School is IN

Here we go.......another school year to begin!

And it ALWAYS begins with Back-to-School night and meeting their new teachers. 

But we could NOT go around and meet the new teachers until Emerson got to visit his teacher from last year. Ya know the one that he REALLY liked? and that he LOVED spending time with when he stapled his finger? or the one that carried him off the playground in her arms when he faked having the hurt leg?

Oh, and I never mentioned she bought him his own napkins monogrammed with the letter "E" for him to eat his spaghetti with every day for lunch (yes, he asks me to pack him spaghetti EVERY. DAY.....and he is NOT a clean eater)

It was REALLY weird for me to go to the middle school one with Bronson though.....there's lockers.....and a lot of kids.....and a lot of hallways......and.....well, just an adjustment for me. They walked the new 6th graders around their schedule and thankfully I knew his leader person would NOT lose him because he chose to wear these socks. (where were THOSE when we went camping?!?!)

The next back-to-school tradition is a carwash on the Monday night before for Family Home Evening.

Yes, I said carwash......and you might be thinking that's boring and all, but you CLEARLY have not experienced a carwash in the Yeti. The kids love it.

However Kellyn was NOT so sure what she thought about it at first.

The kids with their Sonic drinks during the carwash......Aleeya loving it, Royce covering his ears because it was too loud(because obviously we Smiths aren't used to noise. *cough* *cough*), and Kellyn STILL figuring out if she liked it or not.

Okay, okay, she decided and she was 100% NOT LIKING IT!

Like I said, car washes are loud, so you can't really hear Kellyn losing it, or all the squealing with delight, or even the hollers from the backseat of "Mom, there is agua coming in through the back door!!!!"

Apparently it's more effective to make sure all the doors are closed tight before going through a carwash.

Huh.

School morning came bright and early with the school-aged kids heading out the door at 6 for the yearly IHOP-with-dad-on-the-first-morning-of-school-breakfast tradition

(*note*- if you have sensitive eyes you may want to put on sunglasses before viewing the below picture. Camden's shoes might in fact blind you)

Kellyn was NOT happy they left without her 

(everything is just worse at 6 in the morning anyway, am I right or am I right?)

So I have a 3rd grader

A 4th grader

A 1st grader

And *drumroll please*.........

A KINDERGARTENER!!!!

Iris was so pleased to get her tote bag (K5 students aren't allowed backpacks) with her name on it.

Their bus drove off and I couldn't help myself.....but something came over me.....in the form of a dance in the middle of the road while I belted out the song

"EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!!"

(Royce was not amused)

Next it was my middle-schooler's turn to leave and I wasn't as thrilled.....kinda mother-bear worried actually. But once again, I knew someone would find him if he gets lost with another pair of his neon socks.

I'm SO thrilled about school uniforms for Bronson's school!!!! (and he's thrilled there's no rules on which socks to wear)

My day passed so peacefully......Kellyn went back to getting her two naps, Royce needed his one, but I still couldn't wait to hear how their days went......ESPECIALLY Bronson's.

When they got home it's funny how the girls (especially Aleeya) told me EVERY detail of their day from who wore what to each word of the 3 songs they learned to what the teacher said about their skirt to what they played at recess.

Aleeya came home with a little braid in the back of her hair. I told her how pretty that braid was and asked who did it. She told me Najalen on the bus did.

Wanting to keep the dialogue going I responded that this girl Najalen sure knows how to make pretty braids.

Then Aleeya just said, "Najalen is a boy, Mom!"

Oh, obviously......because ALL boys are named that and can braid better then me. Silly me for thinking otherwise.

I cornered Iris to ask her about kindergarten and if she made any friends. 

Iris- Yep, I made 4 friends

Me- Oh, that's great. What are their names?

Iris: I don't know, but the one with the 2 necklaces was my favorite. You know those people that have black skin? Well she looks like them.

Me- How fun! And you don't remember her name?

Iris: I think it's "Sorry"

(proooooobably not, it what I thought.)

Turns out the next day she came home and the girl's name is Sorria (pronounced Sorry-a), so Iris was pretty close.

Me: What were the teachers like?

Iris: they were kinda mean and they kept telling me to whisper

(good luck with that teachers!!!!!! I've been trying to get Iris to talk quietly for YEARS and to no avail. Her voice is just loud, cutting and can break weak windows, so they are just going to have to deal with that)

Iris: Oh, and there's a girl in my class with a small hand! It's like so small, it's like Everly's size. And it doesn't even open or close. It just sits there.

Me: Well, I hope you were extra nice to her and tried to be friends with her. Plus, I want you to make sure you never say anything rude or mean about her hand okay?

Iris: Oh, I didn't, I just sat there at stared at it all day!!!

(Because clearly, staring isn't rude OR mean)

I HATE it that the boys I get the "Oh it was fine" answers. They all had a great day and nothing bad happened but I didn't hear much. I had to pry everything I got out......ESPECIALLY with Bronson. Gosh, I wish I could just send a camera attached to his backpack so I could've seen how his day went!!! Creepy? Maybe?

Emerson's second day ended up being better the the first he said, because that was the day that he brought his brown bag with "5 things that describe you".

He chose:

-a picture of our family

-a picture of spaghetti

-a picture of the 3 Stooges

-a picture of A&W Root beer

-and he brought a snake skin

A really really long and huge gross shedder-off snakeskin. 

Apparently it won over the class and I can picture him just sitting there with his smile.

So with this school year started I guess I better gear up for the inevitable school nurse calls coming my way. Bring it on.