By that, I mean two things- I got through the Big Morning, aka first day of school. And to celebrate, I went to Starbucks and got… an Earl Grey.
Yep. T-Day was supposed to be Wednesday, but I moved it up for a couple reasons- one, I felt like doing something special to mark the end of summer. The second, and more important reason, is that, as I shared last week, green tea has been making me nauseous. When I drink my gunpowder tea at home it’s okay, but I couldn’t face another cup of the nausea-inducing green tea from Starbucks. So, Earl Grey, it is!
The morning was… interesting. Somehow, getting my daughter off to school proved challenging. I weirdly had forgotten how to make her lunch- luckily I got up early to give myself a lot of time. When we were finally ready to go, I thought “How did I used to do this with TWO kids?” Because my kids are six years apart, they never went to the same school, making school mornings extra complicated.
For that matter, how does anyone do this with three kids? Or FOUR OR FIVE??? Sarah posted about being all ready for school to start. I always wonder if people with five kids are naturally very organized, or if they develop amazing organizational skills out of necessity. Sarah also said that her son Jack finished his college applications (Go Jack!) and it made me think how much easier life gets when your kids do these things on their own.
My daughter is only a junior, so no college applications for her yet. But she did register herself for the bus (I drive her to school, but she takes the bus home… sometimes… more on that coming up). She also registered for her FLVS (virtual school) classes. This year she’s taking two classes online, which means she can get out of school one period early.
When she announced this plan, I asked her how, pray tell, she planned to get home? I’ll be at work and she doesn’t drive yet. She seems to think her best friend’s mother (her friend has the same schedule) will drive her home. THINK AGAIN, MISSY. We can’t impose on this woman for the entire school year like that. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
As I sat, sipping my cup of deliciousness, I put all the football games and other band dates into my calendar. Our first game is THIS THURSDAY!!! In case anyone is new around here, last year I went to all the home games, and our team was undefeated, going on to win the state championship for the first time in the school’s history. So- no pressure at all, ha ha, but we’re all hoping to have another perfect season this year.
Maybe it’s the caffeine coursing through my body, but I’m so excited for everything coming up. I looooove this time of year- when it’s “too early” for pumpkins, but we know all the good stuff is right around the corner.
IS it too early for pumpkins???- Er, yes. Yes it is.
Did anyone else start school today?
Top photo by Oliver Hale on Unsplash
28 Responses
Yay!!! This post made me happy. You made it through the first morning! And with Earl Grey Tea to celebrate! Wooooot!!!!
I don’t know how Sarah does any of it, truly. I also wonder about having 3-5 kids. Honestly reading anout Sarah and Laura (Vanderkam)’s lives have me asking all kinds of questions. And feeling generally exhausted! Two kids is plenty for me, thank you.
Excited to you for all the fall things you love coming up. And if Costco is any indication, no it is not too early to put up your pumpkins.
I know- fall stuff is definitely out in stores now. I need a browsing trip!
The people I know with four kids are super organized- like they have their towels color coordinated and stuff like that. I guess you would have to do that to avoid utter chaos.
pumpkin is a all year round feast at my household. hahaha….
glad you feel energized by the start of school year. we’ve been back to school for two weeks and lunch packing is not something I love but I try to be efficient by meal prepping on weekends.
Coco, the only thing saving me right now is the meal prep I did on the weekends- I’m not a big fan of packing lunches at 6 am!
You deserve that Earl Grey- caffeine FTW!
Most of my kids started school yesterday. I had to make lunch for one- one gets hot lunch because it’s free and she likes almost everything. I also put out a lunch for kid who is going to high school for some classes, homeschooling 2, and trying a virtual class at the junior College. He gets home from the high school and needs to eat before heading to the Y for his PE class. Smallest boy starts Tues. I know I could have the kids make their own, but I just give them the same basic things everyday. They can take over if they complain.
