Back to School, Parts 2 and 3

And now it's time for the rest of the kids to head back to class...both Colin and Lindsay started school today.




But first, I made them all pose for me outside of the building on the way to Lindsay's school. Notice how Rebekah's face says "Mom, I've already done this and I'm going to be TARDY if you don't hurry!"

(For the uninitiated, Spring Hill Middle School and Elm Tree Elementary School are attached. And they're in our back yard, so the travel time is great! To our credit, Rebekah was not even close to tardy.)

Then we took the new middle-schooler to her fifth-grade classroom. Lindsay was excited to go, but once she got in the classroom, she decided that it wasn't cool to have her mom there taking pictures. (Not like I was the only mom there with a camera!) But I appreciate that she was a good sport about it!








And then David went to work and I headed off to the Back to School Celebration at the high school. It's a great idea--parents can attend all the classes with their students the first day to meet the teachers, hear their expectations, see the class syllabus, and walk through a day in our child's school life. The best part for the boys is the two-hour off-campus lunch when the moms take them to CiCi's pizza and let them fill up and play video games.
That's my cute tenth grader in the middle.



And of course, Colin and Dallas also found some lovely friends to enjoy the day with...


So now what? We now return our lives to their normal insanity already in progress.

Growing Up

Yesterday my little girl turned 10. Okay, not my littlest girl, but my first girl. I think she thinks she's been 10...or older...for quite a long time now, so it was clearly time to make it official. It's hard to believe a decade has passed since the Christmas we got an extra gift four days early.

Lindsay has wanted to have her ears pierced for a couple of years now, and we figured she was finally ready for the responsibility. So the whole family ventured out to watch this big moment. (Interesting side note...I bought the earrings the day before since it was a surprise and I wanted her to unwrap the earrings to find out we were letting her do this. Believe it or not, the sales lady told me there was a DIY ear-piercing kit available if I wanted to do it at home. Are you kidding? I thought. Who would do that to a child?) NO THANK YOU, MA'AM!

I had warned Lindsay there would be momentary pain, but that the end result would be worth it. She was more than up for the challenge. It wasn't until they had her put her hair up, marked her ears, and placed the piercing guns (do they have to be that big?) within her line of vision that she realized this was really happening and that it truly might cause some discomfort. Some quick butterflies in the stomach, and a last-minute double-check to see if she was ready to go through with it, and the new holes in the head were done simulateously. (Both at once? Why wasn't I given this option so many years ago?)

Here's the photo of her at the moment her ears changed forever. By the way, the arm in the foreground is Dad, holding her hand tight. I couldn't do it...I was holding the camera, of course!

She was tough. One flinch, captured forever on film, and she was fine. Believe me, she kept tossing her hair back all the rest of the day. "Do you think people will realize I'm different now?" she asked.

Definitely different. Little older, little more grown-up looking. More attitude to go with it. But still my little girl. Love you, Lulu!