Being Butenhoff: Back to School!

Wow... where did August go? It flew by for us... only helped along because of our 24-day road trip... but more on that in the next post as I do our 3-part update of our AMAZING summer road trip, so stay tuned as I'll be getting that going in the next day or 2!! We got back from our adventures in the afternoon on Labor Day & quickly were thrust back into reality with our unofficial first day of school on Tuesday...

.... & both were excited to meet their teachers, wear their new shoes & smile big for pictures!

Wasn't sure how our 5:45AM wake up time would go over... they were sleepy, but it didn't take long for them to shake the grogginess & be excited for the big 1st day!

Melanie found this matching outfit set while we were on vacation in Portland & we hit Kohl's for a little back-to-school shopping... she was SO excited to wear it & dress up Honey for the big 1st day too! Honey, of course, just got to stay home with me!

My big Kindergartener!

Last year, our house was still under construction & we were still living with Gram & Grandpa... so it was fun to have our first start of school out of our own house!

It was a really foggy morning, so the fog would reflect off the flash when pictures were taken...and sadly, at 6:20AM, the flash does want to go off.

(without the flash... no fog, but a little fuzzy as there just wasn't quite enough light yet for flashless photos... what can you do?)

Even though we weren't living with them, Gram & Grandpa still made it out to the bus stop with us bright & early! (one of MANY perks of being neighbors!)

Waiting for the bus... with the fog still lingering.

The kids were excited that Gram & Grandpa's cats (which the kids co-own) came along too... they like to follow Grandpa all over the farm, so they just trotted on out to the bus stop! That's Melanie's cat (above), Pearly May.

And there is Brandon's cat, Wicket... he's a little more shy & sat nearby watching it all.

Here comes the bus!

We have the same driver as last year... SUPER nice guy! We are the first stop... at 6:25 (last year it was 6:40 but they have to drive out further for another kid now... we are still hoping that maybe that kid won't end up riding afterall & our time might get shifted back.

I was so proud of Melanie... excited, smiling & eager for the day... waving the whole way out! I figured as much... but you never know until the moment. And I was proud of myself... not a single tear! I'm excited for them both for the new school year!