first day of school

Today was the first day of school for the kiddos in Seattle, and it has already started at a different beat than usual. Not only do we have two high schoolers - but also a third grader!! Now it's Mackenzie and Josh going to school together and Payton at a school on her own. And gone are the days of dressing up in their favorite new outfits and button down shirts. This year it was all about pretending like they have no new clothes. You could hear the same conversations coming from Mike and I across the house...

"Could you please comb your hair?"

"What if you wore your holey jeans on the second day instead?"

"You can't wear what you wore to bed last night" and

"Are you sure you don't want to wear a dress or something?"

Eventually we were all able to compromise. After all, I remember what it's like to try to look cool. Gotta make sure you impress all the friends with how, uh... actually, I don't really know. But I'm trying to understand. And at least their shoes are shiny, making it obvious that we did some kind of school shopping!

So off they went to school. We dropped Payton with her teacher, which was supposed to be easy due to the fact that her entire class was supposed to be the same - teacher and kids - even the actual room. But apparently at the last minute there was a decision made by the school board that spread the kids out. Finding out the morning of the first day that all of your best friends are in another room is kind of a heart breaking way - but she was brave and walked in like a champ. Then we rushed across town to drop the bigguns off at their school. Josh was such a good big brother and took Mackenzie under his wing. You could feel the fear seeping from her pores. New year - new school - new friends. Or maybe that fear was seeping from my pores. Who knows. All I know is that it was like the kindergarten hand off all over again - except this time she's taller than me... and has boobs. But off they went too. So brave and walking in like a couple of champs.

And then Mike and I were off to get ready for Crab fest! I mean, SurfandTurf fest! Wait, this year it's actually Fondue fest!! Every year on the first day, we celebrate by having a fancy dinner for the kids. We sit down to a big decked out table and get our hands dirty while cracking our crab and giggling the entire time. Now it's been no secret that the kids were nearing the end of their shellfish desires since last year we had a request for SurfandTurf fest. But this year - it was all over. Yes, they still participated and happily but it has turned to Fondue fest instead. Which is nice - but definitely has its repercussions the next day. Ugh.

But whether we had crab or oil, wore dresses or holey jeans and possibly didn't comb our hair - I think we had a really successful first day of school. I'm super excited about this year! Goooooooooo kids!