I've got thousands of things I am looking forward to doing today! I can only imagine all that I will get done with just one child in tow! For the past several weeks I have been trying not to wish away the time left with my kids, but have also been anxiously waiting the return to structure, routine and a clean house that stays that way longer than just a few hours! Having said that... this morning came and went and I am once again (just like I do every year) sitting here looking at their pictures, how grown up they've become, and wishing that the house wasn't so oddly quiet!
This morning was one of our best back to school ones ever! Brock woke up first and quickly woke up Brandon. I could hear their excited pitter-patter long before they trotted into my bedroom, full of energy and all dressed for the day! They were discussing all the things they wished they could do to Kaitlin, who was still peacefully sleeping and saying they wished they could play a prank on her! I said, "Why not?!...as long as you don't wake up Alli!" They zoomed off to Kaitlin and Alli's room and a few seconds later, I hear a screaming and laughing Kaitlin saying, "I can't believe I fell for that!" Apparently the boys said, "Kaitlin! Get up! We slept in and are late for school!" I have to say, I've never been able to get her out of bed that quickly, so we just might have a new strategy of how to get that sleepy-head out of bed in the mornings!
Last night, Cole and I were putting the finishing touches and the bike tune-ups and we got to Kaitlin's old, creakety thing - and didn't even know where to start! We've gotten all of her bikes off of Craigslist, so she has never had a new bike. She's never minded or complained, but Cole decided right then and there (at roughly 11:40pm) that she needed a new one! Off we headed to Wal-Mart! (Yes, I am highly aware that we are crazy!) An hour later, finding that Wal-Mart was completely out of all things bike-related (tubes, slime, etc.), we did find this beauty! It was a refurbished one and we got a great deal!
After breakfast and a quick tidy-up of their rooms, this anxious little crowd hit the front porch for our traditional pictures!
These little goof balls!
Ah! When did she start growing up so fast and how do I make her stop!
Cole and I were just talking about how we got so lucky to have such a good, beautiful, kind girl! She really is amazing and I love that little, or not-so-little, girl so much!
All ready to go!
All ready to go, too!
Oh, how I love these little guys!
Kaitlin got Mrs. Gubler this year and she was so excited about that. She has a few friends in her class, too, which always makes the first day of school a little easier!
The boys got our very own, "Mrs. Shakespeare!" We love this gal more than I can say! She got married this summer to one of Cole's good friends. She was also Kaitlin's second grade teacher and we are so happy for the boys to have a teacher that loves them so much!
It's crazy how every once in a while I can remember looking at my kids and wishing for them to be old enough to go to school and I would count down the days until they were old enough for Kindergarten, or swim lessons, or t-ball. I can remember so clearly when they were all just the size of Allison, and I would look forward to the years that they were making friends and in school and growing up. Then all, of the sudden, they DO grow up, go back to school, start making friends and start becoming more and more of their own little people...and I sometimes wish I could rewind it all and just go back to the days that they were little and all mine!
