1st and 10th

It's been a real challenge for me to get anywhere close to excited about the school year that's here (as of today).  If you know me, you know why.  I was sappy and unreasonable in my feelings about sending Towns to kindergarten and that was for a mere four hours a day.  I don't know what I thought I was going to do - cheat the school system and hide her at home forever?  I'm definitely not qualified to home school, so that was out.  We had the next best thing...sending her at 8:30 and picking her up at 12:30 was my saving grace.  But last Thursday night as I stood in her 1st grade classroom (the big, cozy classroom where she'll be for almost eight hours a day), looking at her desk with her name on it that makes it so official and real, it hit me that never again can I pick her up from school and head to the Mex for a lunch date like we did so many times last school year unless it's a holiday or summer vacation.  How's that for a run-on sentence?  Towns and her best friend Emma were in kindergarten together last year, so it was nothing to get a "I'll pick Towns and Emma up and we'll meet you and Cate in a sec for lunch" phone call from Emma's mom.  Thankfully Emma's in our class again this year, and as I put my thoughts into words to Emma's mom at open house, she had to leave the room before she completely lost it. She did, however, call me the minute we left that night to tell me that she had a way to still have our lunch dates.  No one would notice if we checked the girls out for 45 minutes and checked them back in right after, right?!  I'm on board with that plan!
I haven't let myself really think about what today would bring.  Every time I started to go there, I'd immediately put it in reverse.  We're now in the throws of it, but I haven't been able to escape the feeling that sending her to school all day sort of feels like I'm losing her a little.  Before I know it she'll be done with 1st grade, elementary school, and so on.  Then I'll be sitting at graduation thinking, "I remember the day I dropped her off for her first day of 1st grade in the real live school system."  Ok, maybe I'm taking it a bit far! I just hope and pray that we've done everything right up to this point.  Every time I try to wrap my head around it I become a certified wreck.  Sure, we've had our moments this summer when I would think I was ready for school to start.  But let's be honest...that's crazy talk.  I'm not the mom who can't wait to send my children off to school so I can have a little peace.  I might be frazzled beyond belief some days, but I wasn't ready for how quiet it would be today when I got home from dropping her off. I might think I'm a disaster now, but I'm thanking the good Lord above that Cate is permanently attached to my hip.  At least I have one baby that's still at home with me!  Talk to me again in three years and you might worry that I need to be committed.  This is nothing compared to what it will be like when my Buggy goes to big school and I'm alone.  All day.  I can't even go there right now!  I'm thankful for great friends who all look out for each other.  We knew this morning might be tough for us mamas who only did half-day kindergarten last year, so we'd planned a breakfast date to help cope.  Afterwards, Cate and I took a trip to Target even though there wasn't a single thing we needed.  I just wasn't quite ready to go home.

Yours truly might be a wreck, but Towns has been sitting on go for a while.  Rightfully so.  When I put myself in her shoes I can't help but be excited for her.  After all, this is not about me and all about her.  (It just helps my feelings to have a pity party over it!) I absolutely loved school and everything about it, and given her personality I knew she'd be the same way.  Her backpack has been packed for several weeks.  She had her first lunch planned out.  The only thing missing was August 15th.

The anticipation of the first day of school took on a whole new meaning once she went to meet her teacher and put her school supplies in their place last Thursday night...

Of course she had a little helper...

She and Emma are sitting together...

That could go one of two ways...they're a little chatty!
After open house, she absolutely could not wait for today (while I was praying the next three days would seem like years).  Friday was our last real day of summer, so we had to live it up...

Wild and crazy, isn't it?  Ha!  But there's almost nothing more in the world the girls love more than Mexican food.  I couldn't help but indulge them on such a monumental day! The weekend was packed full of fun happenings which made the time fly by.  And here we are.  I wanted to cry when my alarm went off this morning.  I immediately woke Towns up so she could hop in the shower.  Even given her excitement, she was still so sleepy.  She crawled up in our bed and went back to sleep wrapped up in her towel...

If this is a sign that she's anything like her daddy, I'm in for it in the mornings.
It's a miracle he gets to work on time!
Sweet Bethany was up early and getting beautified for her first day of 10th grade.  A sophomore.  How is that possible?!  She had it going on this morning...

