First day of School

I may not follow a huge list of traditions, but one I do try to stick to is getting a picture of the kids on the first day of school. Through computer crashes and drinks being spilled on photo albums unfortunately some photos from previous years were lost, but now that I have a blog I can save this photo here for everyone to see and remember. They did get to school on time, but I ended up staying up all night to do it. In my last post I mentioned how if my toddler woke up she would stay up all night...well that's what happened. Just when I was about to go to sleep she heard a noise in the kitchen and jumped out of bed full of energy like it was morning around 4am. Maybe if she stays up until bedtime she will sleep tonight, chances in that happening are probably pretty slim but it would be nice!

I still haven't bought new shoes for the kids, I didn't even manage to do the laundry yesterday either but I did go get groceries! My daughter has 3 or 4 pairs of shoes, so she should be ok. I have a nice pair of Eleven shoes, brand new in the box that I was hoping she could have worn but they are still way too big for her. They didn't have the size I wanted available and I hoped that one size up wouldn't be too bad but it will be a while before they fit her. My boys will destroy any pair of shoes in 30 days flat and they have had their current ones for at least 60 so they badly need new shoes so I will have to get on that real soon.

I won this adorable backpack from This Mom Loves from a shop called Stuck on You. My daughter picked out the design and got to have her name personalized on it, it just came in the mail yesterday - perfect timing! Yes, I know you are not supposed to have their name visible, no lectures please. I shortened the straps after taking this photo, and yes she went to school with an empty backpack, but this bag has tons of pockets and space for when she actually has something she needs to bring!

This year my oldest son gets to be a crossing guard. Last year he was only "In Training" so he is pretty proud about that. I hope he continues to enjoy it, I was a crossing guard in school myself and got sick of it in the 40 below winters! I was given a plaque and still have it, my son found it and keeps it in his room so I think that is why he wanted to do it too. He will be "working" before lunch and after school. Good job on them not assigning him to the morning, we have a hard enough time making it to school on time, forget getting there early!

My middle son is excited about being in a classroom which is on the second floor. The second floor is for the older kids and this is his first year up there. He thought he was going to be last year, but there were so many Grade 3 kids last year that there were two separate classes and he was in the one that was on the first floor. The downside of being on the second floor is that he needs to use the entrance that is on the other side of the building and they need to go all the way around. The entrance that the smaller kids use is closer to our house, but since he is going to be the one picking my daughter up at lunch and after school he will get to leave from the closer entrance.