Tuesday, August 26, 2008

1st Day of School (and Fashion Personalities)

There have been summers where I am shocked that summer is ending; I dread having to send my kids back to school and (briefly) consider homeschooling so I don't have to let them go. This is NOT one of those years. This year I am very excited to see them all head off to school. As though an enormous weight has been lifted. (I am still a little euphoric from my first grocery shopping with only two kids along).

It was, however, difficult to let Elise go to middle school. Where she knows NO ONE. I walked her to the corner (that I can't see from the house!) where the bus would pick her up. I didn't even embarrass her by asking if she wanted me to stay. Well, I may have hinted that the option was there. OK, I did ask, but only once . . . or twice. (But there weren't any other kids at the stop yet) I know, I know, the worst thing for Elise would have been for all the kids on the bus to see her Mommy waiting at the bus stop with her, but I did make Ryan go out and stand with her till the bus came to make sure no one drove by and threw her into the back of their car (He is only one grade behind so I reasoned it wouldn't be as embarrassing). I thought leaving them for kindergarten (at the kindergarten door) was hard!!

I did walk the other three down to their stop and stayed with them for a few minutes (until other kids got there). They leave an hour after Elise, so we had some time to get things done before we left for the stop. See what I can do with "extra" time? I call this the triangle-part-cross-over-basket-weave-pigtails hairdo. If you like it you can stop by anytime this week and take a closer look (I'm not taking it out anytime soon!)


Finally, anyone with a large family knows that people seem to see your children as one homogeneous group, which they are not. I thought I would use their first day outfit choices to illustrate some of my kids' differences in personality:

14 comments:

  1. That is awesome. I can also see their personalities coming through. Trevor is much more like Ryan, I have to watch him close so that he changes his clothes every day. Kaylee on the other hand changes all the time and I have to watch that she goes out the door acceptable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always liked those kind of hair-dos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That hair is... all I can say is WOW. I thought I was tricky when I did about 1/8 of that in Addie's hair! Way to go.

    I loved the break-down of their outfits. Not knowing your kids very well personally, things like that really help me get to know them! thanks!!! Looks like me and Elise need to hit the mall together and I love Kirsti's style! I can totally picture her when she's a little older. How adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your kids are so cute! When are you coming to visit? What grade is Elise going into?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I liked this blog (great idea). I loved the hair and would love to try it on Sarah (only her hair is so fine I don't think it would stay or would she hold still long enough). Elise looks fabulous for her 1st day of middle school. I hope everything went well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tami- it might be a while before we get back out west, but I hope no longer than a year. I forgot to put their new years down:

    Elise-6
    Ryan-5
    Ethan-2
    Kirsti-1

    And Joseph starts kindergarten in one more year!!! (not that I'm excited or anything)

    ReplyDelete
  7. My second child wore the exact same thing(and I mean exact...same T-shirt from Old Navy, same dark jeans, everything)on his first day of school as your second child did. Do you think it has something to do with birth order?

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is too funny! I'm trying to remember- I think our oldests are close in age, but how old is your second? Maybe it is the birth order, too bad they can't play together (apparently they have similar tastes).

    ReplyDelete
  9. They all look so adorable! I am para-educating in a room that has 2 boys from a set of quadruplets. The mom dresses them all the exact same and they're identical. It drives me insane! It's funny though. I just recite all the names until the one I'm talking to responds.

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOVE Kirsti's hair! I am totally lifting the idea. I love that Kirsti has on shorts and long sleeves. Is Elise wearing your shoes?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the pics and descriptions .... so cute! you have to tell me what program you use to do that!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the pig tails hair. It is super cute. That Elise has got style. I love the shirt and the necklace looks good with it. I doubt she will have a hard time finding friends at school!

    ReplyDelete
  13. OH...how fun to see those kids. I have been so emotional and sentimental this week and it made me just cry to see them all. Sometimes I miss you guys so much. I'm glad that they all had a great first day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I must say I love Kirsti's quirky style. As a child my family constantly teased me about my quirky style so I can identify w/ her! They are all so cute!

    ReplyDelete