Well, today marks the first day of school for the kiddos. Where did the summer go?! It was definitely a busy one for us -- basically made up of prepping for the move to the farm, followed by moving to the farm, followed by settling in to living at the farm. It's been pretty crazy, really. So, it's no surprise that the kids are ready for a little more routine and excited about the upcoming school year.
The story behind the above pic:
From left . . . Girl 2 had her hair chopped off this week. She'd been wanting to do it for awhile, and I dragged my feet. But, man, I wish we'd done it earlier in the summer! She absolutely loves it, and I love that it embraces the "messy" look since she growls at me in the mornings if I get near her with a brush or flat iron. Her bag is a hand-me-down from Dad that she is super-pumped about.
Girl 1 insisted that her bag this year be a messenger bag. In fact, she'd been saying for a couple of years, "when I get to middle school, I want to carry a messenger bag, not a backpack." Unfortunately, messenger bags are not the "thing" this year, so finding one was a challenge, to say the least. Shopping malls are not our favorite thing, so we tried to knock all our school shopping out in one day. We looked in EVERY store in that big 'ole mall and FINALLY found this one in our last stop. Whew! She plans to make it her own by adding patches to the flap. So far, she's just got a Gryffindor patch, but she's ordered several more.
Little Boy. Oh, Little Boy. He liked this shirt when we bought it on our big shopping day. He did NOT like this shirt this morning. Ugghh. He is also protesting the no-show socks I got him. Apparently, they are not cool. His sisters disagree, but then, it's been awhile since they were up on kindergarten fashion. ;) Anyway, I caved on that one. The boy can see his socks, so at least he's happy about his feet, if not his shirt.
Third grade! Where does the time go? She's so excited to have so many of her friends in her class this year.
Kindergarten. He breezed right past the group of kids gathered at the door who were having trouble saying goodbye, whirled around and gave me a cool, "Bye, Mom" before heading off to his seat. Clearly, he'll be just fine today.
Oh, and then there's this one. Fifth grade. Middle School. Lockers. Changing classes. And, too big for a first day pic in her classroom. She helped me get her younger sibs all settled in to their rooms and then took off "down the hill" to the middle school and never looked back. At least she did give me a hug first.
I know that at least one of them was super anxious today. BUT. . . it is our tradition that I take them to Sonic after the first day of school, and they can choose any sugary, chocolaty, messy treat they'd like. So, I told them this morning that if they find themselves in a rough moment today, just breathe a prayer and remember that at the end of the day I'll be right outside their classroom doors, ready to give them hugs and take them to SONIC! Surely that could make any day brighter, right?