the dreaded first day

Well. I was dreading it, anyway. I'm not sure about anyone else.

I was dreading the return of school because I had really been enjoying the ease of summer. The sleeping until I woke up (for the most part), the lack of a hard and fast schedule, the chance for everyone to relax more, hang out more, and just generally enjoying life at a slower pace.

Interestingly, what had been a vague notion of distaste hit me with full clarity last night. Oh yeah. It's true, I dislike the early rising (especially the forced early rising of certain children — well, just one child, really), and I don't enjoy making lunches in the morning and trying to get everyone to eat something before they dash out the door. But the thing I really can't stand is feeling tired all the time. Funny how I had forgotten about that. I just can't seem to get myself in bed early enough to not feel exhausted the next day. Dang.

Eva was not dreading it. 

Well, that's not quite true. She was excited about it, she couldn't wait for school to start. But she was also having trepidations. It came out when Marc was giving the kids their back-to-school blessings that she feared she would have to return to first grade when her teacher discovered how woefully deficient her subtraction skills are! Goodness.

Anyway. The organizing of her pencil box was a serious task, involving the trying of multiple schematics to get it just right.

She woke up at 3:30 this morning. As usual, she woke me up as well, because misery loves company.

My first baby is a senior! A senior. I can't quite wrap my mind around it. It occurred to me that this was the last time I would be with him on his first day of school. Mercy.

For one day, at least, everyone got up right on time, with no dawdling or resistance. Even this guy. He tries to block my efforts at photo-taking, but he has learned that resistance is futile. I hope.

This is not the ideal photo, as she is covering up some of her sign. But she was far too excited to hang around for a re-take. Obviously. (She's down to one snaggletooth now!)

At least I still have one who wants me to accompany her inside on the first day. Here she is, in her element. (She was a bit stressed about trying to hurry and put everything where it belonged.) Her new teacher told me that she was feeling emotional looking at all of her new students, that she loves them already, and knows that this is such a big day for them. 

As I walked out, the principal announced the pledge of allegiance and I heard all of the kids reciting it. The halls were positively buzzing with excitement. For the first time in my memory, I walked out of the school feeling a little teary. Such a big day.

To console myself, I went to get a pedicure. It's a cure for many ills.

Other than that, it was just like any other day. Laundry, cleaning, groceries, etc. Except...

it was also my baby's first day of jazz class. Oh boy.

Arts Gala

On the Thursday night of Women's Conference, Eva's school held their annual Arts Gala. The choirs and orchestra performed, and the children's artwork was displayed all around the school. (I had been dreading it because I didn't want to have to tear myself away from my girls' weekend, but it ended up being pretty cute.)

I worked with the junior choir all year as their accompanist. We met on Fridays before school. It was difficult getting Eva ready and out the door so we could be there at 8:00, but it was always fun once we got there.

Max and Lucas both had other engagements that night (Thursday nights are crazy for us), but Mim and Bob came with Marc and I to show their support.

This is Eva's poster. I also worked as an art volunteer this year, teaching art to Eva's class every Wednesday. It was really a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to know all of her classmates. The children selected their favorite art works from the year for their posters.

This was a collaborative effort by students in the upper grades. I love all of those colorful circles!

Each grade had a "masterwork" — a project inspired by a famous artist. For the first grade, our inspiration was the collage work of Lois Ehlert. One week, the children painted papers using layers of color and texture, and the next week they cut those papers to make a bird collage. The masterworks were collected and displayed as a group. (Eva's is the red bird on the lower left.)

Despite her slightly bored expression, she had a great time. I think she was exhausted because it was a long night!

our little brainiac

This is Max. When he is home, he is most often found doing homework and studying, or practicing the cello or piano. He seriously does little else. (In this photo, he is talking to a classmate, walking through chemistry problems together. It sounded to me like he was speaking another language.)

At times, I wish he had a little more balance in his life. More time for social activities, or relaxing, or whatever. But I guess he must like it this way, because he keeps his school chock full of difficult classes.

