Caden's First Day of Prep

It was only a little more than a week that I had when I returned home from the States to adjust back to the Aussie lifestyle and get Caden ready for school.  Here in Queensland kids start school in their 5th year, which is basically the same as it is back home, however, the school year and cutoff for starting school are quite different and instead of calling it kindergarden, they call if prep.  Since the summer in the southern hemisphere happens Nov - Feb, kids have a really long Christmas / Summer Break.  Then the rest of the year is divided into quarters, where the kids have a week or two week break between quarterly terms. Because the cutoff for kids starting school is quite confusing, I'll spare you and just say that Caden started prep about 6 months sooner than he would have back in Texas, which was fine with me because he seemed completely ready for it.

 My five year old preppie!

Leaving the house, with mom taking the obligatory 100-million photos. 

And now the uniform is complete with the hat. Preppies wear ribbons on their hats so that they can be identified by other schoolies to steer back to the prep area if they get lost.  Way smart idea.

The week before we started school we had new neighbors move in across the street.  #1 bonus - they are Canadian and get the expat thing. #2 bonus - they have two kids for ours to play with. #3 bonus - Megan ended up in Caden's class!

Of course the two little sisters had to be part of the festivities.  You can tell we weren't used to the morning grind since neither of their hair is done.

Caden posing with his Prep F teacher, Ms. Grim.  She's awesome!

Every morning the kids have to sign in.

Mommy's first baby is so grown up.

A few good laughs with dad.

SUCCESS!  Relaxing after a great first day at Wilston State School.