Honestly, having more kids to get ready just means you plan out ahead and keep to a routine whenever possible. I used to be more efficient with more kids to prep. ( I’ve had kids in 4 schools at once- down to only two now. )
Marching season – I think I have a week or two before the first game. I only go to the games if I’m working concessions; I can see the band perform but not have to watch the sport.
Oh my gosh, four different schools… that takes a lot of planning! Your schedule still sounds complicated to me. And, I’ve offered to my daughter that she could get the school lunch, but she declined. i know I could tell her to make her own, but that would make the morning even more stressful and I’m afraid she just wouldn’t eat a lunch at all. So… I just do it.
This post makes me so happy. (Minus all the school challenges because logistics and lunchboxes can be a real nightmare!)
I’m thrilled you had an Earl Grey. I hope it was absolutely delicious.
We have a little over 3 weeks until we head back to school. I haven’t really thought too much about it, to be honest. I don’t have to buy much by way of school supplies (we pay a set fee at the elementary school and things are provided and for high school Belle needs to bring a binder and some writing implements and that’s it…and we’ll just use things she already has!). Lunchboxes I’m just refusing to think about!
Yes, as the kids get older, school supplies get easier. The only thing that NEVER gets easier is the lunch situation. Oh well. And… my tea was so, so, so delicious.
I love that fresh start energy though! But yes– the mornings can be hard. Sometimes I feel like I have lived a whole day before I even get to campus. Maybe you CAN impose on the BFF mom because you can drive all the time to something else– I really love the magic of carpool…
Yay on the tea!!
Yes, I’m already planning other things I can drive to, to make up for the school pickups. When my kids were younger I definitely felt like I had lived a lifetime on these school mornings before getting to work. So much easier with only one kid though!
Wait, but you totally glossed over something- How was the tea?!! This whole morning sounds very lovely! I like sitting and puttering with adding things to the calendar, etc. It’s weirdly satisfying. E’s schedule will also have his free period 8th hour, so he’s very happy to be able to get out early… although for 2 of 3 seasons of the year, he has sports after school anyway, so it’s not like he would drive all the way home (we live almost 30 min from school) and then back for practice! But he is still happy, because he doesn’t have a sport in the winter, which is the longest season, so I guess he will still have a big chunk of the year that he’ll be home early. Originally they had scheduled his AP History class 8th hour! But he complained, because they often have to leave school early for soccer games and ESPECIALLY tennis games in the spring (I swear he missed SO MUCH 8th period this past year… it annoyed me!). So having a tough AP class that hour did not seem like a good plan! I’m very relieved he got it switched, though it involved swapping out an elective he was excited about for something else.. oh well, I guess can’t have it all.
The tea was so, so good! I’ve never appreciated the smell and taste of Earl Grey so much.
Having 8th period off sounds like the perfect plan for Ethan (glad that worked out!) If he doesn’t have anything after school he can drive himself home. And if he has to leave early for tennis, he won’t miss anything.
Earl Grey tea and surviving the first day of school – yay Jenny!
We lived in walking distance to all three schools – four if you include preschool – that my kids went to so I never had to deal with that issue. It sounds like a lot of logistics!
We live within walking distance of our elementary school- those were the good old days!
I’m so happy for you that you were able to reunite with your Earl Grey!
I’ve been out of school for…almost 12 years (that makes me feel old!) and I still sometimes have dreams that I don’t know my class schedule or where my classes are! Hopefully your daughter will figure out how she’s getting home when she has the virtual class. I had something like that when I was a senior in HS but fortunately by then I was driving so I was able to drive myself home, because both my parents worked and we lived 30 min away from school!
Yes, at our school they call that “senior privilege”- the seniors don’t have to take a last period class, as long as they have all their graduation requirements done. So my daughter will definitely be leaving early next year as well. The problem is- even if she gets her license, she won’t have a car. Hopefully one of her friends will have a car by then!
Woo hoo school is in session! Earl Gray has been drunk! I say bring on the pumpkins!
Ha ha… well okay, if you say so!
