School Daze!

Today was the first day of school. Usually I am a little sad about it. I really just like having my kids home, where I know that they are safe, and how they are behaving. This year, however, I was pretty ready. (Ready enough that we made a paper chain count down a couple of weeks ago so that we could keep track:) It has been a LONG summer full of adjustment and disorder, and I am ready to get back into the routine. (it's true, I say that we stick to a schedule because Ethan needs it, but really, it's all for me) But this morning I have to admit that I was a little sad to see them go. My baby is a grown up little girl now. I will never have those long days of nothing but "mom and Adie time" anymore. It's a little sad watching it all end. But, no matter how mom is feeling, the kids were EXCITED! -Like already awake, dressed, and watching for the bus by 6AM excited!
Here is Ethan in his iron man (A little too big, but who knew an 8 wouldn't fit an 8 year old) shirt. His hair is awesome too, right. He has a new hair cut (thanks Aunt Bobbi) and we did it in a cool messy-on-top do, but then Grandma got ahold of him and decided that he needed to have a more respectable ("missionary from the 70's") kind of do. And anything grandma says is cool, must be, right? So there you have it. He's "handsome just like grandpa" and all ready to go.

Adia is ready too. She agonized over what to wear. She has been planning it out for weeks now. She just couldn't decide for sure what would be the best First-day-of-school outfit. She is all about the bling, you know, and we bought her some cute little jeans with butterfly aplique' and a big rhinestone button on each back pocket. She LOVES those jeans and I thought for sure they would be picked for the most important outfit of the year. I was surprised when she picked out the least sparkly thing she had. When I asked her why she didn't pick the "fancy pants" she said, "Mom, I don't even know everybody in my class yet, I can't have them looking at my bum on the first day!" (Like I totally should have known that already. And on second thought, is it really acceptable for them to look at her bum on the second day? And don't even get me started about my fear of her showing off her new "days of the week" underpants during calendar time... Ugh, maybe we should home school her...)

She has been so excited to start school - for like two years, she has been waiting for this day. But last night as I was tucking her in she said "Mom, maybe I'm not ready yet. I don't even know how to read! Why didn't you teach me that this summer? You really should have done that by now! And what about this homework business? I don't know how to do homework! Why haven't you taught me that yet either? Come on, Mom!" I assured her that her teacher would teach her how to read, and I would help her with homework, and I told her that it's alright to be a little nervous, because no one really knows whats going on the first day. That seemed to calm her down a little. Then this morning my mom asked how she was feeling about it, and she answered "I'm good. No one knows what their doing the first day!" Then she got on the bus and sat next to her best friend Payton. She gave her a big hug and assured her, "Don't worry Payton, no one knows what their doing the first day!" Like a little pro. (I really hope that's true because she seems to be relying on that little truth quite heavily, and if she got there and every one really DID know what they were doing, I might be in a bit of trouble when she gets home.)
But if all else fails, they always have each other, and I think that gives them both a big dose of the confidence they need.