First day of Preschool!

Benjamin started preschool today! I can't believe how big he is. What a handsome sweet kid he's become. When I interact with him during the day I always think of him as being so big and grown up. But every now and then I look at him objectively and realize that he's still pretty little - I mean, he's just three! I know that a few years from now I'll be looking back on these pictures and thinking he was such a little guy. I hope I'm cherishing every minute with him...

Look at those three handsome boys! And their first-day-of-school excitement.

My two friends and I are doing a rotating home preschool. We hold it once a week for two hours and take turns having it at our own homes. We have a little curriculum we're following and a schedule of what we're doing during the 2 hours. Today was at our house.

We start with an opening, which includes a prayer, discussing what day it is, going outside and checking and reporting on the weather, and reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag (we have one by our front door, which is convenient). That was an especially cute part of our preschool experience today. Three little boys and I facing our big flag waving by the front porch, and having them recite the words of the pledge of allegiance after me. How darling!

Our lesson today was "My Name and Age." We talked about birthdays and looked at pictures at each of them when they were babies and at each

of their birthdays. We practiced tracing their names. Benjamin is at a disadvantage since he has a super long name. :) Abram was done with all six of his names when Benjamin had only completed two. Luckily he doesn't recognize the injustice yet. :) Don't worry - I didn't make him finish them all. :)

The funnest part of our day was the activity - making their initials out of pretzel dough! They actually helped me make the dough (pretzel dough is the easiest dough in the world) and then we had fun shaping it. Then they got to 'paint' the dough with the egg-wash before we popped the pan in the oven to bake. Pretty exciting. :)

Anyway, we had a fun day. All three of the boys had a blast showing each other the contents of their pencil boxes. They each compared scissors, enjoyed their personal box of crayons, and revelled in stuffing their papers into their treasured backpacks. Oh the backpacks. They were darling when it came to their backpacks! We couldn't move rooms or do anything without them strapping on their backpack. Even while we were mixing the pretzel dough, they were all either wearing their backpack or trying to put it on. What cuties!