Back to School!

August 25, 2009 was a very big day in our house. Not only was it the long-awaited first day of school, but it was also my birthday. Yeah! The morning was a frenzy of activity: kids running around getting dressed, looking for backpacks; parents shuffling around, looking for caffeine. We all made it out the door by 8:30, which was 20 minutes before the bus came. Brett even got up for the occasion, which was good because his camera works and mine doesn't. I'm hoping to post the pictures he took (if he ever emails them to me!). The bus came and my 3 big kids hopped on and off they went. Rose is in 4th grade this year and is in the ELO (gifted) program for math. David is in 2nd grade and Rachel is in 1st grade. My baby girl is in school all day now! Did I cry when they were gone? NO! For the first time in 2 years I don't have to be home every day at noon to get a kindergartener off the school bus. Yippee!

So what to do with only 1 child at home? Leave of course! My best friend came to take me out to breakfast for my birthday. We did some grocery shopping afterwards - just us. No kids around! She has 4 kids also, so for the 2 of us to escape alone was nothing short of a miracle. Back at home, Phil sent me to take a nap while he played with Matthew and cooked dinner. Yep, he cooked. He made chicken parmigiana, one of his specialties. It is SO YUMMY!!! We had cheesecake instead of birthday cake and the kids watched as I opened my present and cards. What a lovely day :D

The kids had a great first day of school. Rose loved 4th grade and said she couldn't wait for tomorrow. She is confident she's gonna have a great year. For the first time, she actually gets letter grades on her report cards. She said she's trying for all A's. She's so smart - I know she can do it! David also had a good day. He said his favorite part of the day was listening to his teacher read the class a book. And Rachel had a fabulous day - her first day of being in school all day. She wanted to buy lunch for her first day and came home a little frustrated. Lunchtime is very short for each grade so by the time you get through the lunchline you typically have only 10 minutes to eat (at the most). She wasn't used to this and ended up having to waste some of her lunch. She came home starving. She said her favorite part of the day was storytime. She loved hearing her teacher read their class a book, but couldn't remember what the book was about.

So now we're slowly getting back into the routine of school - making breakfast quickly, signing planners, making sure homework gets done. But it's a nice change of pace. I'm excited to see what this year brings for the kids!