First day of (gulp) school

So today was the big day! For Noah & Molly anyway. Noah began 2nd grade and my little Molly started Kindergarten!! I'm so glad our school still has half-day Kindergarten, at least for this year, so I could pick her up at 11:23am and enjoy lunch & the afternoon with her. And her little sisters of course. For any of you not in the know, AZ passed a law just over a year ago that provides funding for full-day Kindergarten for everyone in the state. Public schools anyway. So while it used to cost parents upwards of $200-$300/month for having their tender 5-yr-old in school all day, it's now free. I mean paid for by us taxpayers. A victory for the working moms & Janet Napolitano and a defeat to us traditionalists, but I digress...

I am glad to have a really excellent school for my kids to go to, and so close to home too. But by the time Zoe & Lucy are in Kindergarten, there will almost certainly not be any viable half-day option but I think I will be okay with it by that point. Not okay with the prinicpal of the matter, but just okay with them in full-day. #1) They are the youngest in our family; the youngest tend to "grow up" sooner & I know they're already quite anxious to be in school, #2) they'll always have each other. Twins are so great. Nobody will be left home alone, and they will have each other to lean on in the brave the big world. #3) Having sent the last of my babies off to school, I will suddenly have a mad influx of time on my hands ... and I have a feeling I'll be able to think of a few things to do with that time, not the least of which being able to volunteer at school & help in my kids' classes more. I do look forward to being able to do that.

Perhaps one day I'll start a petition amongst the many non-working moms I know and get our school to keep at least one half-day Kindergarten class available; there's certainly got to be enough demand for it?? But I'm sure I won't. I'll wuss out. I'm not much of a non-conformist, not to mention non-confrontational. Last winter I threatened to start a petition to get our chinchy HOA to put winter grass in our common areas (which are HUGE and were quite an eyesore sporting dead bermuda last winter, the first winter in the rich 10-year history of this pretty, green neighborhood to NOT overseed) but I didn't do that either. I realized I'd rather put up with dead grass and thinking to myself "ugh" every day for four months than alienate our next-door-neighbor: HOA treasurer & leader of the no-grass revolution & potential fellowshipping contact. Maybe this winter I'll put my inhibitions aside & rally the troops, unless they even things out by lowering our exorbitant HOA fees -- but probably not.

But back to today. Aaron wanted to be involved in this big day for the kids so he went to work an hour late & he ended up taking Noah & Molly to school himself. Probably a good idea; I was a wreck when I dropped Noah off for his first day of first grade last year, & it would've been worse this morning with the two of them, including, did I mention, our new Kindergartener?? I already had tears welling up hugging her goodbye and watching them drive away, so I was glad to have Aaron involved this morning, taking care of the REALLY sad part of the day.

Unfortunately Aaron has my camera, having been instructed to snap a few more shots of the new-schoolers walking into their classrooms & etc, and since he drove directly to work afterwards I will have to wait until tonight to post pictures of this momentous event. The kids were excited; Noah was up and in the shower at 6:30am (school doesn't start until 8:38am) and Molly was up soon after that, quite anxious to "work on big projects" which means coloring & cutting & gluing, all the things I'd told her about in order to alleviate her anxiety.

I'll post a few pictures when I have them ...