The First Day of School 2012

The day began bright, early, and hot. Typical first day of school around here.

I walked Emma to her bus stop down the street a little ways. There was one other mom there (thank goodness) and I was able to casually take a few pictures:)
Emma had lots of friends and a cousin already there to greet her. I feel so grateful for our wonderful neighborhood and friends.
I love how cute they all are with their schedules in hand.

Maybe Emma will inch up on Jane's height a little in 7th grade :)

The evening before, Amy, Jane, Emma, and I got to go to the Jr. High and do a "walk-through" of their schedules. I'm not sure if it eased Emma's fears, but it really helped mine dissipate. I was very impressed by her teachers. Two of her teachers said that they loved waking up in the morning and going to their job. Wow! What more could you want in a Jr. High teacher? I keep saying things like, "You are going to learn so much this year! Isn't that exciting? You're going to learn about America's history, and you're going to LOVE your Science teacher I can tell." She seems less excited about learning, and the inevitable work that comes with it, than I am. When I consider what my priorities were in Jr. High, I have to admit they may have been outside the classroom. Now it sounds so fun! Amazing how we change over time.  

Next, we got the middle two kids off to school for 2nd and 5th grade. They were both so excited after "Meet-the-Teacher Night".

On the first day Dana always walks with us :)

Right when we got there Eli walked off with his friend and then I lost him in the crowd. So no first day picture with his teacher this year.

Holly and I walked over to her class and found some her friends. She's lucky enough to start off with 3 friends in her class this year. I thought it was funny that they all had wavy hair.

These girls were so happy to get put in the same class again!

Holly's teacher Mrs. Montoya seems great so far. ("Mom- hurry and take it, I can't see")

I saw this on the way out. Extra bummer on the first day. No name.

Last stop of the day- Little Boo. The little PM Kindergartener. She was nervous and we were both afraid she might cry. She warned me she might a few times. She knew she had a "Werthers" waiting for her after school if she didn't.

First we got the solo picture.

Then we got the teacher picture (Mrs. Fitzpatrick is new this year but seems great so far).

Then she gave me a hug which was the moment of truth. After a small hesitation, she took the "big-girl" road and walked those little pink converse into school without looking back.

When I saw she was just fine I stopped worrying about her crying, and started worrying about me crying. The thing (or person rather) that saved me was Miranda. She drove over from Tempe to take a break from job-searching and boredom and went with me to take Sadie to her first day of school. It was nice to have a distraction there. I choked up a little but then we went to Sprouts, went back to my house and made some big delicious salads for lunch :) I'm grateful for half-day to ease me into all 4 kids being gone all day.

Miranda came with us to pick up Emma later from the bus stop. Boy was it ever HOT at 3:15pm.

Summer, up until the first day of school, was kind of accommodating. The temps seemed to be below average and if they got too high, they'd get clobbered by a monsoon. On the first day of school we had record-breaking heat, and it hasn't cooled down since. The kids haven't been able to go to recess yet and we're keeping our fingers crossed for this week. This is the weather that makes you do the "fall happy dance" when it finally cools off :)

Here's to a FABULOUS school year!