Today is the First Day of First Grade!!!!

Here they are--my FIRST GRADERS!!!!! All morning I've had that old song in my head "Don't cry out loud!! Just keep it inside, and learn how to hide your feelings!!!" Picture me in complete drama mode singing my heart out that my BABIES are now officially turned over to "the system" for SEVEN HOURS a day!!!! Don't get me wrong--they have women who will be FABULOUS teachers--we requested their teachers. And I am a teacher myself, really. But it just stinks that we have to send our kids off for so long every day, and trust that they will be OK if they are teased, tired, hungry, frustrated, sad, lonely....etc. Oh yes--those are MY emotions!!! Logan and Ellie were as excited as ever this morning and had no reservations about diving in to first grade. I guess I need them--they don't need me!!!! Sigh....

We are hoping to start a new routine around our home in the morning. I'm crossing my fingers that I can follow through with it. One morning down--nine months to go. This morning the TV did not go on, we actually practiced the piano, nobody was rushed to eat or get dressed, Ellie let me do her hair, and we rode our bikes to school. All before 8:30 AM---now THAT is a miracle in our home!!!

The kids helped me choose five new outfits and we put them all in a row on their bedroom floor. So in the morning there are no clothing battles--they just choose one of the five outfits. Ellie was as confident as ever wearing her SWEET cowboy boots to school.

And Logan chose his "USA puppy dog" shirt. He has had one just like it all summer. But I bought him a brand new identical one for school. Can't pass up those end-of-summer sales.

Of course we took the annual shots of the backpacks. Ellie has a lunch bag attached to her backpack--since it is unlikely she will eat school lunch very often. I put snacks in the kids backpacks and told them to get them out at recess. They are definitely not used to making it from 7:00 AM breakfast to lunchtime without a snack. I guess they will get used to it. After all, they are now FIRST GRADERS!!!!! .........("Don't cry out loud.......")