School Starts

We are off to a new school year....new schedules, routines....it feels good :)

 

I always feel like crying on the first day of school...lol!  For some reason, it is on this day it hits me that my children have gotten another year older and there is nothing I can do to stop time. 

I don't feel this way on their birthdays????  I think it's weird.

 

Alec started 7th grade...off to Jr. High.  I would have liked to have taken him to school and took pictures of him going through the front doors and then one of him standing in front of his locker. 

However, even as "uncool" as I am...I still know that would not have been cool...lol!

So...he got on the bus and off he went!

 

*Bonus Pic*

Alec puts Livvy on his lap sometimes while he plays the piano.

It pretty much melts my heart.  He is patient with her and doesn't mind when she joins in.

She hits the keys with her thumbs...only her thumbs.  We think it is funny.

Alec is a good big brother...he loves her and she she adores Alec.

What a lucky girl to grow up on the lap of such a good boy...

listening to him play the piano...lucky, lucky girl.



 

Emily is in the 5th grade this year.

She was indifferent about school starting this year....it's all old hat to her now....lol!

She did want to try some layers in her hair this year...

so she was excited about her new hairdo :)

*Bonus Pic*

A happy girl to be back at ballet class after taking a years break.

Her ballet studio changed locations and she was so excited to see"her picture" on the wall which cracks me up becuase only her leg is in the picture...lol!

She is pointing to her foot...she is the second leg in the picture :) 

She squealed ,"Look!  They kept my picture up!"

 

 

Then we come to my Carter-man.

He started kindergarten.

I don't want to talk about it ;)

 



 

*Bonus Pic*

This is Carter on the Ferris Wheel at the fair.  He has been wanting to get on a Ferris Wheel for a couple summers now so I knew I had to go brave the craziness that is the fair. It was special to ride it with him because it was such a big deal to him. However, when we made it to the tippy top he told me "What was I thinking"...(notice the death grip on the handle bar...HA!) That made me chuckle. 

After a couple times around, he thought it was a blast! 

 

A picture together before we head to the school.



 

When we got to the school...we pulled into parking spot #3 which

belongs to the Vadens all. year. long.

That's right!  It is all mine!!!  All I had to do was give them a pretty penny and I have front row parking all year long.  Which is so exciting to me...lol! Aaron won't have to leave work as early for concerts and such because he will already have a guaranteed spot waiting for him....I could go on and on about the benefits... but clearly I am the only one who cares....lol!!!
 

It already saved my bacon last night when Back to School night and ballet started at exactly the same time.  So lovely......

 

Emily has changed partners on the school sign this year!



Wait! 

Isn't there a fourth child.....

 

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

Oh, there she is!!!

What a trooper! 

She used her new trick of waving "good-bye" to Carter and Emily as they went into their classrooms. She doesn't know what is going on :(  She has cried more during the day and I know it is because she is used to having more people around in which to play and watch...and to answer her every whim :/

 

Sorry baby girl, I'm all you've got! I miss them, too!  Boy, do I miss them.....lol!

 

I'll admit, it has been nice to have some quiet one-on-one time with Miss Olivia. I have held and rocked her a little longer and sang a few more songs :)

 

*Bonus Pic*

She is almost 9 moths old!

It is the perfect age if you like squishy, silly, loving, cuddly..happy babies. It is also the perfect age if you never want to sit down...lol! When I was pregnant with her, people told me she would be the one to keep me young. If they meant by giving me a work-out every day by chasing her around...they were right.

 

Love her..she has brought such joy into our home!

 

 After Olivia and I got everyone off to school, we went for a very loooong walk down to the river.  This made me so happy!  At the beginning of summer,  I couldn't walk down there and back without paying for it afterwards.  I have been working to get down there all summer so I could enjoy the fall time down there.  It is one of my most favorite things!!!  A few leaves have started to change :)!

 

Back to that crying thing on the first day of school.  I get to do a lot of thinking on those morning walks and I realized on this day that I think some of those tears were shed for me!

 

I did it!

I did it!

 

Some of that crying was relief that is was over...lol!  Summer is over and I survived it!  A summer of juggling kids, a pre-teen, and a baby through swim-team, nap times, vacations, keeping enough food in the house for lunches and dinners and snacks, loads of laundary, my cluttered house driving me crazy, keeping their screen time at a minimum, the very hot temperatures, listening to arguments and holding back..letting them figure it out when I just wanted to send them to opposite ends of the house...

WE did it and it was such a GREAT summer!!!! 

But it's over :)

 

Good luck in school this year, kiddos! You'll do great...I know it!