First Day of School

The First Day of School last fall was momentous for us - Morganne started middle school this year!

 She was thrilled - not a bit nervous to move to sixth grade.

 And my beautiful girl hopped out of the car and barely waved goodbye.  I so wanted to roll the window down and yell, "I LOVE YOU MORGANNE!!! HAVE A GREAT FIRST DAY OF 6TH GRADE!"  She would have died.

 I could barely get a picture out of this guy.  Jack started 4th grade with Mrs. Hillerich - Morganne's 4th grade teacher.

 Yep - he was not thrilled with me taking a picture outside of his classroom.  Bye mom.

 And this gorgeous guy - he started his second year at Council Oak Preschool with Ms. Gwen & Ms. Joy.

 There is no hesitation - he loves going back to school after the summer off - in fact, after a few weeks, was asking to go everyday - he's most upset when it's Tuesday and not a "school day".

 So what's a mom to do once all three kids are back in school but celebrate!!!  Chuy's, Texas Martini's and girlfriends!

I Sent My Baby to School

Last week, I sent my baby to school.

Well, not really.

It's a 2 day a week Mother's Day Out.

That he likes to call "sk-ool".

So we go with it.

Remember how excited I was to send the other 2 off to school?  How I was questioning my motherly instincts when I was cheering that school had started?  Well,  I'm here to admit that I had a hard time with the baby.

It was hard to drop the baby off and leave him - I walked away with a HUGE lump in my throat.  And hearing him crying for "ma-MA!!" didn't help.  I got in the car and thought to myself, "now what do I do? "

So I ran to Academy, calling Matt and asking him if he needed me to get him anything? No?

hmm.... I guess I can go to the bank.

and then I'll run by Starbucks.  Just because I CAN.

Guess I'll head to the kids school and..... (you get the picture).

While I got a lot done, I felt like I was missing something all day.  As much as I complain that running errands with the baby is hard to do and takes me twice as long, I was lonely without my guy with me.

I showed up 20 minutes early to pick him up - that is HUGE - ask any of my friends - I'm L.A.T.E. to everything.  Of course they wouldn't let us pick up our kids until the bell officially rings.  He was excited to see me - ran right into my arms.

All is well - he had a super time - colored a picture.  ate a big lunch.  played on the playground. DID NOT take a nap (well, come on - he's still in a crib and now you want him to lay on a mat and sleep - that's freedom to him).

So why was it so easy to let the older two go but so very hard to leave him?  I guess I understand it now - he's my baby and it's hard to let him grow up - I know that this is only going to get worse when he starts kindergarten, so this is a great reminder to make the most of the time I have with him one-on-one.  And I will.......

It's the First Day of School!!!!!

Whoo-Hoo!!  As much as I enjoyed my summer with my babes, I was thrilled to see School starting up again. Thrilled to have routine back.  Thrilled to have one-on-one time with Bubba.  Thrilled to have a quiet house.

Wait.

Does that make me a bad mom?

Many moms were saying yesterday how much they missed their kids when they went back to school.  Try as I might, I just couldn't find that feeling anywhere.  

Miss their constant bickering & fighting with one another?  Miss their enormous appetites for junk food? Miss their zoning in front of the tv, ignoring my requests to turn it off?  

Nope.

They were ready to get back to school - they both had an AWESOME day, chattering about thier friends, the rules of P.E., their teacher's expectations ("can you believe I might have 2 nights of homework?"  gasp!!).

We had an awesome summer filled with travel, family, and fun.  But this family is ready for routine.  And the school year provides us with learning, schedules, better habits, and so on. 

So, the 2 olders are back at school.

Amen.

The First Day of the Last Year

Today was our last "official" day of summer.  And as I lay in bed thinking about that, a horrible thought struck me.

 Tomorrow marks the first day of Sissy's last year of Elementary School. Yeah, I'm a sap. I know.

