Back to School! 2013

Last Tuesday was back to school for us!  I can still hardly believe it.  

I honestly feel like we just got out of school and into summer break last week!!

But, I guess it's like they say - time waits for no man and it's on to 1st Grade and 4th grade for these kiddos.

 (See?  Despite all those back seat fights, they DO love each other!

It was a really stormy start to the school year, so we had to take our first day of school pictures on the back porch swing instead of the front yard like usual.

Sweet ML.  She has really grown this summer.  She seems so much more 'big girl' now.  She'll always be my baby, but there isn't one thing left about her that's toddler or baby-ish anymore.  Which is equal parts joy and sadness for me.  Sigh.  ML struggled at the end of Kindergarten to keep up reading wise, so we tutored with one of the first grade teachers over the summer and it looks like she's back on track now.  Plus! - added bonus - we got our summer tutor as our First Grade teacher!!!  So perfect for my sweet ML, who is usually pretty timid around new people.  It felt so good to leave her with a teacher she already knew and was familiar with and loved.

And this guy.  The big guy.  What can I say?  Smart - sometimes too smart for his own good.  Loves to read, to learn, and to talk.  Love him.  He's going to have 4th grade eating out of the palm of his hand.

By the time we got to school, it was raining buckets.  Literally pouring.  So I let the kids out under the covered carpool drop off and then ran in to take a few extra shots with my cell phone.

ML and her sweet teacher:

 At her desk - so excited!

JR and his sweet homeroom teacher:

 4th Grade rotates between 3 teachers, but he was so thrilled to get Mrs. B as his homeroom teacher.

Finally - a little composite I made of JR's first days of school over the years.  I made it when I was laughing about how there's no real dilemma about what to wear on the first day of school for my kids!  JR actually reached for a black shirt the first day of school this year until I reminded him he'd always worn purple.  So one more year of purple.  Who knows?  Maybe next year we'll go crazy and wear a grey shirt the first day?  Ha!