first day of school [last year & this year]

The girls went back to school last week and Mr. Z went back to preschool this week.  Since I never posted first day of school shots from last year, I thought I'd do one big post of them all.  

First up, Mr. Z.  

Quite the charming lil' guy!  It's his second year of preschool.  I asked him on the first day if he was nervous.  He sort of scoffed at me, "Nervous? Of course not!"  I think he's got it down this year.

Mr. Z, last year.

 

After taking his photos this year, he was cold and wanted to pull up his hood.  I couldn't resist another photo.  It's his "personality" shot.

His personality shot from last year.  He loves making faces for my camera!

 Miss A.  She's always got a sweet smile for the camera.  The girls are too old for personality shots.  They just want to smile and look good.  No goofey stuff.

Miss M.  I can't believe she's in 7th grade this year!

This year:

Last year:

back to school [cake pops]

 We had our back-to-school/meet-the-teacher/drop-off-school-supplies night earlier this week.  Miss M loves to bake and really wanted to make back-to-school cake pops for her teachers.  Cake pops are a ton of work (in my opinion), but she clearly loves everything about making these adorable little treats, so I did my best to encourage her, even though I don't share the same passion for baking as she does.  It was not a perfect experience.  I am still learning and remembering that I want to encourage my kids towards their passions.  It is especially hard when it feels inconvenient.  We had to make an extra trip to the craft store to purchase some specialty items.  And, I am still spotting remnants of chocolate and white candy melts on my white cabinets.

In the end, I had to apologize for being a bit grumpy.  She loved delivering these little treats around school and it was really fun to see her face light up as she gave away these little labors of love.
They really are a great teacher gift, and I'm so glad that she is able able to bring a smile to her teachers' faces.