We fretted over the outfit situation.  She had it all planned out, and then the pockets on her skirt stuck out in a weird way and ruined everything.  After a little session with my sewing kit, it was back on.  Nothing that inverted pleats couldn't fix!  Doesn't she look gorgeous?  I happen to think so...

Towns had to have a North Face for one reason, and one reason alone...

She had to be like her Bebby.  And Cate had to be like Towns with her old kindergarten backpack, naturally.
These two are so close and I love it...

What I can't get over is that I put Bethany on the list of people allowed to check Towns out of school since she'll be driving in about three months and all.  So hard to believe.  It's not so cool to have your dad drop you off at high school, so B's friend Caki picked her up.  That will change in exactly three months and five days (but who's counting?).

Once we saw B off, it was time to head to Ben Davis.  We found two of our favorite people right away...

Conner is the big brother Towns never had.  It's good to know he's just right across the hall from her.  At open house he had to come to Mrs. Propst's room to make sure Emma and Towns were alright.  It's almost as if you could see him relax after that since he saw they were fine.  Such a sweet boy!
We had to get the standard first day of school pictures before we went inside...



Cate doesn't really understand why she's not involved in any of this school business.  She's so used to being right up under Bebby and Towns, and I've had a feeling today would be hard on her.  After all, her famous last words about anything related to starting school is that it's "not fayah".  Not fair.  It's hard being the youngest!
Word on the street is that Mrs. Propst is a fellow Chi O alum.  We felt right at home seeing this outside her classroom...

She knows the way to our hearts.  Towns will fit right in with her owl pencils and school supplies...thanks JM!
The rest of our pictures are overkill, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't capture every second of it?  Like walking down the hall...

Standing in the doorway to her classroom...

A picture with Mrs. Propst...

And checking out her first assignment...

Something about this one reminds me of her sweet little face when she was younger...

I'm not at all sentimental, you know.
One more picture and then my husband literally had to drag me out kicking and screaming...

Seriously, this one was really the end...

I couldn't help it.  One last look at where I was leaving her for the day.  I've thought about her constantly since then.  Wondering where she's at, what she's doing.  Has she had PE?  Lunch?  Did I pack enough for her to eat?  What if she wasn't really in the mood for the turkey sandwich I sent?  Is she using her manners like we've talked about?  Is she being respectful and kind to everyone?  Goodness, someone tell me these feelings die down after a while.  But then again, I'm her mom.  That's my job.  And despite missing her like crazy, I absolutely cannot wait to hear all about how her day went.  I might be losing my sidekick for the day, but knowing she's got to be loving "big school" makes for a softer landing!

Beachy

On our way to the beach, Bethany made a profound statement...you need a vacation after the vacation.  How true that is today as I'm unpacking suitcase after suitcase, shaking the sand out of everything we own, and rewashing clothes that I'd already washed in our condo because I'm OCD like that. We had a fabulous time of relaxation at the beach which is always good for the soul.  Short of J running over Bebby's poor little toes with the car, it all went off without a hitch.  However, all of us (with the exception of Towns) are major homebodies.  After a few nights away we were all ready to be home sweet home.  As we pulled back into Decatur I felt like Bethany felt after she was gone so long for cheer camp...the girl rolled down the window and said she wanted to breathe in the Decatur air.  I was feeling it this time around!  I say that jokingly, but at the end of the day as much as I love a good family vacation there's nothing better than being at home with your favorite people!

We left last Sunday morning at the crack of dawn to watch my dad's baseball team play for the American Legion state championship in Troy.  They've played in the same game lots of times, but we've yet to be at one they've won.  Until this year!  Ironically, they played Decatur's Legion team.  It was rather odd sitting on the other side of the stands, but once the game got underway I didn't give it another thought.  Decatur might be our home, but Dothan Post 12 is our heart...

My dad got soaked with 5 gallons of ice cold water...

I would have gladly taken it for him because I'm pretty sure I've never been that hot in my life.  I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else in the world, though!

Pawpaw with his girls and the championship trophy...

Bebs this one is for you...

I shall not say why, but the deuce is loose!

