First day of school!

So, it's that time of year again... and this was a very bittersweet year for me. My daughter Emma started 3rd grade... this photo was taken on her first day when she went in for an hour and a half -what's the story with that, anyway?? She was SO excited about her new outfit... waiting to wear it on the first day was torture!

I know that my front porch isn't a very good spot for photos at that hour of the morning because of the direct sun, but it's kind of a tradition so we tried to work with it. You can see in the shadow that my son Ben is holding the reflector over his head to block the sun... my good little helper :)

And then the next day was Ben's first day of kindergarten... FULL DAY kindergarten!! What am I going to do with my baby gone all day???? He really wanted to have spiky hair and wear his jean shorts (he would wear them every day if I would let him, and informed me that two pairs is just not enough!)... and he picked out his own "handsome polo shirt" in green for the first day. Can't you just see how excited he is about his first day? He has the same teacher Emma had so he's know her for years and we all love her to death :)

They were both remarkably cooperative about me taking all these photos of them before school... I guess because they were so excited! Look how beautiful and sweet my kiddos are!

And one more of my sweet baby boy... look at those gorgeous eyes! Who is going to be my model to try out new photography experiments now that he's gone all day...

Sob, sob, sob... my baby is growing up!!