Happy first day of school! Two out of four of our girls were chomping at the bit to go to school this year. I almost typed "this fall" but since my weather app says today will be 103 degrees, I went with "year" instead.
To bring a little cheer to the morning we made rainbow pancakes for breakfast. I forgot to take a photo of our efforts this morning so I'm using this month old picture of Natalie. She is the most excited for rainbow pancakes, followed by Maddie. Claudia has to eat too early in order to catch the bus so she missed out, and Kate goes later in the morning. And now you know our full breakfast routine. Ha!
Isn't she just so sweet!
This photo of Claudia looks blurry or hazy but it's not the quality of the camera, rather the extreme humidity in the air that caused my camera lens to fog up immediately after going outside. Claudia wasn't super excited for me to take a first day of school photo but she played a good sport and we got it done before she had to walk a few blocks to catch the bus. Yes, pants are an unusual choice for a 103 degree day in a bus with no air conditioning but she runs cold like her mom who is also wearing pants today too.
Side note: I got up early and went for a run this morning despite the temps and humidity. It was a poor choice not just because of the heat but also because I tripped over a crack and quite literally face planted and shattered part of my phone screen. I got back up after embarrassingly peeling myself off the sidewalk, finished my run and I will prioritize the necessary screen repair later. Double side note: my idea of running these days is the pace of a snail on rollerblades. How's that for a visual?
Claudia is starting 8th grade; her last year of middle school.
The second round of kids to leave the house was Natalie and Maddie who were ready for the day with plenty of time to spare. These two were 100% into first day of school photos.
Natalie is starting 5th grade; her last year of elementary school.
Maddie is starting 3rd grade.
And last but not least we have Kate. She starts school at 3rd hour which doesn't begin until 10:42 a.m. You can tell the humidity had continued to increase significantly because Kate looks to be standing in fog but it's really just all of the dang moisture in the air.
Kate is starting her junior year of high school.
A handful of parents get a little weepy over first days. I have never. Historically I've been so excited to watch them grow, meet up with friends, try new activities and sports that I've never really worried about them growing up. I honestly feel like growing up is fun both for the kids and for me! But this year I had to swallow a great big frog in my throat when I dropped Kate off. I filled out the forms for her medication in the office and held back tears walking out to the car. I spent a good chunk of my morning before Kate woke up asking God to please let kids be kind. Please let kids see Kate as one of them. Please don't let any high schoolers break her heart with their words. God, please let Kate have a joyous first day. Let her feel good and find good people to talk to.
But then I sat down in the van, started up the engine and the song playing on the radio was "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. I smiled to myself recognizing that we got through summer in decent shape and everyone is off to school. Thank you awesome 80's band for bringing me back to a better state of mind.
On a related but slightly different topic, I decided to have a family theme for the coming school year and I added it to our message board. The theme for the year is "self discipline." I revealed the theme to the girls last night at dinner and they cheered at the idea. Okay, they actually rolled their eyes. I explained what self discipline is and that its something they learn and earn. Then they all understood and cheered some more. Actually they groaned. Regardless of the very mild protests I think keeping a theme and checking in with them occasionally will remind them to practice self discipline...to be disciplined enough to get the work done before fun, to study even if you'd rather put it off, to follow through with the workouts at various sports practices, to not talk in class when you're aren't supposed to (Maddie) etc, etc...
We'll see how this goes...
Wishing you and your family a school year of fun, learning and growth!
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