A New Leaf

Well, this morning was it.  I spent a couple of nights lying awake in bed, thinking that I haven't done everything I wanted to do with my girls, and I've wasted tons of time, and I shed some tears in bed last night.  My babies are all grown up, and will be spending much of their day away from me.  I don't know if it's been really hard because they are my babies, or because I'm losing two of them at the same time, or what.  Annie and Maddie were so excited this morning.  They were up early enough they could have gone to middle school with Emma.

 We took lots of pictures.  Their backpacks are classic kindergarten style.

 Silly faces.

Pictures by the front door.

 And one more with Elizabeth.

We piled in the minivan and drove to their school fairly early.  I've been there, done that with waiting until near the start time.  By the time I parked, walked them in to their teachers, got them settled, took them to the restroom (curse you automatic flushing toilets- you can read about Elizabeth's experience here (it's pretty hilarious), and back to their classrooms, it was really close to school starting.  Annie and Maddie were totally cool with me leaving.  They walked right in and didn't look back.  (Is that better or worse?)  As Elizabeth and I pulled out of the parking lot, there was a huge queue of cars waiting to enter the school, and I was glad we had come early.  Then I dropped off Elizabeth, and came home to a very quiet house.  I keep thinking Annie and Maddie are getting into something they shouldn't.  It's weird.  I've been looking forward to this new phase of my life, and dreading it at the same time.  I look forward to doing errands in a much more efficient manner, not worrying about dragging kids with me every time I need to do something, and having time to blog, and organize, and do projects, and maybe even exercise without constant interruptions.  And I know I will enjoy these things.  I could even watch a movie this afternoon, and I just spent the whole morning catching up on my blog (like 20 posts, gee I was behind).  But right now I am sad.  I miss my little rug rats.  A whole lot.  My volunteer application is already into the school district, so all is not lost.  There's a good chance I will get to see those kids of mine during the day.