Hooray for Earl Gray Tea! And hooray for no more green tea. Anything that makes me even slightly nauseated is a total no go! Life is too short to be that miserable! In the grand scheme of things, earl gray team seems like the least likely culprit for dietary issues! So enjoy that tea!
We don’t go back until Sept as you know and this year we will have one drop off and everyone on the same schedule. Hurrah! I was 1 of 5 but there was a 16 year time span so we were all so very spaced out, especially my younger sister who was the caboose that was born 7 years after I was… I think my mom was less overwhelmed by alllll the kids and more impacted by the ennui of sitting through another freaking elementary choir concert (to be clear, they were very supportive of music and the arts but she listened to the same dang songs year in and year out!). She was very organized in terms of school supply shopping/etc. So I do think having a large family requires pretty good organization but you probably will hone those skills early on. All that said, after growing up in a family of 5, I felt pretty strongly about NOT having 5 kids… and then ultimately the family size decision was made for us since we had kids quite late in life – but even if we had them younger, I can’t imagine having more than 2. NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Good luck w/ the logistics. Kids are so blase about the details. Kids have so many more options these days. There was no early dismissal or ability to skip periods. You were there from the start of the day to the finish and we couldn’t even leave to go to lunch during the day. I think it made things easier overall to have no options! It’s not like the school day was that long to start with (8:35-3:25).
Yes, when I was in school there was no early dismissal like this. Although- we did have a “free period” in the day, and these kids don’t have that.
Yes, that’s a good point- when you get to the fifth kid you’re probably not AS excited about all the school events, ha ha.
Happy first day/tea day!! Oh my stars, the drop off / pick up scheduling is like a job unto itself, right?! We don’t go back until after Labor Day, but we get class/team assignments on Friday (always a dramatic moment), and I’m hoping we get a supply list, too. By the time I get all the details, the stores have been sold out for weeks, oof.
Yeah, it’s hard to get the supply list late. Luckily high school doesn’t have many supplies- some pens, paper, maybe a binder or two. I don’t miss the days of those long, detailed lists!
Hooray for surviving the first day of school – I love that you celebrated with Earl Grey at Starbucks. That’s the perfect celebration!
Oof, the logistics of getting your daughter home when she gets out of school one period early should be fun to figure out!
Yeah, I’m still grappling with the whole thing. i’m sure as the year goes on we’ll get into some sort of a system??? We’ll see.
It’s so good to see you back to your beloved Earl Grey tea. We are fortunate to live in a big city with good public transportation, so once my son reached year 7, he caught the train to school (he would have started earlier but he broke his toe late in year 6 and couldn’t walk that far). The girls could always walk to school. The worst driving around was probably to after school activities when they were in primary/early high school. Lunches they made themselves. I just did not look at what they took and if I happened to see resolved not to care more about what was in their lunchboxes than they did.
My goodness, it’s still summer here till the end of the month! The kids don’t go back till September and universities at the end of September / early October. Off to look at your five-kids blog friend for some horror reading.
Nu already had their first pumpkin spice latte! Apparently it’s not too early for pumpkins.
Congrats on making it through the first day of school!
I like the feeling of having the weeks wide open with possibility stretching out before us…
Happy first day and Happy Earl grey day. Curly started school Thursday with a half day, but she skipped it bc that was the only time we could find to do our older sisters overnight with me in lake Geneva. Fun times!
I made a rule when my kids were little – they wore uniforms and with 2 boys with ADD I could not let anyone go back upstairs after they ate breakfast bc they would get into trouble, get lost upstairs, distracted. So they had to have their uniforms on their chairs at the kitchen table. They brushed teeth on the first floor. Coach was at work at like 5 am 3 or 4 days a week and it was mayhem. Keeping them in the kitchen where I could see them was the only way. I think I have blanked out the lunch making. Inevitably someone would get pb and j when they didn’t eat jelly, etc. We had the 5 oldest at the same school for one year. The next year- 6 kids in four buildings. I almost lost my mind.