Recently, he has had two big pay-offs to all of his hard work:

1. He got a 34 on the ACT! (33 the first time, 34 the second, thus fulfilling the dream he had where he got a 34.)

2. He was selected to play as a guest youth artist with the Utah Symphony! Another dream come true, and a rare opportunity, especially for juniors.

I am so happy for him, and so proud.
It's pretty cool being surpassed by your children!

showtime

Last night was opening night for Lucas's second school musical, The Music Man! We all went to see him in the play, including Mim and Bob.

This was a huge production, making us question the sanity of Miss Kate, the drama teacher. I wonder when she ever goes home. I know for sure my junior high never did things like this. (I've included more costume shots this time for the sake of my aunt Denise, who does the costumes for her local high school shows.)

76 Trombones

(I got off easy, as I only had to sew two vests. This was fortunate, as I didn't have a lot of time to sew and my skills are pretty limited. For instance, this was my first time using piping and sewing a fully-lined garment.)

This is the closest shot I got to having the whole cast on stage. There are about 120 kids in the show!

Whenever the "teenies" were on stage, they got a huge audience reaction. They are kids 9 - 11 (I think) who have older siblings in the cast, and they are adorable!

Of course I loved the library, and I loved these costumes. Drop-waist dresses, big sashes, big hair bows, and colorful tights.

The Pick-a-Little ladies' costumes were out of control. (And they had several changes!)

Check out these colorful vests in the library scene!

I love this outfit of Marion's.

The hats killed me. This show especially made me glad that I had a boy in the cast! Those moms of girls must have been sewing for weeks.

Wells Fargo costumes

If someone had told me six months ago that Lucas would be doing partner dances, I don't think I would have believed it — and now he has jazz and tap shoes!

The barbershop quartet stole the show! They were so funny, and so much better at doing the 4-part harmony than I ever thought junior high boys could be. They got huge applause at the curtain call.

Here he is taking a bow. (Looks like somebody needs a belt!)

After the show, the entire cast lines up against the lockers so that people can come talk to them. (With this huge cast, the line went all the way to the exit!) I think that big smile says it all. I remember the excitement of being a part of something big, and I am so happy that Lucas is getting to experience that.

a debut of sorts

On Wednesday, we went to opening night for Lucas's first school musical!

The signs, shirts, and programs all specify school edition, lest you think it has the same skanky message as the movie. (Funny, but all that went mostly over my head when I was young and watching it. I just thought it was a fun movie with great songs!) In the school edition, instead of going over to the dark side, Sandy convinces Danny to step into the light.

I was impressed with their set. All of the many hours of hard work paid off! (I couldn't get many photos because of the extremely low light.)

Grandma and Grandpa came to show their support. (Also Max, but he was on the other side of me.)

I loved these columns that they had on either side of the stage.

Lucas told us that it didn't really matter what side of the auditorium we sat in, but ultimately it would have been better if we were on the other side. (Maybe I'll go on closing night and switch it up.) He's sitting back there in the green shirt, pretending to eat lunch and chat with friends.

Frenchie, in the red wig, was played by a girl who was in our former ward, and I think she kind of stole the show.

Just more cute set details and 50's outfits. (Lucas was in the men's chorus and had 3 costumes; who knows how many the leads had!)

Beauty school dropout, obviously.

Here Lucas is on the far left. Because I didn't know what to expect, I totally missed capturing the part where he dances down the middle with his partner. (He was dancing! with a partner! and doing lifts!)

Here he is the guy on the right in the blue jacket. His partner is the girl in the yellow dress.

Obviously I could not get a good photo of him doing Hand Jive (green sweater again).

He has had so much fun with this production. He stayed after school for hours every day for almost two months! He did all kinds of things he's never done before. He met tons of people, in different grades, that he probably wouldn't have otherwise known. He was even motivated to keep his grades up and got a hair cut! (Thank you, Miss Kate.)

He told me he will probably audition for another show in the near future. I am really glad he has had this opportunity.

Sadly, he had to stay home sick yesterday and today. He rallied yesterday afternoon and was able to still do the show, but tonight he was throwing up and had a fever of 103.9! Poor guy. I feel badly for his partner, too. We're all really hoping he will recover quickly and be able to make it for tomorrow night's performance.

