Unleaded

The long awaited, highly anticipated first day of school arrived today. I must say, it was one of our smoother day after labor day mornings. Perhaps we are getting in the groove after 6 consecutive years. Kendra couldn't even throw us off of our school preparation game when she woke up, took off her own diaper (dry I might add) and proceeded to pee in the potty. We just took that in stride by having a small pee-pee party (complete with a reward sticker) and moving straight into breakfast. I'll give her credit though - it was a valiant effort to steal the limelight.

Today, however, is all about Shayla and Kiera. It is hard for me to believe that they are entering 5th and 3rd grade. I realize every parent utters these words but, it truly feels like yesterday that I was putting Shayla on the bus for her first day of kindergarten. Now she is roaming the corridors or Hall School as the top dog - a fifth grader. And, my Kiera has left the comfort of grades K-2 to explore the challenges of third grade. I realize more everyday why parents give the sage advice to cherish every moment. If only it were easier to do that!

As part of our last week of summer we reorganized bedrooms as discussed here. You can only imagine the piles of treasures we uncovered under beds, behind dressers and in desk drawers. One particular gem that we found in abundance was pencils. My guess is that they reproduced while in their dark hiding spaces. How exactly we accumulated this large collection of lead instruments I may never know. What I am sure of though is that we will never be able to write enough to use them all.

This lead me to a perfect downsize for the first day of school. After putting the kids on the bus I packed Kendra up in the car and drove to Hall School. The bell had rung and the kids were safely in their classrooms. I signed in and took my collection of fancy pencils to the teachers room and left them with a note inviting teachers to take them and put them to good use. Given the poor state of financial affairs in schools (and homes for that matter) I figure every little pencil can help. As an added benefit, this errand gave me an excuse to chat with the principal and say a quick "hi" to Kiera's teacher who I met in the hall. Even after six years of sending my babies off to school, there is a little piece of me that misses them terribly and worries about them too. I guess that is why I'm called Mom.