Last Monday was Nikita's first day of 1st grade!!! It's unbelievable! Things are a bit different here in Ukraine. For starters, the first day of school is always on September 1st, even if it's on a Saturday. I'm not sure about Sunday. In 6 years, when September 1st is on a Sunday, we'll let you know. :) Also, for the first few years of school, you only go until 12pm. How crazy is that!
Nikita's all ready to go to his first day of school. All the kids have to wear uniforms. On the first day there is a ceremony to kick off the school year.
Here's Noah with Daddy waiting for the ceremony to start.
I'm not as tall as Andre, so I got closer to get a better look. If you see a small woman in front of me to the left, with white hair that's Valya. She's shorter than me, so she worked her way all the way to the front. :)
Here he comes in the parade of 1st graders! I almost cried!
Yeah, my brother is in 1st grade!!!
Look at that bow-tie!
Here's a pictures of all the 1st graders. There are 90 of them total, 3 classes of 30.
This another tradition. Ukraine is big on traditions. There is one girl from 1st grade on the shoulders of a boy from the oldest grade (11th) ringing a bell to start the first day of the year.
At the end of the ceremony the kids from the 11th grade take the hands of the 1st graders and guide them to their class. There weren't enough 11th graders, so Nikita grabbed his teachers hand. :)
He sits in the middle row, second from the front! We're hoping that means he'll pay attention!
Gotta have picture with Valya on the first day of school!
Family pics are a bit harder to take now. Here we're trying to get Noah to look at the camera.
Here's a better one, except Noah's still not super happy.
I'm in 1st grade now. Don't mess with me.
You can really see how long it was in this picture. You can also see how chubby he is.
Here we are cutting his hair with a machine. It looks so cute, and he really didn't mind it as much as it seems in the picture.
