First Day of School...

Yesterday was an emotional day around here, for everyone involved. There was excitement, anticipation, anxiousness, worry, joy, fear, sadness, happiness and everything in between. We dropped off a 6th grader for his first day of middle school, full of excitement. He couldn't wait! We dropped off a 4th grader who now feels like big man on campus and ran away from us as fast as he could. I got this! And we dropped off my baby, my little companion for his first day of kindergarten. He had been so excited the whole summer and then the week before turned terrified. He has hugged me more the past week than his whole life put together. But he woke up with a smile on his face and after putting his backpack in his cubby walked right in like a big boy. See ya mom.

As a mom, you almost want them to cry, to miss you, to think they can't live without you. But our goal is to raise them to be independent of you, to want to do things on their own. Such a hard thing to watch. I did shed a tear as I left the school. I probably would have bawled had my hubby not been with me. I didn't want him to make fun of me blubbering like one of those moms who is attached to her kid, because I'm really not. But for my baby to go to school means a new start for me. Its been 11 years of having someone at home with me, someone I'm supposed to be pouring into, and as a preschool teacher I preach about the importance of this foundational time, that is now over. I'm so proud of how each of my boys is growing into a man who can go out into the world and conquer it, who is learning how to handle himself with grace and patience and maturity. And now maybe my house will be a little cleaner!

The boys comforting/celebratory breakfast.

Middle school, here we come!

My comforting/celebratory breakfast!