School Dayz

In case you forgot, we don't have summer vacation in Arizona. Truthfully, it's because if we did it would have to stretch from May until October. Don't worry, you can make fun of the fact that we live on the surface of the sun because while I'm sitting by the pool, I'm thinkng about how I'm going to rub our gorgeous winter weather in everyone's faces when they're shoveling snow in April.

OK, back to the whole school thing. Summer literally never ends in Arizona, so we have year round school which every mother I have ever met appreciates. The end of July, my kids headed off to 4th and 1st grade.

Last year there were tears, so I was convinced this year was going to be a repeat. Dustin kindly agreed to come up with me so we could divide and conquer with the kids. We got up to school half an hour before it even began, but you seriously have to if you want to find a parking space. I got to the school 3 minutes before the start of Meet the Teacher and had to park a good quarter of a mile away. Which might not seem bad, but remember, it's July in Arizona.

As we walked up Nate saw his best friend from Kindergarten, Travis. They got excited over their new Mario lunch boxes, put their back packs down and ran off. This was not the dramatic scene I expected.

Luckily for me, I still have one child who know how to make her mom feel loved. Ellie moped and refused to talk to anyone. Finally Grace showed up and announced that she had picked the desk next to Ellie and everything was better.

The next thing I know, the bell was ringing and the kids lined up and headed in. Nate was so excited and Ellie totally ignored me. Can you imagine? So I guess I've learned the official age you do not respond to your mother yelling, "I LOVE YOU," as you walk into school. In my defense, everyone I know still does this to their high schoolers, so I'm sure I'm not the most embarrassing mother in the world. I mean, I'm a cool mom, right?

Luke, Sadie and I headed off to celebrate/commiserate the first day with lots of friends at our traditional brunch. It luckily ate up the entire morning, so I didn't realize how lonely my house was going to be. By the time we got home and I put Luke down for a nap I was slightly excited that I didn't have anything to clean.

Everyone had a great day. They both LOVE their teachers and Ellie even proclaimed, "I GET to do homework." Best first day of school yet!