Back to School...And then there were two!!

After months of anticipation the moment Emme had been waiting for all Summer finally arrived!  It was the night (or day) before Kindergarten and a little beauty prep was in order...

She wasn't the only one excited about a new school year...4th grade (sigh) stop growing already!!

Outfits were picked...

A good nights rest was had...

And Breakfast bright and early was served...

I could hardly believe there were two backpacks to capture...

Two smiling faces standing in front of the school...

Time has a way of catching me off guard lately...My sweet little Emme...

And I can hardly believe there's only two years left of elementary school for this little lady...

Once the big sisters were safely delivered to school Cash and I set off to enjoy a little quality time...

And spent the morning with his buddy MT...

I have to admit I was counting down the minutes until 2:30...hoping Emme would have loved her class.  I was so relieved to see this little smile...

We had a few rough mornings and there may or may not have been some bribing going on but by the time Friday rolled around everyone was settling into the routine and dare I say beginning to enjoy school!  Whew!  I had promised the girls we'd join them for lunch and it was so nice to meet some of their new friends...

And there's no better reward for making it through a long first week of school than the opening season Football game for the Wildcats...

And let us not forget this handsome little 10 month old...

Not to be left out he started spending a couple of days hanging with some buddies at Mother's Day Out!  In spite of boycotting his nap it sounds like so far he is quite the little charmer...

Looking forward to a Fall full of fun and adventure with these three...

Be Brave

Growing up I always assumed my mother knew everything.  So...imagine my surprise as I now sit here as "The Mom" and realize I know precisely jack s#*@. 

Emme bawled herself to sleep tonight.  Not just a low key cry...an all out sob.  Apparently her current mood is "I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL!"  And the more heartbreaking part is it's because she misses me.  Well, crud.  So now I realize as I sit here that I know just zero about how to handle my current situation.  Oh sure I comforted and consoled and swore it would all be just fine.  But the truth is I. Don't. Know.  I wish I felt sure but I don't.  I wish I knew that I could promise if she'll give it a week she'll love it but she might not.  I wish I could say you're teacher is going to be one of your all time favorite people but will she?  See the thing I'm realizing is motherhood at times is 2 parts unconditional love and 1 part fake it til' you make it.  I guess the real success is assuring the small children who trust you with their lives and love you with their whole hearts that you really do know everything.  Hopefully that perception is enough to allow them to overcome their fears...to do the hard thing that is in front of them...to be brave.  The thing they must never know is that deep down inside I'm afraid too.  That being their mom is the scariest thing I've ever done and every day I hope against hope and pray with everything in me that I don't fail them. 

So one day sweet Emme, when you're old enough to read this, I'll let you in on a little secret...  Tonight when I prayed for you, and encouraged you, and told you to be Brave...I was giving myself a little pep talk too...

I love you with all my heart.

Clean Slates and The Lemonade Stand

There's something really wonderful about a fresh start.  As I sent my sweet girls off to school today I remembered always loving that feeling every year.  New notebooks, new pencils, new friends, new teacher...new beginnings.  So, while my Type A brain has EVERY INTENTION of going back and catching this home sweet blog up one day, I'm giving myself permission to do the same.  Start fresh from the here and now vs. playing catch up and trying to somehow someday get back to the present!  So here goes...

Summer has come to an end and I find myself wanting to emphasize that thought with AMEN!  I have loved the long lazy days and memories we've made...I've also wanted to run away and join the circus.  I simply cannot solve one.more.argument.  But we did go out with a bang!  The girls had been begging all Summer for us to do a lemonade stand and with school starting Monday there was no time like the present so Saturday it was!  They busted out markers and we went to work...

A few hours later the "Lemon Heads" were up and running!

They had the best time and managed to entice quite a few patrons with their smooth moves...

They also had some help from a very cute little assistant...

Carter even managed to flag down a truck driver!

I never dreamed they would stick with it for over 5 hours!  They were very proud of their $80 profit.  I told Carter that it would be just fine for her to keep an extra $10 because she had been just a little more "into" the stand than Emme but she insisted that we'd be telling this story for years and she wanted to split it fair and share because she'd always remember having cheated Emme out of that $10..and then I felt about 2 inches tall!! :)  My favorite girls in all the world!!  

And then there's this little dude...

Here's to Summers End...sun kissed kids...and clean slates!