Skip to main content

back to school


without so much as a warning, the alarm rang very early yesterday morning.  "summer's over!" it screamed.  "i don't care if it is still the third week of august," it answered me when i complained to it, continuing, in its awful blaring howl, "time to get back to routine and schedule and homework and soccer practice and running around like a family of chickens with your heads cut off!" 

or something like that. 

anyway, that's what it felt like.  so i rolled out of bed, woke up my two older boys, who seemed equally unwilling to let go of summer's final moments.  however, once we were up and dressed, and the morning was bright and warm, the day, and the season it ushered in, felt more inviting.  they even smiled for the pictures.



we had already been getting ready, of course.  making sure we had all the requisite supplies and clothes and shoes.  we finished our summer bucket list with a lego project of making a school classroom, as you can see below.  you should know that most of this came out of Shannon's mind, with a little help from jack and cade (i had nothing to do with this one).  they should be so lucky to have harry potter, c3po, will turner, and legolas in their classroom!




yesterday was also shannon's birthday, and she took the return to school as a birthday gift to her, as you can see from her joyful leap below.  actually, she was surprised by a visit from her sister and family, and she had a great birthday. 


now the boys are in third grade and first grade, respectively.  and the journey of learning in a classroom begins again.  it will be, as usual, a journey full of hard work and discipline; doing exercises when you don't feel like it, and working when you'd rather be playing, but it will, as a result, also be a journey with great rewards.  it will be a journey of discovery, of metaphorical light bulbs being clicked on, and of making connections and asking questions and enjoying this great big mysterious wonderful world.  i love school, and am excited for my children to continue their own quest for knowledge, yes, but also for wisdom.  it is an amazing adventure. 

related:
first day of school 2012
first day of school 2011
first day of school 2010
letting your kid "go" to school
first day of school 2009
first day of school 2008
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 
3 comments
keep reading

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus...
6 comments
keep reading

i'm giving away the swamp

so this is a collage called swamp. i made it in february of last year. it is currently framed in a homemade, hand-painted frame. it is paper collage on a book binding panel. it is 7" x 10". and i am giving it away. i've been wanting to have a blog giveaway for some time, and the time has finally arrived. here's how it works. all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. by leaving a comment you are automatically entered into the contest (as long as your comment offers a way for me to get in touch with you, or you know that i know you). the contest will be open until next wednesday at noon, eastern standard time. at that time the contest will officially be closed and i will pick a random number. the person whose comment matches that number wins! for example, if i happen to pick the number 33, the thirty-third comment will win. oh, and one more rule: you can only post ONCE. if you win, i will send you the collage, signed by me, the artist, free of c...
29 comments
keep reading