About Brynn's school

 Well, I made it through Brynn's first day of kindergarten.  Apparently I'm more ready than I thought I was.  I was expecting to blubber through the whole send-off and consider it the worst day of my life, but I was ok.  She's been asking me for months if it was almost time for kindergarten.  We were both excited.  I was definitely sad to say good-bye to that phase of our life. Five years goes by so quickly, and I was so in love with having a house full of little kids and just living hour to hour.  We could wake up and stay in our jammies and cuddle up with a good book, or decide we wanted to spend the day in Mesa.  Now school has to rule our schedule.  So far though, it hasn't really been all that different since she has p.m. kindergarten.  I have to be home in the afternoon anyway for the boys' naps and I usually send her off on her own in the house somewhere so I can have my own "quiet time."  Sadly, the schedule won't work out to go see Daddy at lunch anymore.  But we'll go during some of her days off, I guess.

I really like the charter school I've sent her to.  It's a good balance between a regular school schedule and home school which I had seriously considered for awhile.  It has a condensed schedule, so her school day is shorter.  So when she gets to first grade she won't have to be to school until around 11:00 and she'll still be home in the afternoon.  I'm so excited for that time in the morning.  I am so much more productive in the morning and I crash so early in the evening.  I'm excited to be able to wake up and have a scriptural devotional, have the kids practice their instruments, get chores done and of course play. 

Anyway, I think school is going well for her so far.  Brynn has never had any trouble making friends.  If we go to a new park, she is usually best friends with the kids by the time she leaves.  She organizes these elaborate play ideas and get kids playing together who were on their own before.  But I'm not so sure that's how her school year is going so far.  I ask who she plays with and she doesn't really tell me about anyone.  She's really only mentioned one girl and when I asked if they were friends now, she just says the girl already has a friend.  She's always the last one in line when they walk out and I don't really see her talking to the other kids.  I hope it all works out, it just doesn't seem very characteristic of Brynn. 

The other issue I will now be facing with Brynn in school came up today at Walmart.  She told me she wanted to buy a Barbie backpack.  I asked her what's wrong with her princess backpack and she said, "Nothing's wrong with it, I just think all the other kids want me to have a Barbie one."  I asked her if anyone said anything about her backpack, and Daytime Emmy looked me in the eyes and said, "No, I just feel inside me that the other kids are saying I shouldn't have a princess backpack anymore.  Like I should have a Barbie backpack like the other girls."  So right there in the shampoo aisle in Walmart we got to have a conversation about what makes people special, and it's not about what you wear on your back (and so on - I may have slightly overdone it).  Sigh. I'm already anxious about what it's going to be like to raise a girl.

And on to these pictures:

Bryce got to start Mommy's special 3 year old preschool!  I did the same thing with Brynn and loved every minute of it.  He's excited, too.  Over the last year he's had to watch me drop Brynn off at princess playdates, preschool, ballet, etc.  And he is so ready to be a big kid.  I need to start setting up playdates for him, too. 

This week we talked about A-A-Apples, and made an apple pie,

and we learned about B-B-Bugs and ate worms in dirt (Ew!), and we also did some C-C-Cowboy activities. 

I love doing these kinds of things with my little kids.  I wish I could do this stuff all day and the other grown-up stuff would just go away.  Alas, it does not and as much as I love this phase, this first week back in the grind has been VERY INTENSE.  By the end of the day, I am completely exhausted and feeling burned out.  Thank heavens for Marty.  When 7:30 rolls around, I hold my baby and rock him in his nice quiet nursery while Marty goes through the bedtime routine with the older two.  I don't feel like Gabe is my last baby.  Sometimes I am excited for a big family, other times I wonder if I can possibly give any more than I already am.  One day at a time, right?  This has just been a big two weeks with all of us trying to recover from strep throat, Marty starting school (which means late nights doing things like baking Celestial Oreos for his classes, stapling journals, etc),  B&B starting their schools, doubling my number of piano students, not to mention trying to start right off with a morning and night routine which might be just a tad too ambitious.  I can do hard things.  I can do hard things.  I can do hard things.  That's our family motto for this year.  I guess we know which one of us needs to remember it the most. :)

Hm, didn't expect to be writing a novel tonight.  Just watching the Olympics in the background. :)