Today is the day!!!
Wake up early…
Breakfast…
With a spoon…
All ready!!!
Walking in to the middle school… getting suckers at the door from campus life!
They look a little nervous don’t they? I hope it’s going well for them!!
I am enjoying the semi-peace & quiet… I still have one here…he doesn’t go til Saturday.
Pam
So, I sit here on the night before I send my baby off to all day kindergarten & 5 days before I send my oldest off to live at college.
The week I’ve been dreading, anticipating, worrying, excited over, & thinking about for well over a year.
I think I am ready.
I know I am ready for the structure that school brings to our lives.
Ready for some time without children around.
It’s been a long summer.
It’s been 19 years since I was without kids all day every day. (Kiahna’s done preschool, but by the time you get home it’s time to go back and pick her up again, doesn’t really cut it)
Of course 19 years ago, when I wasn’t a parent, I had just graduated from high school.
Bizarre.
I have high hopes of gaining some ground on my house. I have high hopes of cleaning & organizing & sorting & throwing away & giving away.
I wonder what it’s like to live in a house that is cleaned all the time & not in a constant state of disarray.
I’d love to know.
But, for the most part the price has been too high to find out before now. And even now I still don’t know if I want, need, or should make that my priority.
Maybe.
Will I volunteer at the school. Not sure. Not sure if it would help Kiahna or hurt to see me there. Not sure I have it in me to give of my time this year.
Feeling very burnt out and frazzled.
Frustrated with my children. Lost phones. Poor choices. Miscommunications. Disappointments. Noise. Fighting. Complaining. Whining. Laziness… life without structure is fun for awhile, but not for very long.
I am ready to send James to college. I think. I know it’s time. I am tired of thinking about it. Wondering about it. Anticipating it. Let’s just get this done already & move on to our next new normal.
We will be leaving early Saturday morning and spending the whole day on campus with him. There is a family picnic at 5:00 and then they pretty much dismiss us and take the students off for 4 days of freshmen orientation.
It’s time.
Remind me of that next week okay. I think I will be okay, but just in case.
So, I am trying to pray for the teachers & the students, my mind keeps going 1000 mph in other directions… praying for peace.
Praying for God to show me how He wants me to spend these new free hours I now am going to have in my life starting tomorrow…
It’s hard to believe!
Pam
If you are interested in seeing some of the musical my 2 oldest are in this weekend, here are some videos!
James looks like this…& has a high-squeaky voice for much of the play (which it seems is quite harmful on your vocal cords & is going to be a challenge to sing tonight in a “normal” voice)
Zach looks like this…
Pam
The theme this week at I heart faces is “back to school”. My kids are on their 4th week of school, with their first mid-terms coming out soon…
But I thought I’d play along any way! Because would doesn’t want to see, again, the girl who went back to school with a big sticker on her head!!
Big sticker… cheesy grin… classic…
Glad you are loving school this year Kiahna!
There is also a "just for fun” collage entry! So I’ll repost my collage I made earlier of the first day of school around here!
1-senior
1-freshman
1-seventh grader
1-fifth grader
1-kindergartener
1-preschooler
1-very busy mom!
Visit my photography blog Moments... by Pam to see more of my photo work!
AND visit I heart faces to play along & see the other entries!
Pam
Monday was Kiahna’s first day of preschool!
Kiahna is going to a special needs preschool, based on her behavior last year when I had her in a preschool program.
First day went very well for her! Teacher says she is seeing much improvement in her behavior! Let’s hope it continues!!
She is just going 2 days for now, and after September we meet again & hopefully she will go 4 afternoons a week.
My biggest stresser has been getting Jadon picked up from kindergarten & then getting to Kiahna’s preschool in less than 10 minutes. I think I have found a solution though. Jadon’s teacher said I could take him 5 minutes early. That will give me 15 minutes to get from one school to the other. Hope it works out better today!
Eating lunch before we go…
No, Mom. I DONT WANT to take the sticker off my forehead that I got at the grocery store this morning…
…fake smiles… stickers on heads… & camera batteries that die as you walk into the school… that’s what memories are made of…
Pam
Lots going on around here!
Last night Zach had 18 friends over!
Today is my dad’s 60th Birthday!
Today is Kiahna’s first day of preschool!
Tonight is Zach’s first football game!
Pictures to come later!
Pam
I am loving having routine back in my life! LOVING IT! Loving it. I really love routine.
Loving getting up earlier & getting things done.
Loving that I clean my kitchen and it stays clean until they return.
Loving that my house is cleaned up & stays pretty clean until they come back (and 5 book bags plus a couple gym bags & 10 shoes fling over the clean living room!)
Loving 7:30 bedtimes.
Loving feeling like I actually accomplish something.
This morning was day 3. First two days, all the younger kids popped out of bed without even being told. Today I had to wake them.
Today they were grouchy. Slower. Not a good sign.
Today James yelled at Jadon to hurry up & brush his teeth. James said he didn’t yell. Jadon said he did. Jadon cried & clung to me. Not a fun way to send off the kids.
James drives them to school most days.
This afternoon after school there was a wreck. Three boys from our high school. Kyle, a senior, is “unresponsive” at this point. The other two are brothers, freshman & junior. The younger,Josh, has a “shattered” pelvis & “will be lucky to walk again” & had a ruptured spleen. The third boy, Jarod, walked away with a few stitches.
