School Days

Every year we take a first day of school picture on the porch. Every single year - even when she was 18 months and heading to MDO. Mark's Aunt Melanie gave me the idea to take my kids' picture in the same place each year on the first day of school. It's a simple little tradition.

Punkin heading into First Day Of School Chapel. She looks so happy and excited. Not at all what I looked like when I attended chapel at D.B.U.

"I'm just gonna grab my purse and head on out," said Meagan.

Well...Allison's first day was a hit. I am a mother, so first things first - she was VERY CUTE in her little uniform. Her hair was perfect, her headband looked so cute...as I am sure you can guess I could go on and on, but I will save it for her grandmothers and her daddy and spare the rest of you. There is no limit to how many times I could type the word "cute" on this blog. I'm sure you can tell from the picture, she was cute, cutie patootie, cute-a-licious, cute-a-rama, cuteness personified, CCCCUUUUTTTTEEEE!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, her first day was great. She made new friends, got to sit with her friend from last year (who is also going to this school for the first time) at lunch, LOVED the playground even though she kept having to tuck her shirt in because her skirt was a little big and I need to take it up a little, says her teacher is VERY nice, followed all the directions and all the rules and even got herself some chocolate milk to go with her lunch from home. This was pretty new for Allison because they ate in the classroom at the school she came from. So, I explained that there was money in her lunch account for milk and hot lunches and she was free to get milk anytime she would like. She is a details person, so she asked, "How much money is in my account?"

"Thirty dollars." I replied.

So, it must have still been hard for her to believe she didn't have to pay for her milk today, because at lunch she asked her teacher, "Can I really get my own milk, because my mom said she paid $30 for me to get milk." It sounded so funny when she told me. I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying, "Milk really has gone up!"

She even gave her teacher an apple with a little handwritten note attached that said, "I'm so glad you're my new teacher. Love, Allison" (Allison was in cursive, and she dotted her i with a heart. Oh, yeah.) Now, this was not our idea, originally. One of the sweetest students I ever had walked into my room on the first day of school and handed me an apple. I was in teacher heaven. And I never forgot it. It's the little things, you know? I love the little things.

As a mom, it is hard to see the first day of school approaching. I love my kids being home. I like all of us being together during the day (most days!) so even though Allison really does love school and she's ready for it when it comes, I am usually a little sad on the first day. On the sunny side, though, bedtime is AWESOME. People who know us know that we've never been real strict on the bedtime unless it's convenient for us. Jim would not like this. And he would be right! We have to have a real reason to move the night time routine along and get them in bed on time. But, man, once they are in bed I feel like I have all this free time. It's crazy. Parents of the year, we are not. And we'll be the first to admit it, too.

Time is ticking on my free-time. Back to the flight of the bumblebee for me.