12 on the 12th | October

1. Eva playing games on nickjr.com before getting ready for school.
2. I got to pull off the tape from the first section of cupboards. Such a satisfying moment. (So very much more to go on that project.)
3. I decided to cook myself something good for breakfast (scrambled eggs with mushrooms, green onions, and fresh parmesan).
4. A picture at Eva's school that is made of the students' school pictures.
5. Eva's "All About Me" report hanging in the school hallway.
6. It was my first day of teaching art to Eva's class and this is the darling book I read to the kids. I highly recommend it.
7. Some of the kids working on their project (making a picture with only dots).
8. Eva sitting at her desk. She was positively preening to have me there (these are the days that end all too soon).
9. I love these fall sunsets where the mountains are pink.
10. I snapped this picture while Max was driving us to mutual.
11. I tried a new recipe to take to mutual (peanut butter pretzel bars). It didn't work out very well—way too crumbly—but it still tasted good.
12. One of our Laurels showed us a slide show of her trip to Europe.

milestone

I have been a mother for 16 years, but yesterday was the first day I had all of my children in school for a full day! I have waited for this day for ever so long.

Don't get me wrong, I love having my children around, they are very good company in general. It's not like I don't want to be with them. But, with rare exceptions, being home alone for hours on end is a luxury I have not had for sixteen years. And it's a luxury I very much enjoy.

Lucas, organizing his big binder on Monday night (after seventh grade day). He was so excited about all of the pockets and pouches, etc. It made me smile, remembering how I loved putting in fresh paper and pencils as well, getting all ready for a new school year.

Getting up early is quite a change for Lucas, who will sleep until 11:00 unless I go in and wake him earlier. (I usually don't let him sleep past 9:30 or 10:00, but still.) So far, he has been getting up in time to shower before school (2 for 2)—hallelujah!

I got the idea to make these identifying signs for first day pictures from Pinterest. I'm starting a tradition, even though I have an eleventh grader! Max was characteristically cooperative.

Lucas was his usual camera-shy self.

But I prevailed. (He knew he couldn't leave until I was at least semi-satisfied, and he didn't want to be late!)

Eva was over the moon about being a first grader and getting to eat lunch at school (brown bagged).

She was definitely less excited about discovering that she is the only girl at her table.

(On a sad note, when I left her room, I found a boy crying in the hall—a first grader who was all alone and couldn't remember where his classroom was. I helped him find where he belonged and left shaking my head. I can't relate to just dropping him off to find his own way. Poor little guy.)

There was a definite celebratory note in the air at the school, one I shared as I drove away to enjoy my first ever full day of school freedom!

First, I had a doctor's appointment. Then I did some errands, by myself, with no deadline! (I went to D.I., OfficeMax, and the grocery store.)

I stopped to get a Diet Coke at McDonald's.

I had to run over to Max's school to take him a book that he forgot. I didn't even mind! (But don't tell him that. I wouldn't want to be doing that all the time.)

Denise and Emily stopped by for a quick visit! Denise came to help Emily get settled into her apartment for the new school year. We are all thrilled to have Emily back in our neck of the woods. (And wish that Denise's family could move to Utah. Obviously.)

I made first day of school cookies. (Peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip.)

We had a back to school themed dinner. (It was really just the decor that was themed, we had panini and corn on the cob.) I used some of the things I got at Office Max for ridiculously cheap as a centerpiece.

Printables from eighteen25.blogspot.com (via Pinterest). Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?? I guess I probably should have sharpened the pencils, eh? Oops.

These just made me so happy. And they passed the Lucas test! (He is picky about straws.)

Our dinner time seemed to last longer than usual, as we sat around and talked about everyone's first day. I loved that.

In all, I would say it was a productive, satisfying day. And the best part is that I have many many more such days to look forward to! Shazam.

A lot of people have asked me what I'm going to do with my newfound time. I have some ideas, but all I know for sure is that I won't have any shortage of things I want to do. How will I fill the time? I can't wait to find out.