I love this one...

Doing an interview with the scoreboard in the background.  He makes me proud!

We spent the night with him that night, and come Monday morning it was a good feeling to only have a little over an hour's drive to finally see the ocean.  After grabbing lunch beach side, we planted ourselves in the sand for the rest of the afternoon.  Literally...

I didn't get a good picture of it, but they were all about me transforming them into mermaids with long tails.  Jonathan loves the beach, so he took charge of everything while B and I caught up on our reading...

Our usual routine consisted of a few hours at the pool once we'd had all we could take of the beach.  By late afternoon the kids were exhausted but we braved it and went to dinner anyway.  When you have 5 people with different opinions on restaurants it can really get heated and ugly.  J vowed to stop at the first place we came to which looked like a hole in the wall.  I wasn't so sure about ol' Billy's but it was divine!  A beach trip wouldn't be complete without go carts, and this is the first year Towns has been tall enough to drive by herself...

 We were basically her pit crew (or cheering section?) and yelled the entire time she was driving.  Everything from "you better not let that girl in the orange car smoke you" and "get that boy, you can get him in the corner of that turn"...you name it, we yelled it.  We're not competitive at all.  Towns was so wrapped up in trying to come in first that she totally blew past the teenage boy telling her to pull over because her time was up.  He got mad at her, she ended up crying, and Jonathan might or might not have handed the guy his rear end!

The next morning we left our cold hotel room to head to the beach.  That didn't do much for my lens...

I couldn't get rid of the moisture on it, but those three are pretty cute...foggy lens or not!

Remember when I said J takes charge at the beach?  It's his forte...

And I let him have at it...he's the biggest kid of 'em all!

We hit the kiddy pool after lunch where the girls looked like they were scheming something up...

 Towns ended up feeling like she was too old for it.  She decided she was more into In Style...

And Katie Holmes - can't say that I blame her!

 
Cate stuck to the butterfly slide...

If it looks like she's about to climb to the top where she's not supposed to be, it's because she was.  All the while she was telling me that's not what she was planning on doing.  Once we were completely water logged, I talked the girls into a wardrobe change for a photo session...

Bethany skipped the beach on our last day thanks to the toe incident, bless her heart.  I spent the whole time in the ocean teaching the girls how to jump waves...

They decided they'd much rather ride the waves on floats, though!

Cate pretended like this massive sea horse was her pet...

She pulled it around and had long conversations with it in true Buggy fashion.  Meanwhile Towns and I went on a hunt for treasures...

We ended up finding a cute little crab that the girls named Crabilicious.  J and I had a feeling it wouldn't make it too long if we took it along, but there was no getting out of it.  So we put the salt water crab in a make shift fresh water home complete with a little sand and some shells...

Cate was excited to show Bebby what we'd found when we brought it back from the beach...

She perched herself up on that counter and wouldn't move for love nor money.  She was very much into having a new pet which is why it was nothing but crocodile tears when the crab was a goner after six hours or so.  I felt really guilty about taking that little thing away from its home after that.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and night at Pier Park...

I have to show you an up close shot of B so you can enjoy those little hooty hoots hanging from her ears as much as I do...

She'll be lucky if those things don't go missing!

We just so happened to see Towns' not-so-secret crush Brooks and his family.  I know I've talked about Brooks before and how he's the cutest Post 12 bat boy I've ever seen.  The two have always been sweet on each other, but this is what happens when you want to take a picture of them together...

They make Cate get in between them and then act like they don't know each other.  Too funny!  That's the sweetest, most polite, most precious kid I've ever met.  We couldn't believe we ran into them...such a fun treat!  I could have put him in my purse and brought him home with me.  He's that adorable.

After dinner that night, the girls decided they wanted to jump on the feather bandwagon...

Their friends Mary Bibb and Virginia sparked their interest, and they couldn't pass up the opportunity to be twins...

 

Bless you if you're still with me.  That officially wraps it up!  T-minus one week until school starts for Bethany and Towns. Towns just found out that she got the teacher she secretly wanted, and Bethany got the form in the mail to register for a parking spot at DHS. It's all happening so fast and I want to slow it down. 

Heaven help us...