First Day Jitters

{Note to self: Don't take pictures while wearing glasses.  As you can see, the children are blurry and the background is in focus.  If I had put my contacts in I probably would have noticed this on the viewing screen and rectified the situation.  As it is, I have no good group shots of the kids.} 

Well, the first day of school has come and gone.  Yesterday was the maiden voyage of the new school year and fortunately there were no icebergs in its path.  Which isn't to say that it was all smooth sailing...

Ethan -- the 4th grader.

Grace -- the 2nd grader.

Sophie -- the Kindergartener.

The morning was chaotic, prompting my favorite line of the day from Scott {who stayed home to see the kids off before heading to work}.  "Is this what it's like every morning," he asked in exasperation?  Why yes.  Yes it is.  It didn't help that we were not as prepared as we could have been and it certainly didn't help ME that I was up with Jane and Alex at different points in the night and was more than a bit exhausted still.  Throw in the fact that we were also trying to squeeze in father's blessings for the kids before it was time to go, Ethan was freaking out about being late, and Grace was just freaking out in general, and you should have a pretty good picture of how are day started out.  

In retrospect, I do think that there were some jitters at play in ALL the children.  It is kind of a nerve-wracking thing to start a new year with a new teacher and possibly a lot of new classmates.  Unfortunately, Ethan and Grace thought it would help if they took it all out on Sophie.  You know telling her things like "I don't want you to ride on the bus with me!" and "You can't stand next to us for the pictures."  Poor little super muppet. 

Alex was not a happy camper either.

Sophie was the only one who cared about getting a new outfit for the first day of school and here she is modelling it for me.  {Surprise, surprise.  Hahaha.}

She also needed new shoes and THESE are the ones she just had to have. 

Grace didn't want to leave this little guy at home.

We managed pictures, a couple of blessings, and Scripture Time {but no chores} before school and after a stressful 45 minutes or so {school starts WAY too late at 9:05} the kids were finally able to get the show on the road and loaded up in Scott's car for him to take them to the bus stop.  Getting to ride in dad's car was possibly the highlight of their morning.  Hahaha.

Cute little Grace with her pretty little face.  

Classic Ethan.  Caught mid-freakout.  

Cute little Soph all ready for school.

The rest of my day went rather swimmingly.  I made it to the gym and ran my 5 miles, enjoyed the complete solace of peace and quiet in the house during nap time while both little kiddies slept, and even managed to crash myself on the couch for about an hour before Alex woke up.  I wanted to have freshly baked cookies waiting for the big kids when they got home, but that never happened.  I ran out of time and in the end figured it was probably better anyway -- Sophie wouldn't have been able to have them and then she would have melted down about not having a treat, too.  I opted instead to load the baby in the stroller and walk on up to the bus stop with Jane and Alex in tow.  We got there JUST as the bus was pulling up and surprised the kids who were not expecting to see us there.  I was surprised to see Sophie getting off the bus not with a smile but a frown.  The distress on her face was extreme and as she walked to me and I exclaimed "What's wrong???" she could hardly hold back the tears as she told me, "My tooth got wiggly today!"  Huh?  I couldn't quite figure out why this would be so upsetting but then she went on to say that she tried to pull it out at school and it really hurt.  Hmmm.  After I hugged her for a bit and told her how sorry I was and that I loved her, she cheered right up and then excitedly told me all about the rest of her day as we walked home together.  Classic Sophie.  Hahahaha. By the time we got home she had switched gears to being ecstatic that she had "loosed her tooth" at school and proceeded to chatter on about that for the next little bit proclaiming that "dad will be so excited when he finds out!"  Hahaha.  All in all it was a pretty good day.  Let's hope that today goes as well...