Just look at this precious baby girl starting her first day of kinder 5 short years ago.  She was so excited.  So happy to be starting school.  SO ready to pose for the camera and tell me she was going to "school"!

 Kinder was an awesome year - she was in a tiny class of 12 kiddos in a small private school. They were a sweet little class that got a long so well.

And she was such a big, independent girl.  All ready for what the world would bring her.  She made sweet friends that year.  And strengthened her love of reading.  

I look at these pictures now and all I can think of is how sweet, confident, and loving she was then...and still is today.  She may have her head crammed full of a lot more things.....geometry, scientific methods, states & capitals, student council, and more....but she has not lost that sweet disposition and helpful attitude.

Sis, get the most that you can out of this last year of Elementary!

Have an awesome 5th grade year!

I love you to pieces.

Get Ready for Back to School: Top 5 Ways We Celebrate!

I'm sitting here, trying to figure out if I am excited that the kids are going back to school next week, or am I sad that the summer is over??

When I'm at the grocery store and the 2 olders are whining because "she punched me" & "he tripped me", I am most certainly HAPPY that school is about to start.

But when I look back on all the fun things we did this summer together as a family, I long for more time with them......

Knowing that we can't stop time, I have to make the most of what I have in front of me.  So, to make the most of this last week of summer, we traditionally do some fun things to celebrate the end of a fun season and the start of a new school year:

1. Make the last week FUN!!  Do somethings that you didn't do all summer - take them to their favorite restaurant (my kids love CiCi's - blech - but it's cheap!), to a different swimming pool, to the 99 cent movies - just get out of the house and make it fun.

Last year, every morning of the last week of school, the kids we given an envelop with a clue of what we were doing.  For example, "Happy Tuesday!  Let's remember what it's like to have recess by playing outside at the Rockin' R Water Park!"  We went to Gattiland, had doughnuts at this well-known bakery, and had a family game day.  We had an awesome week filled with fun!! I enjoy the time spent with them doing something they loved doing.

This year, I let each one pick an activity with a friend - Sis choose an Mall Scavenger Hunt & Brody choose a trip to the Lego Store.

2. Count it Down.  We like to find ways to count down the days of summer - this is great for the younger kids to "see" how long they have until school starts.  Last year, we did this with a paper chain.


3. Make a Back-to-School recipe with the kids.  There are so many ideas floating around out there for fun cookies, cupcakes, meals, etc. that celebrate school.  Some of my favorites come from the Family Fun website.  We have made treats for our teachers each year, as the teachers at our school come to each house the week before to introduce themselves to the kids.  This is how the kids find out who they have - it is so fun!!!

4. Last Day of Summer??  Make it meaningful. Our school district starts school on a Tuesday and I love that because it gives me a day after the weekend to relax them.  Traditionally, we spend that day at home, quietly playing, with no friends over.  Sis and I have made a scrapbook of our summer and watched our favorite movie together (the past 3 summers, it has been Hairspray, wonder what it will be this year?).  It is a wonderful last day to love on my kiddos before sending them off for the year.

5. Packed & Ready to Go! My kids are not the anxious type and they are used to me making a fuss over the littlest things in life.  So I like to make a "last summer vacation" meal that all the family will enjoy - and y'all know my troubles with getting Brody to eat "regular" food - so sometimes this means we mix it up - hamburgers for the normal people and a grilled cheese for him.  This saves the fighting at the dinner table, he fills his belly and we all have a nice family meal together.

I also ensure that they are a part of planning lunches & snacks by taking them shopping for what they want (as long as it gets mom's approval) and packing their lunch the night before.  When they were little, I made a check list of all the things they needed to do to get ready for school and we walked through it.  As we have gotten older, I have given them a lot more independence - this is the first year I have completely let them pick out their own first day of school outfits (and it's not at all what mom would have choose - no more skirts and cute boots for my girl!! sniff sniff).

These are a few of the things we are doing this week - I know there are many more fun traditions out there that all of you amazingly creative moms do - tell me some of them!!