Back to School

With four boys, I never know what to expect. Never Ever. Well, I take that back, they will always be hungry and dirty, no matter how much I feed them or how much they bathe.

Today was the first day of school. Yesterday, when I told them that THE DAY was approaching, S3 (who is starting kindergarten) ran upstairs, got his back pack and was ready to go. S2 (beginning second grade) began to cry, summer was over and he wasn’t ready for that. S1 (beginning fourth grade) just took it in stride.

I have had a countdown on the bathroom mirror, but about seven days ago I gave up on it. Any days less than seven depressed me so I thought maybe if we left seven up there, summer could last longer.

It didn’t work.

The first day of school was gloomy and drizzly. Perfect first day. I was feeling all sad about the beginning of the year and facebooked just that.

Almost instantly, I was facebooked back by the exact same news broadcaster I was watching on my kitchen TV. “Hey! Can we get a photo of the boys ready for school? We will post it on air,” she asked.

Do you think my boys would toss up such an experience?

So, when the bacon and eggs were done cooking I hollered up the steps to waken the sleepy boys. In my best “Good Morning Vietnam” impression I yell “Good Morning boys! Time for school, up and at ‘em!” I think it is a cheery way to wake up, they do not seem to agree.

They stumbled down the steps, bleary eyed and S3 wondering why on earth it was so dark out and they had to be up already. When I told them the news wanted their first day school picture, the air was suddenly electrified with their excitement and the sudden importance they felt that the news wanted them.

They ate their breakfast fast and then we hurried down the driveway as though they would wait for the bus stop and snapped a few pictures. S3 was very excited that his bright shoes that flicker amazingly bright green lights were on his feet to light the way to the end of the driveway. He doesn’t know how we all existed before he got his cool new Skechers! While they finished brushing their teeth and washing their face and taking care of breakfast dishes, I uploaded the photo and sent it along to our favoritest news broadcaster. We were all so excited it didn't matter when two water bottles of the three packed for school were unscrewed to make sure Moma had screwed them on tight and spilled all over the floor. Never fazed us, we were all so excited!

We waited and waited and waited and waited until the very last latest moment and never seen the photo on the TV. We had to rush to school, we rushed to drop the boys off and snap all the appropriate photos in front of lockers and then I ambled on home with a protesting S4 who did not get to go to school, who does not have a lunch box, who does not want to go home etc etc.
My husband called to check in on me because he knows I am a crying mess the first day and week of school. As I was talking to him, here on the news flashes my boys photos and I begin screaming and jumping up and down and I quickly snapped a photo of the boys on tv.

My husband thought someone was breaking in.

But all that excitement of the morning, well, it made this first day of school so memorable and fun. The boys think they are celebrities. My mom was able to DVR it (wouldn’t a DVR be great?) so they can watch it soon. It makes their first day not so painful…so a million thank you’s to our local news cast and our (was anyhow) favorite news cast.