First Days

The first days of school have come and gone.  I'm still trying to figure out where summer went.  Seriously...has anyone seen it fly by?

Since it seems there is absolutely nothing I can do about the start of school, I suppose it is high time I embrace it.  At least a third of my children decided to adopt this philosophy.

I had three very different first days.  It went something like this.

As much as I didn't want to, I succumbed to my alarm clock way too early Monday morning to wake up my 1st grader.  He literally did a back flip out of bed when I tried to gently whisper, "it's the first day of 1st grade".

From then on he was full throttle and nothing but a chatter box all the way to his classroom door.  {I have this loving habit of always insisting on driving him the first day of school}.  His excitement was hardly containable.  I was enjoying every minute of it.

He sported his new backpack too.  I must have shown him a million catalogs and options, but as soon as he found the Eagle and blue and yellow it was a done deal.  School pride.

Did I mention he was waaaayyyy excited to go back to school?

My favorite part of the day was when he got off the bus.  He immediately exclaimed, "I love 1st grade!".  Then I got a play by play of every single minute of the day.  That is saying a lot from this boy of few details.

Maggie had her first day of 4's {aka Pre-K} on Monday as well.  She was happy, not nearly as over joyed as her big brother.  But who really could be?

We took her standard first day front door pictures, her smile still in tact.  We drove to school, smile still in tact. And we arrived at the door, smile still in tact.

Then she took one step in...complete panic.

I gave her a giant hug and kiss.  Told her she was going to blow the teachers socks of with her brilliant self and then I put her in her their loving hands.  Ugh, ugh,ugh...tough love.

I got a text and picture {gotta love technology} around 10:35, saying Maggie was finally settling in and doing great.

I could finally exhale.

When I picked Mags up her smile had returned and she said, "at first I was scared and I wanted you, then I decided I liked it!".  Kind of reminds me of that whole meeting the princesses thing last month.

Sweet sweet girl.  I can't even begin to think about next year, we will both surely be a mess.

By Tuesday, I was up for my last first day.  This one was going to be toughie.  I had strategically scheduled an appointment directly after drop off to buffer the pain.  Instead of its intended purposes I was just very late.

Lucy has been talking about going to school for over a week now.  She had been saying, "big guhrl" and "mommy riiiight back".  She was ready or thought she was right up until the moment we hit the  classroom door.  All the way down the hall Lucy was hopping, running, bouncing and giggling saying, "go skoool".

It was the exact moment that she realized I wasn't stepping inside that classroom door with her that she lost it.  I mean full hyperventilating, red faced tears.  I almost lost it with her.  I wanted to snatch her up and say, 'we don't have to this.  Lets just go home'.

But I didn't.  Instead I gave her a kiss, reminded her I would be right back, and then loitered in the hall....for a long while.  And when that didn't give a nice enough view I went outside and peered through the windows.  Just like a true stalker.

At last, I decided to let the teachers do their jobs and I sulked out of that preschool building like never before.

I kindly received a call at 10:20 to say Lucy had finally settled in.  I could exhale again for the second day in a row.

When I picked her up her emotions were all confused, turned upside down and inside out.  She ran to me...cried... smiled...said, "go skool"...cried some more...laughed...and wanted to go home.  We had a bit of emotion sorting before we could actually get buckled in the car.

So many firsts in so little time with so many emotions.  We plan on spending the next week month getting used to our new roles and schedules.

And once we do, I am convinced, it is bound to be one of the greatest school years ever.  With a start like this, I mean it has to.

Three Peeks

We were sneaking peeks all over the place today.  Three kids...three classrooms...and I wish three hours to get it done.  But, it was more like two.

And so it goes in the life of a mommy with three little ones.

Jack and Mags head back on Monday.  And littlest Lu follows close behind with her first day being Tuesday.  I can hardly believe it myself.  I can definitely say for at least a third of my trio, it's time.  And I say that as kindly as possible.

Never the less, it's still taxing emotionally and wonderfully exciting all at the same time.  They just keep growing up.  Where does the time go...seriously?

So the girls were up first.  Off to preschool we went directly after breakfast.  This may be one of my hardest years to date to do this.  Maggie's last year at preschool and Lucy's first year of preschool {sigh}.

Maggie settled right in and began checking out her tropical themed room.  She was thrilled with the newness of her classroom.  I could hardly get her to leave when it was time to visit Lucy's room.  She begged me to "leave her" there.  Heart breaking but, very comforting at the same time.

{oh...and please excuse the quality of these photos, I was lucky to get them with all that I was juggling, trust me}

It doesn't hurt that her teachers are fabulous for this all important year.  Or at least I foresee it that way.  They were beyond welcoming and full of energy.  I was squealing with joy when I learned Maggie would be reunited with Ms. Meridith.  She was Maggie's toddler room teacher way back three years ago.  Maggie got a kick out of knowing that Meridith used to change her diapers.

Ms. Stacey is bound to make everyday of learning fun and exciting.  And who wouldn't love that?  Maggie was tickled over her collection of hats.

And to top off all that fabulousness, these sweet girls will be spending the year together.  That was an answered prayer right there. Yay!

As to be expected, Lucy started the visit to her young 2's class on the shy side.  In no time, she was checking the place out and making her self right at home.  When our visit was over she nearly threw a nice tantrum saying, "no go, no go".  We will see how Tuesday goes.  Fingers crossed.

