Happy Back-to-School Day!

Remember those Staples commercials where the parents were school shopping with their kids as they were singing, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."?

Today's the day. I'm all alone. It's not so wonderful. I'm bored.

I'm walking around the house wondering what to do with myself. Dishes. Laundry. Sweep the floors. Clean the bathrooms. Find that TV remote that has apparently walked out of the living room and is hiding, obviously somewhere really good.

I can hear a pin drop. I'm not used to this. The silence kind of hurts my ears. I can hear the wind blow and the birds chirp. Huh. Who knew.

We've been practicing our morning routine. My kids are not early risers, so I've been waking them up early to 'get ready for school'. But they still stuck around all day.

This morning, they popped out of bed at an unusually early hour. The best laid plans... my morning routine now was backwards.

But we made it.

Luke got on the bus just before 9. He wanted to play sick already. I guess the excitement of school is gone by 3rd grade - or so he wants me to believe. But I know better :)

He was quite silly - and just a bit excited. Shhhh....don't tell him I let that secret out.






Of course I was not allowed to get a picture of him getting on the bus - oh the horrors to have a mother! - so this is the best I got. Still got in trouble for this shot, "MOM! What are you DOING? Put that thing away, what if someone sees you doing that?!?!" I should've picked him up in a big bear hug and slathered kisses all over him at that very moment. tee, hee....



Emma has kindergarten in the afternoon, so she was ready for some alone time. We played Trouble with 2 of her stuffed animals and SEVERAL games of Uno. It was 10:00 and she asked me if it was lunch time yet so she could go to kindergarten. We passed some time, had our lunch (she barely ate -okay, neither did I!), and then - It. Was. Time.

Fear. Her eyes got really big, I could tell she was holding back tears. "I decided I don't want to go to kindergarten afterall. I'll just stay here with you, okay?" I assured her she'd have fun and she'd be home before she had time to miss me.

She got her backpack and we walked to the end of the driveway to wait for the bus. Very slowly. Maybe if she walked slow enough she'd miss the bus.

She was none the wiser, we were 10 minutes early.

Being early is not good when you are nervous. "Where is that bus, mommy? Is it a big bus or a little bus? Who is my bus driver? What if - what if - what if I get lost??!!!"



Then it came. That big scary yellow monster pulled up to our driveway and looked - well, not so scary. Maybe, just maybe, it was going to be okay?






So they're gone. I meant to get the mail after I put Emma on the bus. But as soon as I had that thought, I forgot it. I guess my mind was a little preoccupied. Just a bit. Instead, I walked back up the driveway, fighting the tears that somehow my daughter had passed on to me.

I didn't know tears were contagious.