6 am. really?

So summer is long gone. Well, it's still hot around here but school started yesterday so summer might as well be over! It seemed like the weeks flew by but then again, I wasn't quite ready for that 6am alarm that so rudely went off on the nightstand. I haven't gotten up that early in months.

Not once, I say!

Alas, the kids were in great moods and I was feeling really good about our morning. Joel woke up slowly and then said,

"Hey, mama! Why it still dark outside?"

Sweet, naive boy. This is what happens when preschoolers turn into kindergartners! Real life pops you on the behind and you realize that there is more than one 6:30 in a day! He did well and dressed in his little uniform.

Be still my heart.

Syd has been ready for weeks for this day. She couldn't wait. Kennedy was a bit more reserved...and wise about the whole thing. 7th grade will do that to ya! lol. But they were all in a good mood and ready to hit the ground running.

We were like a well oiled machine. Dressed. Hair fixed. Lunches packed. I remembered to write on their napkins just like my mom did back in the day! All was going super smoothly. Around 7:30, I wanted to snap a picture of my babies...so we did. A few together and some individuals for posterity and all. They aren't the best. But hey, getting up at 6:00 has never been good for my shooting skills! ha. But they are still cutie pattooties, even if I was off!

See?

We were just five minutes early but I decided to go ahead and load them into the van. Carpool was changing at our school and since I work the morning shift...I thought five minutes earlier than expected wouldn't be a bad thing.

You can literally see the dark clouds forming over my house, can't you?

Well, figuratively if not literally...

I put the key in the ignition and nothing. Nada.

What the hockey?

That's when Kennedy pipes up and says that she saw Syd go into the van yesterday and turn the light on and she saw that it was still on later but thought it would "go off eventually, right?"

Come. On.

You've got to be kidding me.

Change of plans. Load into Jase's car. Make my apologies to my still half asleep husband and tell him that I hope he can get to work somehow because I've just got to go. He looks dumbfounded.

So we get there. In one piece, I might add. We parked and I asked the kids if they'd like to pray together before we got out. Joel quickly volunteered and then went on to pray the sweetest prayer ever. For all of us...for his daddy to get to work in the van...for his baby Gabe in China. Precious moments with my babies.

But within minutes, the clouds were there again because...

...both girls forgot the reading contracts that are due on the 1st day of school. The ones that state emphatically that they did, in fact, complete their required summer reading. That we sign in blood. And that were sitting filled out, signed and ready since JUNE.

Yeah, those.

Call Jase. Poor man still hasn't gotten a hold of anyone to jump him off in our garage. Thanks to our friend, Glenda {Hi, Glenda!}...he had a charged battery and made it to school with those contracts. The contracts that I later learned I could have just written out and signed myself at school.

Live and learn, peeps. Live and learn.

The morning went from great to hard in minutes...but the day as a whole, was terrific. All three kiddos had a fantastic 1st day of Kindergarten, 4th and 7th grades. :) Makes this mama happy, happy, happy.

And you know what else makes me smile?

The fact that I saw the most handsome kindergartner ever in the hallway yesterday. I resisted the urge to run over and squeeze his guts out. Because, you know, he's a boy and he's got an image to uphold. lol. I just held out my hand for him to give me "five" as he passed by. My sweet Thai Tornado took my hand, turned it over, and gently kissed it instead. Dear Lord. How I love this boy.

Truly, love them all. Kennedy ran up to me at lunch and said she was having a great first day...which is HUGE considering the year she had in 6th grade and how much she was dreading going back. Syd was equally stoked and Joel? He said he "Wuvs kindergarten! It sooo fun, mama!"

Ah, another summer has come and gone. 6am came much too early. And the girls have had another life lesson on why we never, ever turn the lights on in the van unless someone is dying.

These mishaps not withstanding, all in all, our Back to School Monday was a raving success.