First Days of School

This 3rd grade picture is proof my mom hated me. Red plaid, fluffy yellow ribbons, crooked bangs -- wth? Nah, I'm just kidding. My mom loved red plaid and I'm sure she picked this dress out because she loved me too. In all fairness, I liked plaid at that time. I even had a red plaid tin lunchbox with matching Thermos. Plaid was big in the 1970s, along with paisley and avocado green kitchen appliances. I haven't worn plaid in years, not since my stint at Catholic school. I'd probably give people the wrong impressions if I put on a little plaid jumper and knee-socks now, especially my husband. One thing I did hate were school pictures. Those were the worst. They always took them in the morning when my eyes weren't really awake. In almost all my school pictures I have those sleepy, puffy, morning eyes. My kids haven't been in the school system for 10 years, so I don't know how they take them now. Are they digital? Do they give you second chances if you mess up? When I was a kid, you got one chance. If you made a stupid face and closed your eyes, that was it and you had to look at it forever.

We homeschool and this is our 11th year now. We will be starting up school tomorrow, which is late for us. I had originally hoped to start on Monday, but my Jeep had to be worked on and it's a 40-minute drive each way. Then today my seventeen-year-old daughter starts a creative writing class at a Christian school, which is another 40-minute drive. Starting school for the boys today just wouldn't work, so we're going to the library while Nicole is at her writing class. It's not school, but hey, it's the library and that counts for something. Tomorrow is our first real day. And am I ready? Of course not. That's what I get to do tonight. Panic and stay up until 1am trying to make everything perfect. I'll get it all done. I always do. And as I do every year, I'll take pictures of my kids on their first day of school -- first thing in the morning, with their sleepy, puffy, morning eyes.