It's the MOST Wonderful Time of the Year! Part 2

I referenced this last year at back to school time, but I STILL couldn't agree more with the Staples (and I did confirm, it IS Staples) commercial with my post title for it's "theme song!" And last year, thanks to your comments & emails I got in response to my post, I no longer need to think, "Is something wrong with me?" for feeling like this! I found out that many of you are WITH ME, y'all just hadn't been openly HONEST about it - YET! For me, there's NOTHING hard about the kids going back to school (except finding everyone the right shoes in the right size the week before AND having to get up early, but that's just a small price to pay for the end reward!) And I NEVER shed a tear - and those who do are FAKERS & are just campaigning for "Mother-of-the-Year!" Well, maybe that's a bit harsh, so let's just say that I don't understand them at all!

I ask again, "What's not to like?" When I got back home yesterday after taking the kids to school, I:

• Cleared off the "Hot Spot" on my dryer
• Went through a big box of Miss B's [little] baby clothes
• Cleaned out the microwave
• Answered E-mails
• Started a load of wash
• Caught up on reading some Blogs that I hadn't looked at for a while
• Returned some library books
• Dropped off the baby clothes for donation
• Made a return to the store then bought diapers, bottle liners & pasta
• Made dinner

And I haven't done all THAT in a single day for a LONG time...well...as a matter of fact...before school got out for Summer vacation! (Sorry, for the visual the unattended [food-splattered] microwave may cause!) In fact, most days NONE or just ONE of those things got done this summer!

I once saw a magnet on someone's fridge that said,

"Being a Mother is like being pecked to death by a flock of chickens."

And during the summer, those chickens came after me with a vengeance!

But, now...Okay, Breathe. Think. Relax. Enjoy the "sounds of silence."

Here's how the Blessed Day all went down... (YEA!)

It was a Rainy Day AND a Monday, but that couldn't get me down on this day!!

RYAN

This boy should have NO COMPLAINTS about being able to go back to school since he was grounded THE WHOLE ENTIRE SUMMER! As in, the whole summer. (with the exception of the very 1st week and the last few days.) But, that's a blog post for another day - or not - I might need to just purge that punishment (more mine than his) from my memory!

I had to laugh when Ryan came to me on Sunday night - with no prompting or instruction from me - to show/model for me what he was considering for his "1st Day of School" outfit. This is Ryan, my-never-prepares-until-the-very-last-millisecond-for-anything-risk-taker son! Hey, If he's decided to turn over a new leaf - I'm all for it! :)

Let me see if I can get you a closer look at his shoes...

One day while I was out shopping ALONE, I came across some fantastic prices on shoes. I gathered up a few pairs in Ryan's size and called him. I tried to describe what each looked like over the phone, so he could tell me which ones to get, but he didn't "get the picture" of what I was saying. I was scared to buy the wrong ones for this 8th Grader and as to not risk them being gone the next time I made it back to the store, I BOUGHT ALL THREE! And then let him choose when I got home. These are what he picked. These were actually MY #3 choice out of the 3. He balked at one of the pairs of Sketchers I had brought home since they didn't have TIE laces, but were of the "no tie" elastic strip variety. What?!? I thought those were a great choice...since he doesn't know how to tie his shoes anyway! Yep, that's right, in fact NONE of my kids can tie their own shoes - I have a 13, 9 1/2, and a 7 yr. old who can't (won't?) tie their shoes. Just sign me up for "worst mother of all time" now! I guess I could FORCE them to do it, but I've chosen to NOT ruin our relationship - which shoe tying lessons for sure do! But, that's also another blog post. Anyway, Ryan turned his nose up on the "no tie" shoes because Jr. High kids need laces. But, much to my amazement, I noticed his shoes on the 1st day! He doesn't use the ties! He says that's how it's suppose to be. I told him we should've got MY [less expensive] pick if he's not even going to tie them - to which he just rolled his eyes! So let me get this straight, I guess in order to be cool, ya gotta have laces, but not use them - just create them into a "no tie" shoe - just for looks?

Like I said, he was eager to get going (anywhere, even school), so he took off on his bike. I attempted to get a picture of him riding off on his first day, but he was in much too big of a hurry for his mom-with-a-delayed-camera. And this is how the photo turned out.

KYLE

Kyle merely tolerates my requirement of taking pictures on the 1st Day of School. He's kind of to the age where he thinks (or at least acts like) it's dumb for Moms to do this. But, NO, that still doesn't make me sad that his Back to School attitude is a marker that he is growing up on me. Well maybe one part - his brother has brain washed him a bit which resulted in Kyle declaring to me that he is so done with "tighty whities" and is ready to graduate to boxers - which IS sad since they cost so much more! Kyle was giddy the night before as he repeated/chanted, "No more tighty whities! Hello, boxers!"

*No photos of new boxers included...You're Welcome!

Kyle actually has the same teacher (and incidentally the same classroom) as last year since she is teaching 5th Grade also this year. So, when we walked into the classroom, and he sat in his desk that was arranged in alphabetical order, we noticed it looked very familiar to last year. Take a look...

2009

2008

He even chose the same color of shirt to wear both years!

HAYLEE

Haylee is completely OVER wearing dresses. In fact, I think the last time she wore one was on the 1st Day of School last year. And, NO, I am not depressed about that either - because keeping tights without holes in stock is a PAIN!

Haylee was more than happy to pose for as many pictures as her Mom wanted to take... Haylee's teacher this year has a very long name. It has 12 letters and 4 syllables. 12 letters! Haylee has a hard enough time remembering our own 9-letter last name, so, naturally, her main concern was learning that BIG name. Thankfully, when we arrived in class, we found out that the students can just call her, "Mrs. V." Whew!
This new backpack of hers has a "media pouch" conveniently located on the straps. Really? At this age? Why are the backpack designers doing that to us parents?

Uh Oh, is that a tear in HER eye?

{click to enlarge}

And poor Katelyn, my-practically-as-big-as-her-sister-in-2nd-Grade-and-frequently-mistaken-for-older-daughter...with her November birthday is denied entrance into Kindergarten! (That dang Sept. 1st cutoff.) But, she didn't want to be given the shaft in the photo department - so I obliged...

In her favorite spot by the school's fish tank!

Cheers!...clink, clink, take a sip of your sparkling cider...Here's to the coming [quiet] 9 1/2 months.