Back to School

Considering it is now almost Labor Day, I figured it was time to get our first day of school pics up on the blog.  Time moves so quickly these days.  I am always feeling like I am at least 10 steps behind on everything.

So I am not sure how or when it happened, but somewhere along the way, my munchkins have grown up.

It is exciting and terrifying at the same time.
I am so excited for the experiences that they are having at these stages of their lives, but I am also scared out of my mind that they are getting so close to growing up and moving away.

Oh, and there is one other thing that I was terrified about on the first day of school.

Watching my 11th grader drive away with my 8th grader in the passenger seat.
It was the first time that I had sent any of the other kids with Josh.  I am hoping that this whole driving thing gets progressively easier with each child.  So far, it had been okay with Josh.  He is a confident and cautious driver and I really am enjoying him being able to drive himself places.  And, I might add, by the 2nd day of school, I realized what a sweet deal it was that I didn't have to drive anyone to school!

After we sent big brother and big sister off to the land of high school and middle school, the girls and I got down to business.  They have been so excited to get started with school ever since the dozens of boxes arrived with their school supplies.  I am more excited this year because now I know what I am doing.  What exactly is that you might ask?  Just being a learning coach to these amazing kiddos, watching them interact with their teacher and classmates online, and seeing them learn and grow.  It is a pretty cool thing.

Since we had kind of a light day, (because let's face it, how much actual school work gets done on the first day of school?) we decided to pack up a lunch and make an impromptu trip to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day and even though the zoo was a bit more crowded than I thought it would be, we still managed to have a great time.

My little Ellie LOVES animals.  She really wants to be a vet or a zookeeper when she grows up so I definitely love watching her interact with the animals.  The girls convinced me that we had to go to the bird show and since I am a wonderful mother, I obliged.  (For those of you who don't know, I hate birds.  In fact, it was at this very zoo that one almost took my head off.  I was 2 or 3.  Honestly, I've tried to block it out.  It's too painful to think about. :)  Fortunately we all survived the bird show with our heads intact.  Although there were a couple of close calls with an owl.  Abbie was in heaven.  She LOVES owls.

It was truly the perfect first day of school.

Josh and Emma had a great day and drove to and from school safely.

Abbie and Ellie settled right into a routine and have continued to do really well over the last week or so.

Now, I just have to get myself into preschool mode...seeing as that starts next week.  Wish me luck!