School Days....

I'm not sure who dislikes the beginning of school more--the kids, or me. Thankfully, Glo maintained her happy attitude about any kind of new adventure, including middle school this year, but the rest of us weren't exactly thrilled. We love staying up late, sleeping in the next morning, watching movies in the middle of the afternoon, playing outside, going out to lunch, just taking the day as it comes with no predetermined plan. What I wouldn't give for say, nine more months of summer. Then I would happily send the kids off to school, except... wait a minute... it would be summer again!

We took our traditional "first day of school" photo, although this year we didn't need coats like we did last year. In fact, today it's supposed to hit 90 degrees, so I made sure the kids dressed in light clothes to survive their non-airconditioned schools.

I couldn't help but laugh as I saw Glo helping Mark get ready. While Glo had her backpack packed the night before, and Johannah had her clothes laid out, Mark continued to try and delay the inevitable by not getting ready at all. In fact, you can see his class schedule in his hands that he just printed off, and Glo is putting his water bottle in his bag. You gotta love how Hannah passes the time!

There will be changes this year. Mark made the choice to drop his architecture class (which he loves) to give himself an hour at school to practice. He needs to do three hours a day to prepare for his college auditions, and he couldn't do it all at night. For the first time in 15 years, I won't have a child in elementary school--no more Valentines' parties, no more Halloween parades, no more cute art projects. We're back to two kids attending early-morning Seminary, and Mark is driving this year. Hannah will be at the high school full time now. Sigh...

Thankfully, I got everything ready this morning, despite having to go up and down the stairs a couple of times on my rear end. We even had a few minutes before Glo's bus came. Let the new year begin.