I feel like I was the only mom on the planet who was ready to send her kids back to school, but hear me out! I’m not a stay-at-home-mom, so it isn’t like I get to spend huge amounts of time by myself while they’re in school or anything — although if you follow me on Snapchat you’ll know that I raced home after first day drop off to watch Breaking Bad in my pajamas. Our schedule has been so upside down during July and the kids were seriously falling apart. Bedtimes have gone awry, I haven’t seen a completed chore chart (or a clean load of laundry) in weeks and I don’t remember the last time we ate dinner together around the dining room table. We were in desperate need of a family reset and I’m thinking a new school year was just the thing to get us all out of our funk.
The girls were so excited to go back last week and had been planning first day outfits and hairstyles and backpack selections for weeks. We stayed up a little later than usual the night before (because, Olympics), but everyone was up bright and early the next day with bells on. No one requested a fancy first day breakfast this year, so we splurged on powdered donuts instead. I packed standard PB&J lunches and dropped them off at the door in my gym clothes and unwashed hair. It wasn’t pretty. I joked with a friend that I was the worst mama ever, because as I was pulling into the school I realized every other well dressed mom was walking her kid inside. You couldn’t have paid me money to exit the car in what I was wearing, but my kids didn’t seem the wiser. I’m not joking when I tell you there wasn’t a single car besides mine in the carpool lane that morning. I asked them after school if they were disappointed that I didn’t walk them in and, thankfully, neither kid cared.
Ella is in fourth grade this year, which seems so big to me. I was worried that her new, shorter haircut was going to make her look so much older, but I think the opposite is actually true. After looking back through photos from previous years, I’m kind of glad to see her looking like a little girl here. Y’all know I don’t complain much about my girls getting bigger, but I’m not sure I’m ready for her to look older yet.
She has two great teachers this year and I can already tell she is going to thrive. I got an afternoon selfie from my sister-in-law, so at least I know I can expect a few real time updates. Her home room teacher is very pregnant, so we’ll be missing her for a few weeks later this year. In the meantime, Ella says she has to carry a sweater every day because the room is like a refrigerator. I couldn’t help but laugh at that because Ella is super hot natured!
She was excited to work on her first night of “fourth grade homework” and asked for my help as soon as I got home. They were having a show and tell session the next morning to get better acquainted with everyone in their class and were asked to fill a brown paper sack with five items that represented them well. She chose a first place dance competition ribbon, a sea shell, her kids’ marathon medal, her favorite book and her bunny. I loved the items she chose and they described her perfectly.
I thought this was the perfect opportunity to flash back to previous school years and compare how much she’s grown. Big mistake. How adorable is this little bit of mine?
When she started pre-K at the age of four, she was still rocking MAJOR ringlet action. We had just had her hair cut for the very first time, but it was still super long. I had completely forgotten (and told you all wrong last week) until I looked at these photos, that she has had shorter hair before now. I remember now that we let her grow it out during the year because it needed to be long for dance and then after recital, we would cut it again. It wasn’t until she was old enough to take care of it herself that we let her keep it long all the time. See, this is why I need a blog. I might never remember these little details otherwise! The middle photo is from kindergarten and I remember her being so excited about that outfit. I took her shopping, just the two of us, and she got most of her clothes at Gap that year. She went through a phase in kindergarten where she would only wear Gap clothes and was particularly fond of skinny jeans and ballet flats. On the right is first grade. That’s how old Sophie is now!! She had finally lost her two front teeth and was a snagglepuss on that first day of school.
Gosh, she looks like such a baby to me in that second grade photo. She was super “sporty” that year and wanted hightop sneakers and t-shirts for school. We went round and round about her wardrobe because she wanted to wear all athletic clothes, all the time. The middle photo is last year — third grade — and I feel like that was the “oldest” she has ever looked. She was growing into her permanent teeth and her hair was so long. She was circling back around to girly clothes and I still love this denim dress so much. Now, fourth grade. How did that even happen? She thinks her smile is awkward right now, but she’s lost five or six teeth this summer. Her mouth is pretty much empty and I think she’s still adjusting to how to smile and talk with so many missing teeth. I’m looking forward to seeing how much that smile will change over the next year as those teeth come in. It’s crazy to me how permanent teeth completely change the look of your face sometimes.
Oh, Soph. This girl was so excited about first grade. She is fearless and nothing makes her nervous. She jumped right in with two feet and never even hesitated when I dropped her off. She’s pretty pumped about her big girl backpack. It’s actually Ella’s bag from last year, but it’s in perfect shape and E was using a satchel this year, so Sophie commandeered this one pretty quickly. She also requested real sneakers this year. I usually buy mary jane style tennis shoes or cutesy sandals, but has to wear sneakers for gym so I let it go this year. I grabbed her Nikes from Nordstom Rack (that’s a hidden sneaker goldmine, if you don’t know that already) when I bought Ella’s this year and she is super excited about them.
She has the same first grade teacher that Ella had and we are so fortunate for that. We did joke that both girls were going to struggle to call their teachers by their last names since they are all dear friends outside of school! Sophie’s teacher said she could call her Ms. Deana, so we don’t actually have to worry about that after all. She had a great first day and since I had to work late, she had already done her homework and hung up some artwork over my desk by the time I got home. She told me all about her first day and the new girl in her gym class and then promptly fell asleep in bed with her daddy, an hour before bedtime. School is hard work!
Here are a few photos to recap Sophie’s first days at school, too. That pre-k photo on the left made me sigh out loud when I tracked it down. That fake smile and baby belly poking out? Gah, I miss that little nugget. She was really nervous for “big school” that year, but hasn’t had a butterfly since. Last summer was when she fell in love with Matilda Jane, so it doesn’t surprise me that she chose that dress for the first day of kindergarten. This year, she just wanted to wear “normal” clothes like Ella, so basics and sneakers it was. I know she’ll still dress cutesy from time to time, so I’m trying not to let it bum me out. She didn’t grow too much between pre-k and kindergarten, but boy did she hit a growth spurt this year! She is all legs and long arms and there isn’t an ounce of baby fat to be seen anywhere.
Just like that we’re back to school, back to a normal routine, back to lunchbox packing and homework wrangling and early bedtimes. Have a great year, friends!
