Actual First Day Pictures

 The first day of school has come and gone, and with it the excitement and glamor that accompanies that first day, where everything is new, you know there's no homework (at least for the kids) and mom most certainly has a special snack waiting for you when you get home.

 Enter day five.  The glamor has worn off. We are all tired and out of sorts. We miss sleeping in and not having a schedule. It's hard to adjust to being on time, answering to teachers and rules and navigating the social waters that are par for the course in school.

 Don't get me wrong. They are all pleased with their teachers and classes. They are happy being with their friends and excited to come home and tell mom all about the exciting events of their day. But they we are all a little off. On Monday Ty had a throwback to his crazy toddler days, where he screamed and cried for a half an hour while destroying his room and everything in his path. (Don't worry. We hugged it out and then he cleaned it up.)

 Ashlynn is aware that she struggles with adjusting during the beginning of the school year, so she is trying (with minimal effort) to put on a happy face, but underneath it all, she's suffering. She always struggles with being in the lowest math group, but yesterday, after being placed there again, without any of her friends, she received a welcome relief when her friends returned from the advanced math group claiming she was lucky she didn't  have to endure what they just did for the past hour ("Yoooou are sooo luckee-yah! Our math teacher is sooo strict-ah! I'm serious-ah!" Please read that in a Dramatic 6th Grade Girls Voice with a hint of Valley Girl).  I know she will rise above it all soon and be fine. (In case you are thinking Briggs has spared us the drama, I have to interject. He walked in the door crying yesterday because "ASHLYNN YELLED AT ME IN THE PICK UP LINE!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!")

At the end of the day, I know this phase will pass, but it takes time. And right now since I'm having a hard time adjusting to all of the rigors that a new schedule brings, I'm not really wanting to be patient. In answer to the most popular question of what I'm doing with all of my "Free Time": The same thing I've been doing - cooking, cleaning, laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, signing a bazillion agendas daily (really just 3, but still...). I just get to do it in peace and quiet, until chaos reigns at 2:30!