What were you thinking? I asked my son while we looked at his first grade photo proof.
I was thinking about monsters
…said the Macaulay Caulkin wannabe.
His twin sister took a gander at it and asserted her opinion on the matter…
Well that is the worstest picture I’ve ever seen.
I asked her why she thought he had that face on and she astutely replied,
It’s because he’s shy, mom.
Thank goodness for retakes…or not… 
I like to read. I like school. For the most part, I’m a nerd, which is why Back to School night should be a fun night for me. But I have twins. So instead I feel pained that I’m missing out on an experience related to one of my kids.
It’s one of those mom of twin moments that gives me a little heartache. I try to be mindful of treating them like individuals despite the twin status. It’s not always possible. But I guess I do the best I can. My husband will have to be at every Back to School night with me forever so we can each be in a class…and then I have to pray that the little one doesn’t have hers on the same night and oh geez I’m realizing right this minute that she will when they are in 4th and 2nd grade!
On Monday I was in my daughter’s class because I’m a CLASS PARENT!!! That just seems funny to me. Though I was nervous about taking on something extra I actually love it because I’ve been able to get to know my daughter’s fabulous teacher in a way that I wouldn’t have without my class parent role.
And this is my daughter’s self portrait…how seriously creepy is that thing!?
Did you have a Back to School night this week?
My mother emailed me that I haven’t written a blog post since 9-13 and am I quitting it?
This month is just insane! You know how it is…getting back into the school routine, starting up the extracurricular activities again, and let’s not forget homework! My god first graders have real homework and the twins are already fighting with me about it.
And throughout it all, I am desperately trying to hang onto the warmer days. The kids were so excited earlier this week when I surprised them at dismissal (“are we walkers today, Mom?”) so we could take off for the park. Play time is as important, if not more, than all the other stuff.
Are you also surprised at how fast September is flying by?
On Monday morning my baby girl entered my bedroom at 6:30 a.m., gave me a great smooch on the cheek and said,
Today’s my first day of school!
Her excitement was so innocent and adorable. Though still feeling lousy from being sick, she gave me a lift. Especially when she came back 5 minutes later and told me she was ready to go.
I want you to know I had nothing to do with this outfit…from the dress, to the sparkly shoes, to the dolls and whatnot, this kid had an idea of what kind of glitz and glam she was going for and made it happen.
This is the fourth and last first day of school at this nursery school. When this little one first entered the establishment she was just around a year old and by the way she bounced around her big brother and sister’s classroom I just knew she was ready to go.
So when we arrived at school she found her buddy and immediately started flirting.
When the doors finally opened close to 9:00, my little one was the first child to enter the school.
She raced into her classroom and immediately got to work.
I lingered longer than I might have in past years to take in the moment. I realized with a bit of a heavy heart that this would be the beginning of the end of nursery school for my family and therefore, that I truly don’t have babies anymore.
Just another one of those moments of feeling overcome by how quickly they are growing up.
Do those moments ever end?
When I fantasized about my future offspring before I got married I kind of had a feeling they would be blonde, and probably fair, and maybe with blue eyes. But for some reason I never imagined how dominant that curly hair gene would be!!!
Oh yes, I am a curly-haired girl.
Boy I longed for my sister’s beautiful pin straight hair as I spent many moments crying while trying to wrangle with the frizz and curls. Then I grew up, and got over it. Then I had babies and didn’t care! And then, I discovered the wondrous keratin treatment. I didn’t recognize myself after I got the first one in 2010.
And I’ve been loving the straight hair ever since!
Meanwhile, as you know, I have 3 of the curliest haired kids around. They seriously get random compliments from strangers almost every day on their curls and hair color. Yet my daughter talks about wanting “smooth” hair and then when I tell her how beautiful curls are she reminds me of the fact that I no longer have my curls!
So. When the girls get their haircuts (like twice a year), we’ve started this little tradition where they get their hair blown out after.
They feel so very glam!
They really love walking around swinging their manes but I have to tell you that I don’t like it! I love their curls and so, it seems, does their brother, who, when the girls arrived home, declared,
I don’t want your hair like that. I want it curly so I can recognize you.
