Aaand We're Back

Today the kids went back to the educational system. Because it's necessary that they get some book learnin' so I'm not supporting them when they're forty. 

First things first. Before Jane could start Kindergarten, she had to have a last day of preschool. We all had mixed emotions about this. On one hand, she was excited to move on. On the other hand, preschool has been so great for her. Her teachers have been fantastic and she has learned and grown so much.  

There was a bit of a gap between the end of preschool/summer camp and the beginning of school.We did our best to fill the gap.

Their days with daddy included hiking, movies and a trip to the dinosaur museum at UW.

Mommy isn't as cool. We decorated cupcakes. Yes, that is canned frosting. Why? Because it's disgusting and I didn't want to be tempted by the cupcakes. Is that reason enough?

Also, their back to school prep included haircuts. Emily requested bangs. Thanks to youtube, she now has bangs. Jane said she wanted fangs too. 

This morning, they woke up early and were ready to go. Emily to third grade and Jane to Kindergarten. Jane said she wanted Moaning Myrtle pigtails. There was some debate over whether Moaning Myrtle has curled or straight fangs. 

You be the judge.

As soon as Emily got to school, she reconnected with her friends. I love that she invited Jane to hang out with her. 

But as soon as the bell rang, things got real. It wasn't pretty. It was almost as bad as Emily's first day of Kindergarten. Almost. 

I tried to get her to smile for a picture. When that didn't work, I decided to take an authentic picture anyway. 

But by the end of the day she was happy. She was also singing a song about a gummy bear. Over. And over. And over. 

Emily had a great day of third grade. At this point for her it is business as usual. That's going to change in four years in a big way, so we will enjoy elementary school for now, trying to forget that Junior High is looming in the distance. 

I hope tomorrow will go a little better now that Jane is convinced that school is fun. 

On a personal note, I was so glad that I didn't go home to an empty house after dropping the kids off. When I went back to work it was earlier than I had wanted and I went back kicking, screaming and miserable. Now I am grateful for my job because it gives me a chance to learn and grow while my kids are learning and growing. Also because I hate crafts and cleaning house and I have no self control when it comes to baked goods. Me being at work really is best for everyone at this point. 

Happy School Year!

Miles and Milestones

Summer is very quickly drawing do a close. I'm not thrilled about it, but there's nothing I can do to stop it, so I'm trying to let her gracefully go as I enjoy her last few days.

The end of summer means school supply shopping so last week we took Jane to grab her very first school supplies. She picked out a backpack, markers, pencils and then, somewhere around the sticky notes, age related milestones collided when Jane announced, "There's something wrong with my tooth". I looked at her tooth and touched it only to find that it was excessively wiggly. I told her she had her first loose tooth and that soon it would fall out and she would get a dollar. That's when she started to cry. She told me, "I've been worried about it all day".  Our school shopping trip fell into disarray amid questions and lamentations such as:

"Will it make me bleed?"

"Will it hurt when I twist it?"

"Will it just fall out into my hand if I cup my hand under my mouth and then the blood will fall out too?"

"Will the blood get on my shirt?"

"How can I eat without my tooth?"

The other customers at Target were not impressed. Finally the shopping trip ended and we were able to remove a sobbing and terrified Jane from the store. We tried to assure her that it wouldn't hurt much and that her friends would think it was cool and that she would get her very own dollar and some candy and that she could stick her tongue through the hole. She continued to fret.

Then, a week later, she was sitting on the couch after dinner and suddenly asked, "Mom, where's my tooth?". Apparently she had been so afraid of pulling it that it just fell out during dinner and was swallowed along with her meal. 

Then began the lamentations about still being able to get a dollar since the tooth was now on its way to her colon. It turns out she still did get a dollar and her friends did think it was cool and she can stick her tongue through the gap. Oh and also, it didn't hurt. Not one bit. Now she is less anxious about the tooth's next-door-neighbor, which is wiggly as well. 

Here she is with her gap. That's not food on her nose. She crashed on the playground last week at school. 

Another end of summer ritual is running Race for the Cure. For the last seven years we have run it for Chris' mom. Before that, we just ran it because cancer is bad in general. Boo cancer.

My time was 27:54 which isn't great with respect to real athletes, but I'm not a natural runner and I worked pretty hard for it. Also it was a personal best, so I'm recording it as a win because I need to stop comparing myself to others

such as Chris who ran it in 21 minutes and change. He won't give me an exact time because he is extremely self deprecating. If I could run that fast, I would get my time tattooed on my body. And not on my back where no one would see it. I would put it on my forehead.  

My dad hung with the kids while we ran. Here he is reading to Jane and cousin Lucy. I appreciate him doing this every year. We got to run with my mom, my sister and her husband thanks to my dad's help. 

In just two short weeks, kindergarten is coming. And then I will be a mom of two gradeschoolers. That is a crazy thought. At least Jane will have a great conversation starter, comparing tooth gaps with her classmates....