1st Day of Kindergarten

In the house before finally getting to go outside and wait for the bus

Braden and Alex waiting for the bus

Posing for me before getting onto the bus this morning

Hopping off the Bus and arriving at Kindergarten

Standing in front of the doors to his school, this is the smile he wore on his face when I finally left him at school this morning :)

Today was Braden's first day of "official" school. He calls it his REAL school, as opposed to pre-k at Boone. The bus is scheduled to pick up outside our house at 8:38 a.m. Braden was up and dressed and begging me to go outside and wait for the bus at 7:45 this morning! Now this is a kid that I normally have to wake up three times just to get him out of bed by 8:15 a.m. He wouldn't eat breakfast, he was dressed, medicated, teeth brushed, and pacing the living room floor looking outside the window every 45 seconds to make sure no one else was already out there waiting for the bus without him. We finally went outside at about 8:20 a.m., because a couple of other kiddos were out there with their mom's. They were all going absolutely crazy with excitement, several of them are first time kindergarteners. It was so cute to see them all excited for the school bus. Braden and Alex, our neighbor, are good friends and in class together, look at the difference in the size of them! The bus finally arrived and I made him pose in front of the bus doors for a picture before boarding. The bus driver was very nice and understanding, he said "not a problem at all, this is why I like driving the a.m. kindergarten bus, to see the parents on the first day." So once he was loaded and heading down the road. I hopped in the Explorer in an effort to beat the bus to school so I could take pictures of him coming off the bus - yep, you read that right, I went to the school to take more pictures -ha! Josh told me that I was crazy for going to the school and that I was like one of those crazy parents on commercials following the bus to school and waving to their kid the whole time. I just said, "he is six, he doesn't know embarrassed yet!" I got there just in time to see the bus pull up to the circle drop off. The kiddos started piling off, of course Braden was one of the last ones to get off the bus, but I was able to get a shot as he jumps from the bottom step - obviously thinking he is a BIG kid now. He then notices me and poses for a couple more pictures. I held in all the tears until after passing him off to his teacher and getting into the Explorer to head to work. My baby, is still my baby to me, but to everyone else he is now just a school age kiddo!