SO SCARY & SAD. Please pray for them. They are not boys that I know real well, or that are close friends with my boys. It’s hard to find words to pray.
If the report that the boys brought home tonight is true it was just careless speeding & passing that caused it. How easily it could have been one of my boys making that same silly choice.
Uhhhh… Lord Jesus, Have Mercy.
It’s hard to go on just talking about life after saying all that.
Hard to put my kids in my seniors car in the morning, praying he makes wise choices while driving. How quickly things happen.
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I took Kiahna to her preschool orientation this morning. She did really well. The teachers said they could tell a difference in her. Let’s pray that difference sticks after I leave her.
She will start the school year going 12-3 pm on Monday & Wednesdays. If things go well we will meet the end of September & she can increase her days to 4 days a week.
Good news! I hope she will do better this year, I think she will.
Jadon seems to be adjusting really well to his all day kindergarten. I love hearing him try to figure out how it all works. Asking after the first day if he gets to go back again. Asking after the second day if he gets to go back again. When I told him he gets to go back 179 more times, he said “all to kindergarten?!?” He also informed us that “kindergarten is much more fun than high school!” Yes, Jadon, it is. Enjoy it.
Tomorrow I am going on a field trip with Lucas’ class.
I may be doing some helping with Leah’s cheerleading.
Lucas’ soccer practice started today.
Recognize anyone’s picture in today’s newspaper?
And those of you who like to get all technical and want to know what position he plays…
Now you know. Don’t expect me to remember that. K? I’ll just keep calling him the guy who goes out and catches the ball. Works for me.
So we travel for tomorrow night’s game. It is our coach’s first game. It will be nerve racking for him I am sure. Prayerful for all of them. Safety for the boys.
*********************
But most of all…Please, please, please pray for the Mc*Intire family, Kyle, who’s life is in hanging in the balances… the Sch*wartz family who’s son may never walk again & who’s other son was spared severe injury. It’s hard to sit here and talk about all this life and activity when theirs is suddenly snuffed out. So hard. So unimaginable.
Pam
Bags packed…
Clothes ready…
Wake up comes easy on the first morning…
At least for some…
Turns out seniors are not in to having their pictures taken on the first day of school. Who knew?
Freshmen are a tad more willing… but no smiles…
Seventh graders are beautiful…
Fifth graders are so sweet & cooperative…
Kindergarteners remind us of why we are so happy today…
And they are so excited and unsuspecting…
Headed in to school… following big brother…
Letting mom take a picture outside the building…
The older three didn’t want to ride with me, let me follow them into school & take pictures… nothing… puzzling…
Jadon’s brakes went on for a second when we went in the door of his classroom… then he walked in. found his desk. refused to look at me while I tried for one more picture!
Here we go!!!
…is the first day of one of my children’s last year of school.
…is the first day of one of my children’s first year of school.
…is the first day of one of my children’s first year of high school.
…is the first day of one of my children’s last year of elementary school.
…is the first day of one of my children’s last year at home with mom.
…I will have my computer all to myself.
…I will clean up the house and for 8 hours it will stay clean.
…there will be no arguing to listen to.
…I have nothing on my calendar… it will feel like vacation!
…hum…
…tomorrow summer vacation begins… for mom! Feeling a tad too excited.
Pam
Another Busy week, and I am late getting my Moment up and running! Mr. Linky is still not working, as most of you may already be aware of, so you will need to leave your link in the comment boxes today!
There is much to treasure, should we choose to do it. I find myself really struggling to make that choice lately. It’s been a tough week of adjustment to having Jadon & Kiahna home with me all day. We all miss our routine. This coming week everyone will be home (after Tuesday) and that can feel a little overwhelming!
Deep Breath.
Anyway, Zach had three baseball games this week, and he says he won’t be playing baseball next year in high school. Wants to run track… I’ll miss seeing him play.
I know there are many years of watching this one play though… In fact we will be headed to his second game in just an hour…
I am going to miss elementary school field trips… sitting on the back of a smelly bus, with boys that make more noise than I thought possible! (and you all know that I am used to lots of noise!) Searching kids for Ticks as we get on the bus… you know… fun stuff!
I visited Gene Stratton Porter’s house with Lucas’ class yesterday. She lived in our area 100 years ago, and was a very famous author in that time. We have never read anything she has written though, but are going to put at least one of her books on our summer reading list!
She loved animals and nature, and her books were about her home & the swamp that was near her house… so a visit to the swamp was a part of the trip too. It was a neat tour (despite the tick search) where they got to explore the creatures found on the bottom of a pond…
The boys were in heaven!! They got to see the difference between a tad pole and a salamander as they dug through the scoop with their spoons, amazing how much life was in one little scoop of pond goo….
Lucas had a great school year! Thanks Mrs. Steffen for that! She is a long time friend & I will miss going in to help in her class! She did a great job this year, especially since it was her first year of teaching in the regular mode!
Pam
What about you? Do you have a moment that needs to be written down and you would love to share it with us? As I said in the beginning, Mr. Linky is down. So, leave your link in the comments below! Link your post back to mine, and use this button if you would like…
