Starting Back To School

Sunday night we celebrated the start of school by making homemade pizzas and hanging out as a family.  In my mind this night went a whole lot differently then it actually played out.   In my mind, there would have been a lively discussion between all the kids talking about the cool things they were looking forward to doing in their new classrooms, which friends they would like to sit beside and what they thought their teacher would be like.  But to be brutally honest, this night was pretty much not enjoyable at all.  There was a lot of prepping of food (by Adam), I was wrapping cute "back to school gifts", the littles were arguing, the bigs were talking super loud trying to get up over the volume of Theodore and Ava Jane's fussing, and the longer it went on, the more frazzled my nerves became.  We did make the best of it, and the evening settled down a bit, but let me just say, having prepped for the back to school dinner, making breakfast casseroles and blueberry muffins for the next mornings big breakfast and making lunches too, my poor feet were killing me after having stood for five hours straight (except for the twenty minutes that I sat down to eat!)

I decided to try and do a table-scape that would get everyone in the spirit of "back to school" and thought it'd be fun to have a few little gifts at each persons seat.  I thought everything turned out pretty cute--I just wish that pictures could tell you what was really happening, it was not a dreamy, idyllic experience.  My sweet nephew was having a good melt down because he didn't want to look at my cute centerpiece, he wanted to use the items--specifically the water color paints, which made Ava Jane want to use the glue and crayons which led to quite a bit of fussing and screaming by the two youngest little ones which caused the older boys to continue talking extra loud to be heard above all the noise!  To say my nerves were shot would not even come close.

Monday morning was a first in our house, everyone started school on the same day and everyone was excited to go into their classrooms. The big boys both were excited to get into their classes and see and meet their new friends.  Even Ava Jane and Emerson went right into their classes with no tears shed, I didn't even cry, though I was not ready for summer to end.  I would have liked it to last a few more weeks.

A big "thank you" goes out to our wonderful, new Assistant Principal, Mr. Helmick, who was outside greeting kids as they arrived yesterday!  He gave high fives and good wishes to my boys and many others as we entered the building and even offered to take this family picture for us.  There are so many things that I'm thankful for about Roberts Elementary, the teachers that we have are amazingly seasoned teachers who seem to be organized and kind; the administration is caring and attentive to kids needs and the families that attend are awesome!  We are so grateful to be apart of this school.

How cute are these two little preschoolers?  I can't believe that Emerson is in the 4's and Ava Jane is in the 2's!  Where did my babies go?  (I joked with a friend yesterday that it feels like a huge step in the right direction now that I only have one child that regularly needs help when buckling her seatbelt!)

That afternoon I hosted Popsicles in the Park. It originally started out as a small group of Mommas that I know who go to my kids elementary school, but it grew to be quite a large crowd. I originally only got four boxes of twenty-four popsicles and thanks to a few other ladies who also brought some, we ended up with some 240 of those sugary sweet treats and only had six remaining when the afternoon was over and done.  I decided to host this little event because I knew there were lots of new families at Roberts who might enjoy the opportunity to let their kids play so that the Mommas could put faces with names and visit a little bit.  I'd say it was a hit and a complete successs, I know that my kiddos enjoyed their popsicles for sure!  We might just have to make this an annual event!

These two are so cute! They were together in Kindergarten and are together again in first grade!  Lucy and Lawson are pretty adorable, don't you think?!  We had a good first day of school!  I hope today has gone as well!  I look forward to seeing them in just a few minutes!