Freedom!

I'm here.  Barely alive, but I'm here.  I have spent the last three weeks lost in the fog that is September.  You know, the time of year when my luxurious life of long days in the sun come to a screeching halt and turn into long days in the classroom doing what essentially equates to herding cats.  Being a kindergarten teacher in September is a lot like giving birth.  If anyone remembered how painful it is, no one would ever do it again.  The poor babies are exhausted and have no clue which way is up.  And many of them haven't been in school before.  So EVERYTHING is new.  And there are 22 of them.  And 13 of them are boys.  For six and a half hours, five days a week.  Herding cats actually sounds like a vacation!  But October is coming.  And most of the time things settle into a routine by then.  Until then, I might need a little bit of reminding that I love my job.

But enough about that, here's the real excitement.

For 81 months, I have been in charge of the care of small humans virtually 24/7.  Sure I get away for dinners (and even a trip to Florida!) with my friends now and then but for all intents and purposes, I have had very little "me" time.  My kids do plenty of things without me, but it rarely ends in me having the freedom to do whatever I please.  When they are at school, I am also at school.  With kids.  When they are at swimming/gymnastics/baseball, I am contractually obligated to stay
and watch.  (Just kidding.  Well, kind of.  I am obligated to stay and watch, but I do actually like to watch...unless it is cold/rainy at baseball.)  So you can imagine my surprise when I took them a new program at church and was told that I could pick them up when it was over.  What?  I have 75 minutes a week in which I can do whatever I want?  You better believe I hightailed it out of there before anyone could ask me to change their mind.


So I am sure you are dying to know what I have been doing.  Let me tell you.  I know how to celebrate.  The first week, I decided to go for a run.  The sun was shining and at the time I thought that maybe Wednesdays could be my running day.  Unfortunately, the next week  it was cold.  And that plan went out the window. 

The second week is when things got really good.  I used my free time to....wait for it....run errands.  Have you ever done errands with kids in tow?  Ridiculous.  It usually goes a little something like this:

Once I finally get everyone out of the house and into the car, one of them usually waits until we are at least a mile down the road to announce that they "forgot" their shoes.  U-Turn!  When we arrive at our destination it takes an unbelievable amount of time for them to unbuckle and pile out of the car, hopefully without denting the car next to us with the door.  Then we haggle about who will hold which hand, all the while trying to avoid mud puddles and moving vehicles.  

By the time we enter the store I am wondering what exactly it was that we couldn't live without because no amount of food seems worth all this.  But inside is where the real fun begins.  When the kids were babies, once I got both of them in the cart, there was no room for anything else.  And who invented those ridiculous car carts?  You know, the tiny cart with the huge car on the front?  I can't even steer that thing!  Once I told my kids that the store people said I couldn't drive it anymore because I had had too many accidents.  They never even questioned it.  But now that they can't go in the cart, it means they have to walk.  And for some reason, every other kid in the store can walk near their parent and stay out of the way of oncoming carts but mine are like little drunks bobbing and weaving through the aisles.  By the time we leave the store I have run them both over a number of times. Because they are six and they should be able to walk in a straight line.  And the other customers are way too nice.  And then it is reversing through the parking lot/car door/car seat process.  Lord help us if we have to go to more than one store in a day.

But last Wednesday I went to three (THREE!!!!) stores all by myself.  And no one dodged in front of my cart...or almost tipped it over.  And it only took me minutes at each stop.  It was glorious! 

Today for my alone time, I came back to the house and ate some cookies.  And no one asked for one.  I think Wednesday is going to become my favorite day!

First Grade!!

Today was the day.  The FIRST day of FIRST grade!!  The day started off like all of our school days, with the kids making their lunches.  Since it has been a few months, they were very excited to do it.  They made their sandwiches (turkey and salami?) and filled their lunch boxes with lots of other goodies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the reason I have them pack their own lunches is that they do so much better than I ever would!

 

After lunch was made, it was time for breakfast.  And first day of school cake.

 

 I know it is kind of a weird tradition, cake for breakfast on the first day of school, but it's how we roll.

 

Both kids read the little note I left them.  By themselves.  They don't really need me for much these days.

 

 

 

Last year, on a rough day, I made a little blanket for Ben to keep in his pocket so he could reach in and touch it if he got sad.  Today, his blanket was in his pocket for the first day!

 

After our annual first day front porch photo shoot

 

 

 

 

We were on our way to school!!

 

 

Once we got there, it was off to Ben's class first...

 

 

He wasted no time getting right to work.

 

Then he gave me a quick kiss and sent me on my way to Abby's class where she was very happy to start her day!

