First Day of First Grade

August 26, 2013 marked another big milestone for Xavier.  He is officially a first grader and going to school all day.  Talk about an emotional day for mommy.  I found myself wishing I could turn back time and keep him home with me another year.......but I knew I had to be strong and let him grow.

This kid was born to fly!  He has always been so independent and ready for the next big thing.  I love that about him, but it's also hard to let him soar.  Sometimes I just want to freeze time and keep him little forever.  But I am so glad he is such an outgoing and ambitious kid.  It reassures me that he will be able to do great things.

Here he is waiting for the bus with his buddy Justin.

One last goodbye before he takes his first steps on the big morning bus.

After school we had our annual Back to School Dinner.  I couldn't wait to set the table in back to school fashion.  I definitely didn't make this idea myself.  Thanks to pinterest my table was all decked out school style.

I put together a Back to School Survival kit with tips of advice on how to have a successful year in school.  I also gave the boys a book (Gavin's was The Night Before Preschool and Xavier's was the Night Before First Grade), a pad of drawing paper, and a new box of crayons.

We had a yummy dinner of Italian Wedding Soup, Spinach and berry salad, and cornbread.  It was a hit!  My three braniacs!

I read the kids a poem about attitude and how much our attitude can determine our success in school and life.  We also chose the theme "We can Do Hard Things"  this year because this year marks many big changes for our family, some will be easy, some will be hard, but through it all, if we work together and keep Christ as our center, we can do hard things and be successful.  I used the scripture Phillipians 4:13 as our focus which says,  "I can do all things through ^aChrist which ^bstrengtheneth me."

Tim also gave the boys and me father's blessings to start the year off with some words of wisdom.  I love this tradition and am grateful the boys have a dad that is able to perform such a blessing that will give them strength for the upcoming year.

We are 1 day in and may the adventures for our Richardson home begin.......