Back to School

By now it should surprise no one that my kids went back to school on July 22. Every year gets a little bit sadder.  I notice my kids getting older.  Our schedules are fuller and I can see the clock counting down until they're gone for good.

This year was REALLY hard to send them back.  We had just come home from a fun filled 2 week vacation and no one was sick of each other or our house yet.  But off they went. 

I actually got home from the gym around 6:40 to find all of them completely dressed and fed. That excitement lasted all of two days.

Ellie is in 6th grade this year and rotates for all of her classes.  It's her last year at CTA, so she's the big girl on campus. I cannot possibly imagine not having all of my kids at the same school next year.  She's suppose to go off all by herself to Junior High next year?  To quote my niece, Olivia, "NEVER!"

 

 I've noticed her wearing mascara, she spends forever on her hair and nails and she apparently started shaving her legs last year without telling me.

 

She has a great group of friends, but I've noticed they're all over instagram and KIK (??) which seems way too grown up for me. Who knew Facebook would be for the old ladies?

Nate is in 3rd grade. He wants black Nike socks and I dropped more on sneakers for him than I ever have for the other kids because he is *really* into having awesome running shoes. And I get that.

His best friend, Travis, is in his class again along with a lot of great kids from Kindergarten. He is going to have a great year.

Sadie is in 1st grade.  At Meet the Teacher, her teacher came over to meet her and Sadie exclaimed, "Oh Mom, Tanvi is back from India," and ran off to give her friend a hug.  Her teacher turned to me, "I can see she's social."  At least she knows what she is getting into.

 

Her teacher is just who I would have wanted her to have if I could have picked anyone and Sadie just loves school.

 

Our next door neighbors just moved to our school and Sadie is over the moon because Lindsay is in her class.  They even planned on wearing matching first day of school outfits (this actually happens frequently NOT on purpose when you attend a uniform school).

All of the kids got to school, plopped down their bags, ran off and totally ignored me.  Well, Ellie actually hung out with me a little bit which makes her my favorite.

 

 Or at least explains why she has more pictures than the other kids. Not a tear was shed, even by me. Just wait until next year, though.  I will be a sobbing mess. 

Luke and I picked up a friend and headed off to our annual Back to School Brunch with all of our friends and then got home in time to put together our "Back to Hogwarts" dinner. Usually I have also sorts of great ideas for our first day of school dinner, mostly provided by Pinterest, but this year I hadn't given it a second thought so I let the kids pick what kind of dinner they wanted. It wasn't my best year since I threw everything together at the last minute but the kids said it was their favorite so far.

Ellie wanted a feast like Hogwarts complete with a roasted turkey. A Costco chicken was more in my culinary skill range.

 I pulled out the nice table settings, ate by candle light and drank our butter beer out of goblets. Side note -- only one of my kids actually likes butter beer.

I spent $50 at Sweeties buying candy wands and gummy creatures (the rat and spider were hidden under Nate and Ellie's napkins just to freak them out).

There was pudding, gummy frogs and the biggest hit was the Bertie Bott jelly beans.  Those things have nasty flavors and we tried them all. I had some quotes from Dumbledore about choosing the right and being a good example. The night was perfect.

I did insist we have a *real* dessert instead of just candy and made carmelitas. I had been craving them since my girlfriend Brenna brought them to a party we were at and needed an excuse to make them.  We ate almost the entire pan and what we didn't eat, I finished off for breakfast the next day.

I just love my kids and how much fun they are. Even though they grow up more each year and I have to say good bye to fat feet and chubby fingers, there's a lot of things I gain. I love playing games with them and sitting around the table discussing school, friends, life, the Gospel. . . Plus I hear that grandparent gig is pretty sweet.