It’s hard to believe the end of the summer season is just around the corner! Time please slooooow down. This season is home to one of the most dreaded, horrible, worst days of the year for me….THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.  This day and everything leading up to it requires all my Navy Seal qualities….the mission requires special endurance training, a double dose of patience and combat gear!  I realize, for most of you, this is your favorite day of the year and to you, I am completely backwards.  Believe me, I’ve tried to talk myself into loving it but I.just.can’t.  First, there’s the back to school shopping, which, as you know, involves many obstacles…running around trying to find all of the things on the much dreaded list of supplies, secretly hoping (praying even) that you don’t run out of money in your bank account before you reach the end of the list or get ran over by a cart being commandeered by one of the Mad Momma Mabels who seem to be everywhere and have somehow managed to leave their manners and their marbles at home.  The “shopping day” leaves me needing a cupcake from my favorite bakery here in town and contemplating a serious shot of whiskey (which I don’t drink whiskey.ever so that’s how painful shopping under these circumstances is for me).  Then, there’s groceries to buy for school lunches, which triggers extreme anxietal behavior for me because there’s pressure and judgement and one of my children has a love-hate relationship with the lunch food I buy.  Finally, the first day of school is here and you’re trying to promote perfection for that super cute first day picture but somehow you take a wrong turn (or two) and you are suddenly coordinating chaos.  I loved all of your pictures, by the way 🙂 However, yesterday did NOT go as planned because who plans chaos??!!  My daughter refused to look at the camera, my rottweiler stole all the lunch food off the counter before it made it into the lunch containers while my shih tzu barked like a stark-raving lunatic, one of our kitchen appliances malfunctioned  almost catching on fire, and my son had a battle with deoderant and the deoderant won!  Still wondering why I don’t love the first day of school??!

Yesterday I sent one nervous, anxietal sixth grader off to “the scariest prison in the world where they torture and torment children” (also known as “school” if you’re into adulting; these are his exact words!) and one excited, sometimes naughty, eye-rolling and sassy fifth grader off to rule the school in the hopes that one day both my children will become positive contributions to society, despite their crazy, unbalanced mother and chaotic upbringing.

Isn’t school where the magic happens when you’re a kid??  Ok, maybe not so magical but I always liked school!  As mentioned in previous posts, I have 2 very opposite children…both extremely smart in their own ways, but one has hated school from day one and lamented about it, stressed over it and shed many tears throughout the years while the other has loved every minute of it (well, mostly).  So, I guess I find this time of year bittersweet…I’m happy my kids are thriving, growing, loving and learning to overcome but as they grow and become another year closer to being an adult there’s a sadness (mixed with some crazy, of course 😉 ) that overshadows this season for me!  Does anyone else feel this way??  Am I crazy? Tell me I’m not the only one!

Just so I don’t leave you all feeling racey, anxietal and just plain depressed here are a few things I LOVE about this time of year….  the beautiful, colorful changes in the leaves; apple cider season; the cooler nights complete with the smells of fall;  the return of college football; homemade soup; cozy fires in our fireplace; blanket cuddles on the couch; and a new season of peewee hockey watching my favorite hockey player!