Back to School!! (or OFF to school . . .)

A strange thing happened today. We walked into school with children and walked out without any of them. That has never happened before. The "baby" has started Kindergarten . . . We had talked about it. We had prepared for it. We knew it was coming. It was such an empty feeling. The pit of my stomach was queasy for several hours. It was not the emotion I had prepared myself for. No tears, just queasy emptiness. I came home and puttered around the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast . . .

Then, I went to the church for a staff meeting, out to lunch with the staff and then off to the grocery store where I strolled the aisles not looking at the time or worrying about how much the babysitter was costing me and how much I'd better hurry and get back! Queasy was gone! Empty was still there, though.

I'm very excited about the school year - as we usually are every year. But, after a year of struggling with school work, teacher conflict and so much testing last year, I'm expecting much improvement this year. We're already excited about the teachers everyone has and that makes a huge difference when you feel good about that!
A left for her first day of middle school at 7:15 this morning. Dad took her by himself so we wouldn't have any more extra bodies up there than necessary and the other 3 could finish breakfast and get dressed for their first day of school. Dad got back home and pronounced that "THAT was a scary place". NOT what Mom wanted to hear! He was referring to the packed hallways and chaos as everyone tried to once again figure out their locker combinations and find their first classroom. We had practiced her locker combination over and over the day we picked up her schedule. Dad hadn't been there, so he got to see the lay of the land this morning. He wasn't impressed!


After Dad got back from the middle school, the other 3 were ready to go and lined up for their traditional pictures out front.
G - kinder
S - 4th gr
K - 1st gr



G was excited about her first day of kindergarten and her teacher, who is a lefty like she is!








K got the teacher Mom REALLY was hoping and praying for this summer. Mom had heard great things about her last year - that she's a sweet Christian lady and her husband (a youth minister?) comes up to help her in class sometimes. Her smile each morning is going to make K's year! And she said she was in trouble when she was a kid because she would finish her work and start getting in to things she shouldn't! Sounds like a perfect match of understanding!







S gets to be the big sister this year at school. I think she's excited about it. She has one of A's teachers from 4th grade and lots of kids from her previous classes in her class AGAIN this year. Several of them have been together for 3 or 4 years now!

Hey, Mom got in the picture! (See the shadow in the bottom left corner . . .)

Walking into school . . .

G and one of her friends from church. It was so sweet, when G sat down, her little friend right away started sharing her blocks with her so they could make something together. G looks like such a big girl!! Too big!!

K and Dad find his locker and get all his backpack stuff put away. This is his first year with a locker and he's already figured out that he can fit himself in there. His teacher was standing nearby and she made a note to herself that they would have to have a class discussion about that the first day . . . ! :-)