Wednesday, May 20, 2009

First Day of School Celebration

We don't celebrate birthdays ... or any other holidays for that matter. And we don't miss it. But we do tend to make "celebrations" out of what some may consider more mundane things. Like Allen's first day of "school." Kristen flew in from Chicago. She made a cake. We bought presents. Oh, and we watched the alligator in Nana's pond.

Here are some cute shots from the evening.

Allen and Daddy walking back from viewing the gator.
The cakes. It was supposed to be a whole teddy bear (a Build-a-Bear cake pan set from Williams Sonoma). Sadly, the heads fell off, and one body got stuck in the pan. So Kristen did the best she could. And it was pretty beautiful, I think! Allen loved them, and said, "I need to eat the eye."

Here's Allen looking at his book from Mommy and Daddy. It's Choo Choo by Virginia Lee Burton. He loves Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by the same author, and Nana just got him a Thomas the Train wooden train set, so we thought it was appropriate.
Mom and Dad's book was no match for Aunt Kissy's present: Skippyjon Jones and the Bones.
Nana's present was also better than Mom and Dad's: a wooden school bus with wooden children, bus driver, and dog(?) included. Very cool!
Obviously, Allen had a good time opening his gifts. And while he had a great first day (the director said he didn't ask for us at all, and that he kept going up to her and telling her, "I'm having a good time!"), his face lit up when he saw us come to pick him up, and he ran over and gave us huge hugs (and patted my back). So, he still loves us, which is a huge relief.

xoxo,

4 comments:

PWNort64 said...

Looks like a good time. We'll have a similar celebration tonight to commemorate his "graduation" from kindergarten.

As far as his reaction at dropoff, just fair warning that it could change after a few days. Now it is fun. When it sinks it that this will be a regular thing, you might see resistance. The key to dropoff at that point is to make it quick. It won't be painless, but it will get easier. Also, have a set routine...a common phrase that you use each day at dropoff. Hopefully this won't happen to you, but it is fairly common, so wanted to forewarn you just in case.

Love the cakes...I had to resort to Sam's for ours tonight...look for a blog post sometime in the future with pictures.

drevas said...

Love Allen's expression in the first photo.

KMag said...

Can I pick 'em or what? (books, I mean)

Jenn said...

I'm so happy things went so smoothly!! Love the celebration idea- Allen looks so happy- what a good day. K- what a wonderful aunt you are--love the cake idea!