First day of school

Brynlie with her new teacher, Mrs. Vicki Smith.

Last night, after I'd gotten all the kids to bed, I decided to try to change my blog template. Bad idea. An hour-and-a-half later I was so frustrated that I'm surprised I didn't break my whole computer. I did learn that I like simple (or maybe boring?) layouts. Anyway, I meant to get this posted last night, but I figured I'd better go to bed before I started swearing and kicking things.


Yesterday was the first day of school for my 2 oldest kids! Brevan started 4th grade (how can that be? I still remember 4th grade so well because it's when I moved to Utah) and Brynlie started 1st grade. When I took the kids to school in the morning I got out of the car with them. Brevan asked me what I was doing. I told him that I wanted to walk them into their classrooms so I could make sure they knew where they were going (and to take some pictures :)). He told me he was a big kid and didn't need me walking him to class. Tough. I took them both to class and talked to their teachers for a minute before finally leaving. It was one of the first years that I haven't left with tears in my eyes. Brynlie went to all-day kindergarten last year, so I guess it felt more familiar.


The rest of the day was LONG!! Lindsey and Logan were so lost without Brynlie. She not only helped me so much during the summer, but she really enjoys taking care of the younger kids. If she's going outside, she'll take Logan to the grass so he can watch her ride her bike. If a friend comes over to see if she can play, she'll take Lindsey with her so she won't feel left out. She and Lindsey share a room and then spend every minute of the day playing together. So yesterday I played more Barbies, read more books and did more silly games than I have done in a long time! Boy, am I looking forward to preschool, dance and playgroup starting up again soon!


One of the differences between my two oldest kids: Brevan could not care less about clothing styles. His only concern is that the clothes feel comfortable (not weird elastics or embroidered lettering on shirts). I still go in his room most mornings and lay out what he should wear, because you should see some of the outfits he comes up with on his own . . .it's not good. Then there's Brynlie. She has had her "first day of school outfit" picked out for weeks. Right down to the headband in her hair. Getting dressed is the most exciting part of her day. She goes through her clothes the night before and lays out the whole outfit on the floor before getting into bed. Heaven forbid you have a fashion emergency and have to think of what to wear in the MORNING! I'm not sure where either of these kids came from, because I'm not like either one of them when it comes to clothing. I know what matches, but I'll throw on the first outfit I see in my closet. It does not help my self-confidence when my 6-year-old goes through the clothes in my closet and tells me that I need some help in the fashion area because I've been wearing my sweats a little too much lately. She actually organized my closet a few weeks ago and put all my "cutest" shirts up front on the rack, and my "prettiest" shoes out in the open. Anything that was not pink, had a bow or was made out of a wild material was stuffed in the reject section.


So anyway, this is the outfit Brynlie wanted for the first day. I think she looked pretty darn cute.


When the kids got off the bus at 3:45 (I drive them to school in the morning, but let them take the bus home) this was the reaction I got: Brevan: "Everything about school is bad. I didn't like one thing except lunch. The worst part was recess because I've already played on the playground so many times! Brynlie: "Let's see . . .I loved it all, Mom!! I can't think of ANYTHING I didn't like! Well, except in art class we only learned about what we're going to do this year, but we didn't actually get to do any art. It was a great day!!" I sure love each one of these kids, but my, they sure are different from each other.