Today was the first day of school and it is so hard to believe that I have two kiddos that are actually going into KINDERGARTEN! I can't believe it. Where has the time gone? I remember having a hard time deciding whether they needed to go to two day two year old preschool let alone kindergarten. Time sure does fly!!! How does those 3 and 4 lbs babies that were born 5 short years ago grow up sooooo fast? It truly is hard to believe but I am so proud of them and so excited for them. Blakely and Drew are going to be attending Brighten Academy Charter School. In order to get in the school you have to take part in a lottery drawing. When they did the actually drawing back last March or April we didn't get in but since then they decided to do away with a pre-k class and add a kindergarten class so we got the call a couple of weeks ago and we had to decide. It was a HARD decision! I guess since I knew we didn't get in I had just kindof quit thinking about it and just assumed they would go to South Douglas, where my nephew Will goes. But once we got the call I had to make a decision and I had to make a decision quick so immediately I called Brighten and asked if we could go on a tour and of course they were more than willing to allow us to do that. Of course it was summer and the classes weren't all put together but at least I was able to see it and ask questions and hopefully understand "charter" schools a little bit more. So I am glad that we were able to do that but that still didn't make the decision for me. I had to keep doing my research. I called everyone I knew that has or has had a child go to school there to get their opinion. I also researched everything I could find on the Internet - the good, the bad, and the ugly so that we could make our own educated decision about what we wanted for our kiddos. After all that research and analyzing - we finally decided that BRIGHTEN it was! So we had to start preparing the kids because prior to this we had said "there is your school!" every time we would pass South Douglas so we had to let them know that they would not be going there and that they would be going to the school that we toured. I thought this would be a big problem especially since they knew many other kids going to South Douglas and especially because their big cousin Will went there but actually it wasn't too bad and it really didn't take that much convincing. I am sure they would have loved South Douglas. I have heard nothing but good things about it but really the decision came down to the fact that we got in so we felt like we needed to give Brighten a try. We can always go back to South Douglas but we can't go back to Brighten - so here we are on the first day of school headed to Brighten. They are really excited. We went to open house last week and got to meet their teachers. They are Mrs. Folsom and Mrs. Cathy. They are both lovely ladies and I think the kids are going to love them. I actually taught Mrs. Cathy's daughter at Chapel Hill. The class has an Owl theme and of course Blakely loves that. The open house was wonderful. Everything was decorated so cute and we got lots of information and got to meet lots of people. It was also nice to see that we actually knew a lot more people that went their than we really knew about. So that made us feel a little better about our decision. You can also see from the pictures that they wear uniforms - which I LOVE! If you know me you know I love dressing the kids more than anything but this uniform thing is great. I love not really having to think about it. It makes the nightly routine so much easier. Also we don't have to lose all our style (ha ha) because Friday's are what is called "Fashionable Fridays" where the kids can wear whatever they want. Of course Blakely is really look forward to that! So today we got up really early so we wouldn't be rushed and we would be ready to go in order to walk in and take pictures - so that came really early this morning but the kids didn't have any problem getting up. They were actually excited and ready to go. We got ready and took the yearly front door pictures and then we headed to school. Once we got to school we walked the kiddos to their class room and took some pictures along the way. They were really excited! Drew got a little nervous once we got in the classroom and came over and held my hand but once I said I had to go he was fine. It was really cute. I am so glad they like school. After school my mom picked them up. My mom and Phillip's dad are going to share pick up duties this year. Thank goodness because that was one of my stresses about them going to a different school. I think this will work out great. After school the pick up line was waaaaaaay long because of course since they are a charter school they don't provide transportation and it was the first day of school so it took quite a while for mom to pick them up but once she had them in the car they were full of stories but once they got to her house and had a snack their energy level went down and went down quick - they were two tired kiddos. When I picked them up Blakely was a sleep before we got out of the drive way. Since we have been home and they have re-engergized we have heard quite a few stories and I love it. They are so sweet and innocent. They told me all about lunch and recess, Drew told me about how you have to raise your hand, Drew told me his favorite part was making new friends, Blakely told me they got draw and read, they told me about the Owl binders/communication folders and how important they are, they told me about the behavior clips, and so on and so on... It is so sweet to hear them tell about it. I am so glad they had fun and that they are so excited to go back tomorrow. Well - 1 day down 179 more to go....Good Luck Blakely and Drew! We love you and are so proud of you.
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