Back To School!

The morning went like clockwork! Cori was up and out of here, looking quite striking, I'm sure as there was much ado about curlers and curling irons and the right cami under the right shirt so that she looked good,but not like she just went shopping for the first day of school. High School is so stressful! She got up about 5:15 to prepare for her day and was out the door to catch the bus at around 6:15.

She was very excited last night about going back to school. She and Sean will get to see each other more frequently and even more exciting is that Sean's little sister is also going to be at Grayson High this year. She and Cori are fast friends from what I can tell.

Needless to say, I was NOT up at 5:15 to get photos of this all happening as that is just not too cool or anything.

But Robin and I did get up in time for elementary school! Robin is a 5th grader this year, so she is the "senior peson" at the bus stop ... along with a couple of other 5th graders. They were very cute this morning helping the kindergartners find their place in line.

Here's Robin ready for school. (strike a pose).

Here's the group waiting for the bus. The bus stop shennanigans probably won't start for another week or two. By that time, the kindergarten parents no longer stay with their kids at the bus stop (for some reason, they think the older kids are trustworthy????) and then the older, trustworthy kids begin chasing each other through the streets and playing ball and frisbee ... and I must go out in my jammies to keep it all under control.

Loading the bus on the first day of school usually takes a while. Everybody has to find a seat with somebody they like or at least don't hate, and the kindergartners, who were so brave standing at the end of the drive because they have their new book bag, new tennies, and spiffy new outfits ... well there is that hesitation to really get on the bus. We only had one little tearful boy this year and Mom was supportive and Robin was holding his hand from inside the bus. Very Cute.

And now begins some sort of "normalcy" in which I can work without worrying that my kids are burning down the house ... home for dinner and homework ... stress about evening meetings when I haven't seen the kids all day ... Aaahhh. There are pros and cons to every situation, aren't there?

So congrats to me! I made it through another summer! Accepting this award as Mother of the Year, I want to thank my support team ... my lovely daughter Cori, without whose love for her sister would have surely meant more summer camps for the monkey; my lovely daughter Robin, who can always be trusted to be where she is supposed to be and doing what she is supposed to be doing; my husband Keith who still made most of the dinners this summer while still maintaining the crops; my friends Carolyn and Steve and Renee and Brian who helped shuttle kids to and from and shared the long summer with me; David for coming back from Camp Winshape; and Ken for bolstering me up on those tough days! And let's not forget the grandmas and grandpas who gladly took charge for days so that my kids could enjoy some "gramps" time!

See, motherhood isn't that hard. It's all about the support network!

Can you hear the champagne chilling????