First Day of School

New shoes. Backpacks. Notebooks, paper, pens, and the list goes on and on. Oh the things we need to send children to school in America.

For the first time since hitting school age Lindsey was less-than-thrilled with the start of school. Usually she can't wait and is excited to meet her new teacher, see her friends again, and learn. But this year, when Sunday night rolled around and she realized school was really starting the next day, she burst into tears.

"I thought the summer would last longer!" she wailed.

Me too, kiddo. But it is indeed time, and so we picked out our outfits, set out new backpacks and got a good night's sleep.

Marissa couldn't wait. She was excited to be in 2nd grade and was so happy to meet her teacher, who also happened to have been Lindsey's 2nd grade teacher. She couldn't wait to find out who would be in her class, where she would sit, and be all the way on the second floor of the two-story building, where only the 2nd graders go.

During the open house we realized that she and a good friend of hers were seated right next to each other, with no one else at the table. Her friend's mother and I both happened to mention to the girls' teacher (independently, ironically) that we were taking bets on how quickly they would be separated. After arriving home Marissa let me know that the room had been re-arranged a bit, and her one friend wasn't at her table anymore, but now two different friends were, so it was still okay. Hmmm....we'll see how often Marissa gets moved this year as compared to last.

I didn't realize until the girls put their backpacks on that they both had picked out first day of school outfits that matched their backpacks that we had bought earlier in the summer. Marissa happened to match her backpack exactly.

I wonder where they get their love of patterns.

And look! My tripod actually works! How sweet to finally get a photo of our entire family on the first day of school.