Off to School

Finally, the big day arrived. The kids could hardly sleep last night, they were so excited.  And, to my big surprise, Andersen was the first one up and ready this morning, ready to go at 5:45 AM.  I'm sure once the excitement wears off, that will be an entirely different story.  

Andersen starts half day kindergarten. His older sisters kept telling him what to do, what to expect, ect. . . . . He sure got a mouthful from them.  Last night he sprinkled a little kindergarten dust (ziplock bag full of sparkly confetti) under his pillow so he would wake up excited and ready for school.  And it worked! 

 I had a lump in my throat all morning as I watched him get ready.  It's a little hard for me to send away my littles, knowing that once they leave the nest, they are influenced by much more than just me during the day, knowing that I can't control his environment, I can't  be the one who catches him when he does or says something wrong and help correct.  And I'm not the ONE person in his life that's always there.  

He had me tuck in his shirt three times this morning, tie a triple knot in his shoe laces so they don't come undone, and comb his hair with lots of gel, even though its still a buz from summer and can't really be combed over.  I love how he wanted to look his best.

EmmaClaire starts 2nd grade and is pretty excited about making new friends.

Abby starts 5th grade and hopes to have some good missionary experiences with new friends this year.  

Mason starts junior high, 7th grade. He was a little nervous about not remembering his schedule, having enough time to get from class to class, and staying organized with all his schoolwork.  He stayed up late last night, going through his school stuff over and over again, making sure he had what each class required.  This is the first year that he doesn't have big brother Taylor at school with him.  I think it will be a good growing experience for him to find his place and gain confidence.

After dropping them off, I returned home to a very quiet, clean house with Kate still sound asleep.  Wired feeling.  I'm excited to focus my time and energy on Kate, now that the others are gone.  When everyone is here, it's so easy for me to ask one of the bigger girls to help Kate when she needs something.  I look forward to the quiet, uninterrupted time I now have to just snuggle with that sweet girl.

It was a great summer.  Now, we're excited for another great school year!