Little and not-so-little schoolies

The last two days have been a whirlwind of school preparations, some expected, some astonishing.

We will start with the out-of-the-clear-blue-sky bit... It started this Summer when Kat decided she wanted to experience public high-school which lead to researching local schools and then frustration in not finding one that was a good fit. She was all set for another year of homeschooling when a conversation that started as a joke about her coming to stay with me during the school year and attending the school here in our town ended with her packing and trucking the little over an hour drive to my house, all set for her freshman year the following day!

So I stole another one of my siblings.

You are really going to think I'm a kidnapper now!

It's happened so fast I haven't even hardly had time to get excited but I am so happy at how it is working so far. We have a really wonderful school here and it's an awesome blessing that it's even an option for my kiddos and for Kat. It's going to be a great year!

As for the expected part, open-house was last night and my two seem very well matched with their teachers.

School started today.

They really were just a wee bit excited to get going. Bee wore her back-pack for over 1/2 an hour before we left, even while brushing her teeth. She was SO ready to go. Then there was the mild breaking of my heart this morning when Tboy melted down under the pressure of new year jitters and  I finally had to walk away from his little crying face, leaving him in the caring hands of his sweet teacher. I found out later he was fine as soon as I was gone and when I picked them up at the half-day dismissal-time, he really wasn't ready to go. They both had a really good day and came home smiling.

I just can't believe how big they both are.
Huge.

Speaking of huge, I'm so hugely thankful for these good friends (and shirt-tail relations in this case) who go to school with my chillins.  I can't say how special it is to me that this family moved to our town, share our school and how much we appreciate their friendship. Jaala is that mom-friend that I can just trust to "get" whatever I'm dealing with... I texted her first when I left the school all torn-up over my Tboy. She understood. Today, she posted some words I loved so much that I want to share them and I hope she won't mind.

 "It IS possible to both laugh and cry on the morning of the first day of school!! As you are packing up their lunches you give that dirty~lil~evil~laugh because you've dealt with one too many sibling squabbles this summer but then your eyes start to leak as you drop your freshman off in front of the high school. A lump develops in your throat as you watch your next 2 enter into a beautiful brand new state~of~the~art middle school. And by the time you walk your youngest 2 into their classrooms and deliver them and a piece of their future over to another adult, you can barely make it out the double doors before the tears roll down your cheeks! ♥ Sigh.....I really needed a donut this morning!!!!! :)

I don't have the middle-school bit but otherwise those were my heart-thoughts...

And that freshman she mentioned? That dear girl was the blessing I gave thanks for the most today. Kat and "L" have been thrown together some since Jaala and I became friends and we smiled fondly as they became fast friends as well. Now they get to go to school together this year as freshmen. 

It meant the world to my mom and I to send our girl, Kat, into that place with at least one person she knew already.

It spoke volumes to my heart to watch them walk in.

Side-by-side, facing the newness and the freshness of it all.

Together, not alone.

Anybody have any Paleo Donuts handy?

Love,

Sis-napper in NE

P.S. The dance of the packed-Paleo lunches has begun! Here is tomorrow's:

Grilled pork bites, red-pepper tidbits and The Bird-Brain (carrot, sunflower seeds, melon balls, lettuce, stir-fried broccoli). This is all Grain-free, legume-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free and really yummy.