Almost There...

Just three days until school starts, people!!

I am having all kinds of emotions about this.

Relief that the hot, LONG summer days are almost over.

Anxiety about being away from my kids all day, 5 days a week.

Excitement about all the opportunities they will now have at a new school.

Added in is a little bit of worry about how I will handle all of the drop off and pick ups and schedules and desire to volunteer and attend school functions within a very limited time frame and an active toddler on my hip.

And let us not even talk about how nervous I am to have a highschooler!! Ahhh!!!

Okay enough of that.

Because whether I love it or dread it or a little bit of both...school is upon us.

Last night was our Meet the Teacher...or as it shall be described from here on out: move quickly through the hallways filled with people like a giant herd of cattle praying you don't lose one of your five children to the masses. Then on to a forced smile, quick hand shake, and nice to meet you while also dropping off giant sacks of school supplies, correction of your child's name spelling, and moving on to the next teacher to do it all over again two more times as your forehead drips with sweat and your baby screams from her stroller.

Fun times, Y'all.

The good news is we did indeed survive another year of that ritual, and we got a BBQ dinner in the cafeteria for our whole family out of the deal with just a $10 membership to the PTA. Score!

I didn't get pictures of my kids with the teachers because of the afore mentioned chaos, but we did pause in front of the gorgeous music room for a group shot:

Oh they all just seem so little to me still...and yet so big at the same time. I don't cry on the first day of school...but I also don't sleep for the 3 days leading up to it. So this weekend ought to be fun.

I have said it before but I am so so excited for their new school. It is considered an innovative school with technology all over the place and opportunities for kids to discover, design, and be exposed to other people groups. The whole school is very multicultural with a lot of middle eastern families. Everything is done both in English and Spanish, including PTA meetings and parent announcements. They welcome and encourage parent involvement, and even allow for you to observe your child's class instruction once every six weeks.

The kids will have Ipads at school, computer time daily, and even a science lab they attend as part of Specials. It is going to be a fabulous experience for them. As part of the district's new Dual Language Kindergarten, Vivi will of course have two kindergarten classrooms and two teachers that she will rotate every other day...one day full instruction in English, the next in Spanish.

Their clothes are picked out, their backpacks are packed, and now we wait until Monday...