Though I prefer their curls, I think it’s important to let them experience this treat and they understand going in that it’s just temporary.
How do you feel about your kids significantly altering their appearance?
It’s hard to believe we were all swimming at our town pool on Sunday when it’s been in the 60′s this week and pouring!!! The weather was a bummer for the first day of school but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.
Last year we had the bus stop to ourselves so it’s very exciting to have company this year. It was great to share in the happiness, especially since only hours before I was beyond miserable.
My friend snapped a couple of shots of them arriving at school (her daughter walks to school) and I love the cool excitement on their faces!
I can’t get over how mature they are starting to look and act. The twins love being the big kids at school (the school consists of only K and 1st grade). It seems like not too long ago they were babies and starting nursery school!
Love!
How are your kids adjusting to school this year?
I started getting a fever yesterday.
It sucked.
I think the last time I had one was in 2003. Last night was bad, then I woke up today better.
Stupid me. Typical of a mom. I went ahead with the day. I did not rest.
I started feeling a little crappy again early in the evening. (Thankfully I had just finished making school lunches!).
Minutes later I was in hell. Aching, shivering and thrashing around. I declared I felt worse than I did in labor (with a failed epidural). What’s worse is that Kate Plus Eight was on the TV during my agony, which you know added to it.
I wailed that this was karma, for not sufficiently caring for my son when he was feverish last week and being dragged around Great Wolf Lodge (I didn’t know he had a fever…thought he was being a pill).
Despite ingesting Tylenol and Advil the fever kept rising, and my agony along with it.
I don’t remember fevers sucking so bad. I get nervous when the kids have them because of my daughter’s history of febrile seizures. I’m guessing this was particularly painful because it was rising rapidly.
My really devoted husband tried to help, but I was unhelpable. So, he kept taking my temperature.
Now its down to 101.6 which feels great compared to two hours ago, but I can’t sleep at all. I was wondering how high is really bad. I’m hoping I can get it together in the morning to have a proper first day of school send off.
How do you manage when you’re sick yet responsible for others?
You know I love summer so Labor Day generally depresses me (as opposed to Independence Day which uplifts me!) because it really symbolizes the end of summer. However, these months have been filled with long, long, long days.
Like this supermarket excursion yesterday which involved multiple, lengthy conversations about farting, intermingled with maniacal laughing and arguing. I actually saw shoppers start to turn down our aisle only to quickly turn out once we were heard and spotted.
And today at Home Depot my husband and I stepped away from the cart for a moment to find two of the kids rolling on the floor in a mad fight. This is how they looked after they were put back in the cart and threatened scolded.
So really though I am sad that summer is ending, though I am in denial that my baby twins are entering first grade…Tuesday, the first day of school, can’t come fast enough
How are you feeling about the start of a new school year?
So in the midst of Hurricane Irene, we were supposed to go away. We were able to move our reservation to Monday, though when we headed out we were uneasy; we still had no power.
We took a relatively short drive (like 2 hours) to Great Wolf Lodge for an overnight stay. To make it extra fun, we set out with friends, whom we followed along the way. Because we don’t have a Cracker Barrel anywhere near us, when we hit the highway we always keep ours eyes out for one. Luckily my friend loves Cracker Barrel too so she actually downloaded an app on her Iphone to direct us to one and was able to send me text messages regarding how many miles we had left before we could dig into some grits! It’s a crazy world, I tell you.
So have you ever been to a Great Germ Lodge? I had to seriously turn off my OCD issues. Boy oh boy I saw more flesh and tattoos and things I don’t need to see to last me awhile.
Can you believe this was the first time we’ve all stayed in a hotel room together? I snapped a picture when they finally passed out around 9:30.
About an hour later they were already fighting about whose leg was in whose space, whose arm was touching whom, etc. Needless to say, our one night stay was PLENTY! (And we returned home to our power back on!)
But really the kids did have fun exploring all of the different water things with their friends. They love to swim so this was a good environment for them to have good times. As I travelled down (backwards, I might add) one of the slides with my 5-year-old she screamed,
This is the funnest vacation everrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
I mean that’s what it’s all about, right?
