Ryder's 1st Day of Kindergarten

I am still in awe that my Ryder is in kindergarten! Of course i'm writing this in October, and the emotions have died down, but i'll update on everything else later. For now, we'll keep this about his FIRST DAY!! 

In our area Kindergarten is only half day. Ryder got PM. At first I was disappointed, until I realized it was right during nap time!! WooHoo for about two hours of alone time while Landon naps everyday so I can edit and work on my business :)

The whole first morning I was a bundle of nerves!! Ryder... SOOO excited!!! He could not wait for 12:15 to come so he could get on that bus. I was convinced there was no way I was letting him ride the bus as soon as the discussion of school came up. When I signed him up for school last spring I said I wasn't certain what we were doing. They said to sign him up, and we could change our mind if we wanted to. As the countdown came closer to the first day of school, I pretty much knew I had to at least let him try the bus because he was so confident. In my mind he was going to ride the bus to school since it would be only kindergarten students, and I would pick him up. Suddenly the day was here though, and it appeared like he was just simply going to the ride bus. I let my guard down because I knew Ryder wanted it so bad. (FYI Florida friends... we luckily moved into a school district that is rated a 10, and is known for being "snobby"(I'll take snobby over guns and fighting any day of the week)... He wouldn't be riding the bus if we were down there! We just lucked out!) 

I made sure his outfit was perfectly iron, that I had his first day of school board ready, that we had lunch on time, and plenty of time for pictures! We HAD to document this huge milestone :) To think five years ago on that day I was snuggly a sweet baby in the hospital! 

 I can't get over how big, handsome, and confident he had become. I was definitely fighting back tears at this point. 

 Daddy come out to get a picture with our big boy :)

 And I had to pass of my camera for my own picture :)

 Anxiously waiting for the big yellow bus to come around the corner to pick him up...

I might have been anxiously waiting for him to decide I should just take him to school :) HAHA... he never even gave it a second thought

 His face when he heard the bus!!! Can you see the pure excitement on his face?! I think that fact that he got to get on it, and Landon didn't made him even that more pumped!

 Never even looked back....

 que the tears from this Momma... I didn't cry on my wedding day or the birth of either of my children, but I shed quite a few tears when my little man hoped on that bus!! 

Bye Ryder!

 Soo... We had decided we would go to the school even though Ryder was on the bus. I always love the picture of parents walking their kids into the class rooms and getting the picture of them at their desk. I didn't want Ryder to be one of the only kids there without family. I also didn't want to be the only crazy parents there. We pulled into the parking lot and decided we'd feel the situation out. There was probably a crowed on 20-30 people outside the front of the school. Some with students not riding the bus and some waiting for their kids to get off the bus. We got our name badges so we could go into the school, and then waited on the bus....

 There it is!

 He walked off that bus.... gave us one quick glance... 

 and headed down the kindergarten hall without looking back... 

 I was a cah-razy mom right here and yelled his name :) 

 Saying hi to Mrs. Whitehead... and off to a great start for the next thirteen years of school! 

He absolutely LOVED his first day of school, and every day since. I'll give an update on school later on once we get caught up on all the happenings since then!  

Happy 5th Birthday Ryder!

We'll I have had these pictures uploaded into this post since right after Ryder's birthday, but got so distracted with life that it never got posted. Obviously neither has anything else for the past, almost, two months! This is my baby book for my kids so bear with me as I try to catch up!! My photography business has been keeping me away from the computer, and the fact that I have been busy every free second of every day working with that is such a huge blessing... although you might not think that with all the complaining I do :) 

And finally... Ryder's 5th birthday!!

We started the morning off singing happy birthday to our sweet boy in bed. My kids would sing happy birthday to someone every day if we'd let them. They are beyond excited because my birthday is "next", but can't comprehend that isn't until the middle of December. I think i'm getting a princess party haha :) 

As you can see bottom right picture... Landon was already having a hard time that the focus was on his brother this day!

Ryder's birthday was on a Sunday so all festivities were taking place in one day. Mom's know to appreciate weekend birthdays! I love to do anything I can to make my boys feels special all day long on their birthday. We started the morning out with some superman tattoos (his birthday theme), and put his superman birthday ribbon on his shirt.

We then headed to Skyline Cafe, Ryder's favorite, for a birthday breakfast. I asked him to pose for a nice picture when we first got there :)

While waiting Auntie Ally sent us this sweet picture telling Ryder happy birthday :)

Some of Ryder's favorite people arrived for his birthday breakfast!! 

After breakfast we stopped at the grocery store for balloons and the cake, home, got our stuff together, and headed out to the party!! We opted for Bounce U this year. We have always done our parties at home, but Ryder really wanted it this year. It was so worth it not having to stress about having twenty+ people in my house. 

And lots of pictures from the bouncing at the party.....

We then went into the party room to celebrate our big boy!!!

Ryder had a LONGGGG list of wants for his birthday this year. It was the first time that when someone said, "What does Ryder want for his birthday?" I had an answer every time. His family and friends are so amazing all we were left to get him was a silly bookbag because I couldn't think of another thing. To say he was spoiled for his 5th birthday was an understatement!!! His wish list consister of an xbox, minecraft video game (could only be played on xbox, and we have a playstation), Disney Infinity, all the characters (anyone looking into this game... we love it!), a few DS games, a spiderman costume, a captain america costume, and i'm sure a few other thigns at this point that i'm forgetting. 

We rounded the night out with pizza, more cake, and playing his new video game with his best friend. 

He had an amazign day, and it was made even more special by all his loved ones!!! Thank you for making my boy feel so special :)

It was early to bed because the next day was another HUGE day for us. Ryder's 1st day of kindergarten!!!!!!!

Meet the Teacher

Before school started for Ryder we, of course, had to go meet his teacher! Ryder's teachers name is Mrs. Whitehead, and yes we giggle every time we say it. We had to tell him he couldn't do that at school though. The day of his little orientation he walked right into his class, his teacher shook our hand, and said to wait in the hall while they did a craft. Ryder went and took a seat, did his craft, and came out all smiles about twenty minutes later. Being the the type of mom that wants to be involved in everything it kind of made me pout as I took my seat in the hall, but it just shows me how much my little baby is a big kid ready to take on the world! 

 Yes i'm "that mom" that snuck a picture from the door :) 

 Taking a ride on the school bus! 

They thought this was SOOO cool!

 Playing on the school playground

 The next day we had to get our 5 year old check-up for him to start school...

He is healthy as can be and our pediatrician said she doesn't have a doubt in her mind that he's more then ready for kindergarten :)

46 pounds - 82nd percentile

45.87 inches - 95th percentile

Our tall lean boy!

 Landon wanted in on the action :)

 And our first homework assignment complete!