Back to School, Take I

Monday was back to school for Elli & Tori. Or, since the girls are starting Kindergarten, there is no "back" involved, so maybe just "off to school". No matter how you slice it, it has been an exciting week, and a good one overall.
The girls got pretty nervous & shed quite a few tears the night before - mainly fear of the unknown. Luckily, we had gone through soccer camp with Tori & something called "Cool School" with Elli. In both cases, the girls were very nervous to start & even said they didn't want to stay, but once they got going they each loved their activity. It was very nice to be able to say, "Remember how you were scared at {insert activity} on the first day, but then you loved it?" It definitely helped them as well. To top off the whole "going to big girls' school" thing, we have the girls in separate classrooms for the first time so they had to think about.
They are afternoon Kindergarten, so I was a bit worried at how the morning would go, but we kept busy and although the energy level was high all morning, we all stayed up-beat, for the most part. Daddy stayed home from work that day to add to the festive nature of the occasion. At about 12:15, the whole Hanson clan trucked on up to the bus stop, about a block & a half from our house. Unfortunately, as is typical for the first day (as I'm told), the bus was late, so we waited & waited & waited. At long last, the bus arrived & the girls got to step on the school bus "for real" for the first time. What a moment! I loved seeing those two smiling little faces looking out the window (they are just barely tall enough to see out) and waving. Off to school they went, and not a tear was shed, by Elli, Tori, or Mommy! Yahoo!!
They came home just as happy - it was a good day & they didn't seem to mind being apart, or at least they didn't comment on it.
Unfortunately, Tori's first week was cut short as she was sent home Wed. with pink eye. We picked Elli up that day, but Elli had her first solo bus ride on Thursday afternoon & she did fine! Go Elli! Tori's eyes are now back to the beautiful colors that God made them (yes, pink is nice, but not on your eyeball :-), so she should be back in business for Tuesday. Here are some picks of our big day...