First Day of School

We made it though the first day of school today! Everything went almost perfectly and there was not a single tear shed. (Things got a little blurry in my eyes but no tears actually FELL!)
Before we left for the bus, Ash told me that he knew exactly what to do on the bus because Alexis had told him. (Way to be a good big sister, Alexis!) Alexis, Aiden and Ash all wanted to ride the bus but Aspen wanted to drive to school with me. I put the three kids on the bus after taking a bunch of pictures then Aspen and I drove to school to wait for the bus (to take more pictures, of course!) We found each of the kids' teachers and they all promptly and proudly walked off with their teachers. I thought at least ONE of my children would cry to stay with me but noooo, they all wanted to run off to their classes. Just kidding of course. I am glad they were all excited.
In the afternoon I went to pick them up and it was total chaos. There were lines clear out onto Chandler Heights Road so we decided to park and find our children instead of driving through the pick up line. We found the two older kids without incident but Aspen and Ash were a bit trickier. They weren't at the parent pick up spot so I walked to their bus and had someone call for them to get off the bus before it left. The woman got on the bus and called for them but came back off saying they weren't on it. We went through the school to the parent pick up location again and found Ash but still couldn't find Aspen. Luckily we ran into his teacher and she said she had put Aspen on the bus. A second trip through the bus and we finally found him. He just hadn't answered the first time when they called his name.
On the way home I asked each of the kids how their day was. Everyone took turns talking about the first day- new friends, the teacher's rules, the playground. One of the first things Ash told me was that he didn't go to the principal's office. "Good for you!" I said. Unfortunately, later in the afternoon he came to me again and said, "Mom, I actually DID get sent to the principal's office because I kicked someone." I told him that I really needed to know the truth- did you or did you not get sent to the principal's office for kicking? I was again told yes, he was sent to the principal's office. There were no notes in his backpack to indicate any problem so I called his teacher, Ms. Okinowski. She reported that he had been an angel all day and that the entire principal's office story was just that- a story. Needless to say, I had to have a talk with Ash about fibbing and telling the truth. I'll never know why he said he got in trouble. I just hope Ms. Okinowski only believes half of the stuff he probably tells her goes on at home.
During dinner Ash made my day. It was all quiet and out of the blue he said, "I was sad on the playground today." Aspen asked why and he replied, "Because I wanted to play with you but I didn't see you and I was lonely." I made some comment about Ash loving Aspen and Aspen disagreed saying Ash didn't love him. Then Ash said, "Uh hu. I do tho love you Athpen." Awww..... it just melted my heart to hear him say he loved his brother and he was sad when he didn't see him. They may fight like cats and dogs somedays, but deep down they do love each other. What else could a parent ask for?