 

 So I gave her a hug, swallowed my tears, and headed off to MY first day of school.

 

All and all, it was a successful morning.  And as far as first days of school go around here, pretty uneventful.  But before you go thinking I'm dead inside because I didn't cry my way to work, let me assure you that this process was not entirely drama free.

 

Rewind to last night.  Everything was going well.  We read "The Night Before First Grade" (thank you Uncle Jacob and Auntie Vesta for the great book!), we sprinkled Abby's "Ready Confetti" under both pillows (she was kind enough to share with her brother...but not too much because she will need to save some for second grade.  She's a hoarder.) and everyone was snuggled in.  But as soon as I shut the door to Ben's room, he burst into tears.  "Momma, I'm scared!!"  And as soon as I got him calmed down, I heard the crying from her room.  "I'm not going to school tomorroooooooowwww!"

 

 As you may know, I am not emotionally equipped to deal with sobbing kids who are scared to go to school.  Actually, I am.  Just not when they are mine.  So instead of saying something encouraging, I sat down and cried with them.  Because that's what I do the day before a new school year.  It's as much of a tradition as cake for breakfast!

 

So we all had a good cry and I finally found some encouraging words and tucked my sniffling babies into bed, not knowing what to expect in the morning.

 

As it turns out, there was nothing for any of us to worry about.  Both kids had a great first day.  Dinner was full of stories about their day.  They couldn't wait to show us their folders and Ben even had homework!  His first assignment was to fill a small bag with 5 things that tell about himself.  Abby didn't have any homework (much to her dismay) so while I was busy filling out all of their paperwork, she helped Ben with his.  When he bounced downstairs with his bag, I got some tears as he told me what he picked and why.  (I obviously wasn't going to make it the entire day without crying!)

 

 

 

 "A picture of you and me snuggling because I love you and I loved that day, a picture of Lambert because he is my favorite, a picture of me riding my bike because it is my favorite sport, a Lego because I love Legos and a Bronco helmet because it is my favorite team."  I love that kid!!  So proud of the thought he put into it and how well he knows himself!!

 

Even though Abby didn't have homework, she must have forgiven her teachers (she has two) because I found these after she went to bed:

 

First grade is off to a fantastic start.  I'm a hot mess but the kids seem to be doing just fine.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

The end is near here.  Our wonderful carefree days of summer are O-V-E-R.  And what a summer it has been!  In an effort to squeeze out every last bit of fun, we had quite an eventful weekend. 

 

 It all started out on Friday with- what else?- new chicks!! 

 

 Yeah, we know.  We have a problem.  These eight bring us up to 20 and we are happy to add Dandelion, Penny, Sunset, Big Stripe, Motorcycle, Fly Guy, Cheerio and Little Guy to our flock.

 

 

On Saturday morning we left the babies home alone (which is why we get chicken babies, not baby babies) and took the boat out for a day on the lake. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Yesterday was a day of swimming at a family member's house (I forgot my camera but my little fishies swam from the moment we got there until the moment we left.  More evidence that we NEED an in ground pool in our yard!!)

 

Today, was project day at our house.  We started out with a paper mache fruit bowl project they had seen in a book and have been begging me to do...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Twenty minutes of paper macheing, an hour and a half of cleaning paper mache off every surface in our downstairs.  Awesome.

 

 

After that, it was time for our family egg drop.  Yes, an egg drop.  The fifth graders at the kids' school did one in the spring and they came home very excited about it so I figured why not?  This was, surprisingly, quite a bit neater than our first activity of the day.

 

Everyone set out to different parts of the house to safely pack their egg for dropping...

 

 

 

 

 

 And then it was time.  Bombs away!!!

 

 

 

 Bad news for Abby and I...our eggs did not survive the fall.  But the boys???

 

 Success!!!

 

Just as we finished that, Abby's BFF stopped by with a BFF necklace for the first day of school (can you  see how their necklaces are connected?)

 

 After a little quiet time (you know, for me) Robbie helped the kids with some projects from Nana

 and we ordered a pizza for dinner.  We told the kids they could watch a movie while we ate and Abby asked if we could watch the Olympics.  The Olympics was probably the last time they got to watch TV while they ate...

 Now we are all snuggled up on the couch watching a movie.

 

When the movie is over, they will snuggle up on the big couch in the playroom for a sleepover with Daddy.

 

Summer, you were awesome.  And while I

 love the start of a new school year, I am never quite ready to be done with long days in the sun with my babies.  So here's hoping reality doesn't hit too hard tomorrow and that the memories of the summer get us through the dark days of winter.  Because I can do just about anything if I know I have this to look forward to: