First Day of School Survivors

Monday, August 23, 2010, began very, very early.  My alarm went off at 5:35 am to make sure Cole was awake.  The lights were on downstairs so back to bed I went.  Not much later, there was much clanking in the kitchen as Cole was fixing waffles (just toaster ones, he is not Chef Boyardee, at least not at 5:45 am).  Alarm goes off at 6:05 to take the traditional front door photos for the first day of school.  Norm takes Cole and picks up Preston on the way.  I go back to bed, much tossing and turning, much mind racing, not much sleeping.  My alarm goes off again at 7:00 to wake up the girls.  We make or I should say "toast" waffles.  They are anxious and excited so they are moving quickly, no dilly-dallying this morning.  We are ready early!  Pictures are snapped on the front porch in front of the door and we are off by 8:00.  We fight the traffic and the parking craziness.  Tenley has Mrs. Smith for 3rd grade this year.  Tenley was ecstatic to read on Mrs. Smith's profile on the school website, that she has a yellow lab, named Chester, that she sometimes brings to school.  She is counting the days until he shows up!  Madison has Mr. Bloom and she thinks he is quite a character.  Everyday she has some funny story about something he said or a funny mannerism.  After I walked Tenley into her class, I was home by 8:25 with six hours of "me" time. I planned to do some organizing, list making, etc...  I made my monthly menu, a grocery list for the month, updated school days chore chart for the kids, assigned myself certain jobs for each day.  I had a moment at about 9:45 where I was super sleepy but it was too early for a nap so I powered through.  I met my Mom for lunch at Costa Vida.  I had never been there, and I loved it.  It is exactly like Cafe Rio, just like everyone told me, but they have a small salad that is just perfect.  I got on to look at calories and a full salad (like Cafe Rios) is over 1200 calories!!!!!  So much for a "healthy" salad.  But the half, without rice was only 450 calories... that works out to about 9 points for weight watchers.  Not bad for a tasty lunch.  I ran into Wal-Mart to get some weird necessities... eye patches for Tenley, braces floss, a pill vial for Norm to put on his key chain and some school supplies.  Ran home, dropped off the stuff and headed to the school to wait for the girls.  They got in the van and said it was the best day ever!  I was sooooo happy.  I think I was just as nervous for all of them starting a new year at a new school.  They loved their teachers, they had made friends and were excited to go back.  I couldn't ask for anything else. Cole gets out at 2:30 so while I am waiting for the girls to get out at 2:55 he texts me to see what time I will be home.  I ask "How was your day?"  His response "Amazingly Awesome!"  When I read that I wanted to burst with excitement.  We had had some drama with the school switching scene the past few months.  Let's just say, Cole was not to up on the idea.  We decided to have a little back to school party the Tuesday before school started and he had about 10-11 boys/girls come.  They watched a movie, played night games and ate some treats.  It was such a good thing for him to get to know some kids.  I asked him if it is the best school ever and he said, "Mom, it's only the first day, I can't decide that just yet."  I am just so happy that he is happy.  He loves his teachers, found his locker and all his classes without any problem, and 9th grade is off to a good start.  So, we all survived the first day of school.  I never took a nap... my other window of sleepy time was right when the kids got home and I wasn't going to miss out on all the back to school information.  So, I just powered through the day and crashed at about 9:30!