classroom and got to check out his new space. We found his name on the table he would be sitting at and met a couple of his new classmates (Mason and Jackson). We found his school supply kit (I did the convenient pre-order through the PTO) and unpacked all of his supplies into the various bins and organizers. We spent some time walking around his room and finding where he puts his folder each day, his book bag and coat, lunch bag, and so on. We were in his room for a long enough time that we barely had time to find where the bus arrives and how he gets to his classroom from the bus drop off! Five o-clock came quickly and we had to rush out of there to get home and changed in order to get to swim lessons! Sadly, we missed the popsicles on the playground – so instead we had a sweet treat at home later that night.  On Tuesday night, the eve of Kindergarten, I created Finn’s yearly first day of school sign. Nothing spectacular, but a sign to record all the details of the year :).  We surprised Finn with a scrumptious breakfast for his first day. Daddy made Tiger paw pancakes and Griffin had the biggest one! We headed out a bit early before the bus to get our annual first day of school photos. Jim and Pat spent the night as they’d been helping with the kids the past couple days so thankfully they were able to take some family photos. Griffin looks so excited and SO grown up. I still just can’t believe it.  Our driveway has always been the bus stop for elementary, middle, and high school bus runs. We love it! Cooper, Cole, and Abbie got to hang out for a short bit and we snapped some group photos of all the kiddos. Seems hard to believe these kids have been best pals for the last 3 years. They have assigned seats on the bus and Griffin and Cole sit right behind the bus driver, Mrs. B, whom by the way seems awesome! Getting on the bus we tried to get Griffin’s attention but he was so intent and focused he didn’t even turn around! I snapped a pic once he got on his seat – he had a rather unsure look on his face. But by the time the bus went down the street and came back through to leave the neighborhood we could see a slightly happier face through the window (at least for Cole, who was sticking his tongue out!).
Kevin ran an errand after the bus left and swung by the school so he capture the first day of school sign 🙂 We were both able to be home to get him off the bus – and he was SO EXCITED! He got off the bus and was so happy to see Reid and tell us that he loved school! We went inside and he scarfed down a snack of pretzels with nutella and his celebratory School Bus cookie. He brought home some coloring pages, artwork, and a booklet about his first day of school – where he chose the “excited” emotion to express how he felt about his first day. We figured since it was early and we were all home we’d go out to Griffin’s favorite place to celebrate his milestone day so off to Rooster’s we went.  Since we are in between caregivers again, we’ve been enlisting the help of both of our parents, which we are super thankful for! On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein arrived in time to spend a short bit with us in the morning before Griffin got on the bus. He was excited that he got to see both sets of grandparents this week and that everyone got to see him get on the bus.  Here are a couple of pictures Mom texted to me from their day home with Reid. It is SO quiet during the day with just Reid around. He babbles some but isn’t yet talking, and when he’s taking a nap it’s super peaceful around here! And a bit strange.  And before long it was the end of day 2 of Kindergarten! Since Reid has just begun walking he enjoys having reign outside while we all wait for Griffin to arrive.  I snapped this shot off Facebook which details the enrollment for Olentangy for the 2018-2019 school year. It will be fun to see how this compares to when Griffin is in High School (which is currently the largest high school in the district, by enrollment – Liberty). I was so happy to receive an email from Griffin’s teach which was sent to all parents. It detailed things about the first day of school and included photos! How neat to see Griffin in his classroom with his classmates. There’s never a dull moment around here and the second day of school is no different. Once Griffin got home we did a fast change into our wedding reception duds and headed downtown with Griffin for Lisa and Brian’s wedding reception party. We left Reid at home with Cameron so he could enjoy sleep and we all could enjoy a more pleasant evening not chasing him everywhere! Griffin had so much fun dancing and hanging with the kids. It was a really fun reception with a live band, lots of dancing, drinks, and fun with several of our neighbors. Oh, and the succulents in the flowers came from Millcreek. Fred’s wife’s company, Madison House Designs, did their flower arrangements. The food was tasty and I love that Griffin devoured his salad.  On Saturday, Griffin and Kevin joined Lisa, Brian, Cole, Cooper, Bill, and Tammy (Brian’s parents) for some fun at Pins Mechanical in Dublin for a couple hours. Reid and I joined them later and then our family headed for pizza at Tommy’s in Dublin.  These kids. They play together all the time when the boys are at Brian and Lisa’s. This night I went outside and they are all suited up in play outfits running like crazy from each other on separate teams playing spy.  We purchased our first family puzzle and put it together pretty quickly! We’ve begun to enjoy sitting down together at the table and putting them together. Griffin is really quick at finding matches!