BACK TO SCHOOL, PART 1

Oh, it's here again. The first day of school! The kids were up before their alarms today....I wonder if that will happen, say, tommorrow?? Both are excited and relieved like never before. Olivia's third grade teacher, whom she totally adored in everyway, has chosen not only to move up to Fourth grade this year but also requested to take her third grade class with her. Olivia is in H.E.A.V.E.N. and so ready to see all of her classmates again. Little Nick, my first grader, is also smiling because, at Meet the Teacher night two nights ago, he found out that the "really mean teacher" he thought he had really is someone else's teacher. He has a brand new, super sweet spunky teacher. A dream come true. The angels are singing....

Our morning routine went off without a hitch today, thanks to the new "Great Start" jar. It's just an old jar, newly decorated and stuffed with the kids' favorite sweets...Laffy Taffy, Airheads, and Starburst. For the child(ren) who can effortlessly complete their morning responsibilities, take care of their dog and be completely ready to go before 8:20am, a sweet treat can be chosen and nibbled on whenever they choose. So far, so good. Everyone is happy and on time and thanks to a little morning sugar, a bit sweeter than usual, too.

UPDATE: At the time of this posting (mid-Sept.) the "Great Start" jar had officially changed the tone of our mornings. Everybody busts bootie to get a sweet treat. Bribery is (almost) never a bad thing.....

After breakfast and a front yard photo shoot, we headed up the hill to school.

This little fella will be lonely without his big kids....

Neighborhood boys

Olivia escorted herself to class for the first time this year, telling me to "come say hi" after I had dropped off her brother. (Boo....) Thankfully Nick clung tightly to my hand, listened to my "Go get 'em, tiger momma loves you" speech and did everything possible not to let those huge hippo tears leave his eyes. We got to his classroom door and he shot off like a rocket, never looking back. Even his teacher said, "Say good-bye to mom!!!" I just let him go, knowing that him seeing hippo tears running down my cheeks was not going to make things any easier. We went to see Livi in her classroom, a.k.a party central. Those kids were bouncing off the walls, high-fiving each other and racing around like they owned the place. No first day jitters here. We snapped a couple pictures and headed out, sure to swing by Nick's classroom one last time on the way out. He was working diligently on something and seemed to be fine. I was so not fine....

Nick with Mrs. Linder

Saying good-bye to sissy
See, this is the day I love to hate. The first day of school means lots of things..... new outfits and backpacks, meet the teacher night, school supply shopping, hot lunch calendar, nervous kids that really do miss their mommy, early bedtimes, big appetites, no more daytime sibling harrassment, school fundraisers, and..... kids that are consistently getting bigger and growing up. (That last one is the toughy for me.) I love all the learning and experimenting and friendshipping and everything that they are doing, can't they just do it in a small body? One that I can cuddle and rock to sleep? I know that isn't reality and isn't the way life is supposed to be, blah, blah, blah. Thankfully, Olivia reminds me all the time that she wants to live "right by" me when she gets bigger and Nick has already confirmed, several times, that I will never make him move out. Ever.

Love you guys. Have a great year!!!

P.S. The kids had a great first day. Well, pretty great. It's always a long day. Nick came home and said, "A girl in my class started to cry today, Mom." I asked him why and he said, "Because she wanted to go home. I couldn't look at her. Or I would've started to cry!" I asked him how come and he said, "Because I wanted to go home, too!" So he missed me. (Heart melting....)