j's off to school

So today is j's first day of Kindergarten. In fact I need to go and pick her up in about a half an hour. What did I do with the free time? I got the pictures that I took of her cropped and taken care of so I could post about it. So all in all I didn't do much.

She didn't seem to be nervous. She was a little excited but I got more of a "Let's just get this going and over with" type of vibe from her than anything else.



She is my baby. My last one to start school. Did I cry? Nope. I have been a little sad as each of the kids have started on their edamucational journey but only a few tears were shed as each started out. I was always more excited and happy for them than anything else.

I often have conversations where moms bring up how fast their kids grow up and how sad they are about it. Most of the time I feel uncomfortable in those conversations. Like some kind of wierdo. Why, you ask? Because I don't have those same feelings. I'm not sad to see my kids grow up. Isn't that why we are here? To grow and learn and progress.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to enjoy them in the moment. Not mourn the past or worry about the future (too much) but just enjoy them here and now. Celebrate with them as they reach new milestones, love them and help them through difficult times.

This mindset could come from the fact that I do have a difficult time when they are babies. But mostly I LOVE learning about them each day. Hearing stories of things that happened at school and how they liked Art but didn't like what was for lunch, or whatever!

I hope j. has an awesome time in school today. She's is more shy than the other three were and has some anxiety in large groups so hopefully all will be well. I can't wait to hear all about it as we walk home and forward on our journey here together.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!! Woot! The older three started school yesterday and the youngest goes for half a day starting next Monday. What to do, what to do? Actually I don't know that I'll have too much of a problem finding things to do for the next little while. I'm still trying to pull the house back together after the great switcheroo (pictures to come soon) and the veggies in the garden are starting to explode so I'll be trying to get those taken care of.

I'm trying not to think too much about what I could do with the time that the kids are in school because it seems that when I start making plans other stuff starts to pop up. So I know it sounds goofy but I don't want to get my hopes up too high about getting to do things I want to do.

Anyhow. Here are the pictures of the three older kids on their first day. I didn't try to get artsy or anything. Just wanted to document it. They don't like it when I take too long anyway.

So there they are. My 8th grader, my 5th grader and my 4th grader. Amazingly it was hard for me to watch J. go off this year. He is just getting so big and growing up to be an amazing young man.