Leo and Adrian went to pre-K for the first time today. Their first visit was 1 hour long, from 9.30 am to 10.30 am. We brought them, hand in hand.

We had told them in the morning (which was a hectic morning since Nora has a cold), and they reacted quite well.

When it was time to put their boots on, Adrian said goodbye to his toys: "Dag, ik ga naar school, ik ga leren lezen".

Leo, while talking, had some doubt. "Papa ik ben nog niet helemaal groot". I agreed but explained that there were kids at school that needed Leo's help. That worked, and he said he was going to teach them how to "een ei met de schil snijden".

The drop-off involved some tears from both of them but was quick and efficient.

An hour later we picked them up. Adrian: "het was heel leuk op school!" "Er was ook een helper en die vroeg iets maar dat wist ik niet" (he couldn't understand her). When we were outside, a girl looked out of the window of Adrian's class and waived at him. He waived back.

Leo had a more difficult time. Jean explained that he had cried for quite a bit, but afterwards calmed down so we gave him some more time and picked him up a little later.

Later Adrian shared that he had made a tower ("welke kleur? blauw!" -- de toren is roze haha). He also said: "Juf Leslie zegt dat ik nooit met de boerderij mag spelen!" -- de boerderij is aantrekkelijk maar wordt gebruikt om te leren lezen.

I picked Nora up at 4.00 pm at the bus stop. She was the last one of the bus so I asked the driver to call her -- she didn't realize this was her stop. She was happy and not overly tired.

Her best quote was:

"Papa, de juf zegt dat de eerste dag op school altijd de leukste is".
"Oh, en was het leuk?"
"Het was hartstikke leuk!"

When Leo woke up and came downstairs, he immediately hugged Nora. When Adrian woke up 30 minutes later, his first question was: "is Nora beneden?" (They might be worried she'll disappear again, like she did in the summer).

She has her first homework assignment, a collage that's due next Monday. She went to sleep at 7.45 pm.

A big milestone today -- Nora left for Taylor elementary today, where she will start first grade.

We all woke up early, except Nora, who was calm and happy.

Below is also a picture of Nora learning about the lockers -- this is from a tweet from the school.

We went for a walk on Saturday and to get the boys acquainted with the school we walk to AMH. Jean was working there and she offered us to take a peak inside which was great. Another chance for the boys to see their classrooms, which will help them get used to everything.

We had a great time with Opa and Oma. It's Labor Day weekend and the end of the summer, and yesterday Jaap and Mieke returned to the Netherlands. We brought the boys to bed to make it easier on them, and Nora and I drove to the airport.

After a while I showed the guys pictures of the plane Opa and Oma took home. Adrian was disappointed there weren't more pictures.

We're now getting ready for everyone to go to their new schools. Nora will start at Taylor on Tuesday and Leo and Adrian will start a week later at AMH.