senior year, baby!

Well, it's happened: I now have a kid old enough to be starting his final year of high school.

Yep, Ryan is officially a senior in high school.

I wasn't able to take a cliche 1st Day of School picture, but that was only because he had to be at the school at 4:30am for the Senior Sunrise. As a student body officer this year, he was required to help out at the yearly school tradition, then head over to the school to get the morning announcements ready. So I really didn't see him until he got home from school that afternoon.

He said hi, I asked him how the day went, he said fine, and then he plopped down on the couch and took a nap.

What a way to start the year, I guess.

The next day I asked if I could take a picture and he didn't hesitate to agree.

"I figured you'd want one after yesterday," he told me, grinning a little.

I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I quickly snapped the picture and sent him on his merry way.

And here's my handsome senior.

 And, just for contrast or comparison, here's a side by side of him.

The left is his 1st day of 1st grade since we homeschooled for Kindergarten. Gosh, that brings back memories! And makes me a little sad at how grown up he is now.

But, I'm also really proud of him and everything he's done to get to this point. He's a great kid and I hope he makes this last year of high school his best!