Lu's teachers are as sweet as ever...Ms. Johanna.  Which Lucy has already been practicing..."Ms. Honna".

And Ms. Janet.  I've been wishing and hoping to be in class with her since back in the day.  My young two year old made it possible!  I'm thinking a great year in this class is inevitable.

Neither girl would part with their school bags as we headed out the preschool door.  I was on a serious time crunch, but how was I to stop this cuteness.  They were both so proud and full of anticipation.

We skidaddled home just in time for me to trade out the girls for my big 1st grader.  By this time I was nearly wiped out, but Jack's enthusiasm gave me a second wind.

We raced upstairs to meet this lovely lady, Ms. W.  I could see it in Jack's eyes immediately, he was back at home.  That boy LOVES school.  He was thrilled to meet his teacher and just as thrilled to see 10 kids from his K class.  The perfect mix of new friends and old friends.

This old 1st grade teacher in me, could see right away that we are in for another fabulous school year.  Ms. W is energetic, kind, academic, and oh so, organized.  A teacher after my own heart.

Jack settled right in to his new big kid desk without a wince.  He would have let me leave him right there until Monday morning had I let him.  I kept him busy filling out paperwork and then we explored his room for a bit.  It seems Ms. W is a serious Auburn fan.  Jack was the first to let her know the bad news...his team beat her team in the national championship.  I'm assuming it's something we can all work past.

So there you have it.  Three peaks.  And three great school years on the horizon.

Now to enjoy our last weekend.  Monday morning will come way too soon.

Lemonade For Sale

We are squeezing in every last bit of summer fun we can this week.  We had a few final activities and this was the week to get it done.  We made a trip to White Water.  All I can say is I survived.  There is a reason I saved it for last.  And another reason there are no pictures.

But, much more enjoyably, we set up and ran our very first lemonade stand.  Every since Lucy's 1st birthday party, I have been itching to get that precious stand outside for lemonade.  Today was the day.

The kids and I made a quick run to the dollar store yesterday to pick up a few supplies.  One being poster board.  Jack did the words and illustration and Maggie colored it.

It's very important to Jack that everyone knows he WAS NOT involved in the coloring aspect.  I can't say I blame him...I feel the very same way sometimes.  And then have this unnecessary need to explain it to everyone.  Clearly, something Jack and I need to work on.  I'll add that to our list.

But, once we came to terms with the advertising, the sale was on.

I just love that our first customer was our sweet neighbor from across the street.  She was basically summoned out of her house by a ringing doorbell and two very eager kids.

We had moments of a mad rush of lemonade buyers intermittent with down time.  To my surprise, those quiet moments were few and far between.  I mean the UPS guy even stopped by after turning his semi around in the cul de sac.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly why he was driving a semi in the first place.  But, hey, we'll take the business.

When Jack wasn't serving or sitting, he was riding his bike up and down the street soliciting customers. You could hear him a block away, "LEMONADE 25 CENTS A CUP!".

I was pretty impressed with how long the kids stuck this out.  We were out there nearly two hours and racked up a whopping 17 dollars and some change.  Not bad for 25 cent cups of lemonade.

We finally called it quits when the last drop of lemonade was poured out of the pitcher.  Someone got the bum deal on that cup.

Now the kids are begging to set it up again tomorrow a.m. I'll take it...anything is better than another day at the water park.  Anything!

Date At Legoland

I was way over due for a date with my favorite big boy.  The last time was at the beginning of the summer when we had our adventurous date in the treetops.  That was going to be a tough one to beat...for me anyway.

However, nothing can beat Legoland for Jack.  He is still a Lego maniac and his obsession seems to multiply daily.  I knew his excitement would be nothing but contagious.

So we headed out, just the two of us, to play with bricks.  It's amazing how quality our time together can be without any distractions {i.e. little sisters}.  

From the minute we arrived, Jack was begging me to take pictures of him.  After having a camera glued to my hands for the previous week of vacation, I decided to leave it at home.  Shame on me!

Never fear, I pulled out the iphone and hoped for the best.  I'd like to think I'm getting better at it.

We arrived pretty early so the place was nearly empty.  A first for one of our visits.  Wow, what a difference that made.  We saw parts that we never knew existed.  Jack even got an opportunity to stand on the brick conversion scale.  That is generally impossible with the crowds.  We learned he weighed nearly 21,000 bricks.

There was absolutely no line for Merlin's ride...another first for us.  And we took our first selfie.  Clearly, I need to work on that skill.

The best part of all was sitting, without a thing in the world to distract me, and building an amazing house, roof and all, with Jack.  Team work and mother/son bonding at it's finest.

As soon as Jack got a glimpse of his favorite Lego character, Emmet, he just had to have a picture.  I have a feeling I might be trying to concoct something similar for Halloween.

Before hitting the 4D Lego movie, we made a stop at the Duplo area.  These are generally reserved for the younger guests.  Yet somehow, in Jack's ingenious mind, he figured out a way to make them entertaining for a 7 year old.  That's him with his arm sticking out.  He built an entire fortress around himself and I had the honors of adding a roof.  Kids came from all around to marvel at his creation.

We topped off our date with lunch at Moes {his favorite} and headed home with a coveted Lego Movie Lego.

I have come to cherish my alone time with Jack.  He's a pretty amazing kiddo!