Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Not only are we saying goodbye to another sweet and adventure-filled summer at home, but we are saying goodbye to one sweet and adventure-filled chapter for our family. Today was Mila's first day of kindergarten, the end of full-time daycare, and the start of two school-age kids at Aldrich Elementary. It feels weird to be crossing that threshold, as sometimes it doesn't seem possible to have two kids that old, yet at the same time we're so ready for this. It will be fun to have them at school together, to ride in the van to Blessed Beginnings to see old friends, and to have all the "big kid" chats about specials and recess and new friends. And Mila girl? She's going to absolutely eat it all up. The first thing she said to me when I picked her up today was that she got to go to the library and she checked out a book about pigs! A non-fiction book about pigs. And pigs aren't just pink, Mom! They're black and brown and even spotted! Take that, mom, who only ever checks out children's books with pretty covers! ;) I remember living for Cruz's stories after Kindergarten every day and you better believe I'll be expecting the same from Mila!
Every July I find myself longing for an endless summer, but by August, I'm ready for a new transition. New possibilities, new restarts, new goals for intentionality and focus. This year, my goals are to eat dinner around the table as much as possible and to simply stay awake to it all. I had two good mama friends sending their boys to their first year of high school this morning and that about rips my heart in two. So in the meantime, more meals together, more adventures, more hearts and eyes wide open to the beautiful creatures God entrusted to me.
This morning, we got up early, did our morning jobs, and went to J's Homestyle Cooking for some smiley pancakes and orange juice. We wore our four matching "friendship bracelets", as Mila calls them, to remind us to be brave and kind and that we're thinking of each other throughout the day. Then we went up to Aldrich for a few pictures before Cruz was bored and bounced to the big kid playground and Beau and I stayed around with Mila. She was doing just fine, until I decided to linger a little too long and then she got nervous. She started sobbing, I started crying, and pretty soon Mr. Berns came up with Marvelous Mr. Moose the puppet and started asking Mila about swimming at the Falls. Soon enough, Mila was telling him all about going off the high dive and then Makena, Henry, and Brianna, the four Blessed Beginnings alumni at Aldrich all seemed to show up at the same time and off they went to play hide-and-seek with fourteen of their new friends. I'm glad Beau was impatient and ready to go to work or I may have hid around the corner and stayed there all day. :)
Fortunately, school dismissed at 1:50 because I am THE LEAST productive person on the first day of school. I picked the kids up, we sat on the deck with milk and cookies, and they told me all about their days. Cruz said the day took forever, mostly because "all we did was learn about rules," including the one about only being allowed to use one sheet of toilet paper in the bathroom (I gave him permission to break that one). Mila said she LOVED the sloppy joes at lunch time (they tasted just like Roxanne's), and my favorite line, "Mom! We used these things that were like a spoon but they had a fork on top!"
So there you have it - pigs and toilet paper and sporks summed up the Jorgensen's first day of school. 179 more days to soak up this knowledge... ;)
Some pretty sweet pictures from today...
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