Wrapupalooza: School Edition

Love that Wrapupalooza title? Me too. I borrowed it from Lisa, who borrowed it from Tiffani. Tiffani is quite the clever one.

My kids started school yesterday....

Everyone had a great first day. School actually started last week, but since we were in AR, yesterday was our official first day. Everyone jumped right in without incident. The biggest shocker of the day? I didn't shed a single tear. Unbelievable! 

Abbey has the same teacher/class as last year (huge blessing!) and is my only child left at our beloved elementary school. Sarah started middle school and has all of Will's teachers from last year (another huge blessing). Will is such a laid-back kid that it didn't matter which teachers he ended up with as long as he was with his friends. Everyone is happy, including ME!

I had lots and lots of running around to do while they were in school. Abbey has an Epipen for an allergy to pistachios so I had to get that refilled and all of her medical forms signed/faxed to the school, and get some appointments scheduled for check-ups/shots next week. Also had to buy groceries since I haven't cooked in a month. I've been gone three of the last four weeks and I am so tired of eating out. Ugh. I'm finding it really hard to get back in the menu-planning/cooking groove though. 

Of course I also had to make a second trip to Walmart after dinner for school supplies. I was amazed a couple of weeks ago when I took the kids shopping and we found everything on our list in one trip to one store. I should have known that was too good to be true. Will and Sarah came home yesterday with an *updated* list (never mind that the list that I shopped from was the one I printed from the school website--argh!). Why do teachers do that? I feel like I'm bleeding money again and I'm ready to stop!

I usually draw the line at new backpacks. (Remember this question from last year?) No one in our family got a new one last year...but this year I caved. Poor Abbey has never had a new one. She's always used her sister and brother's hand-me-downs, and I promised her this year would be different. Sadly, I didn't get one purchased before the events of last weekend transpired so her daddy took her out last Sunday afternoon to find one. She loves it. Will scored a new one too. It was my dad's. 

I am really hoping that the routine of the school year will help me settle into a nice pattern for the fall. Honestly, I feel like we had NO summer. Things with my dad started getting really serious one week into our summer and they went quickly downhill from there. So much of my summer was spent on the phone or on the road or in a state of worry. I'm very sad that he's gone, sure, but I'm hoping that I can begin to move forward without his health weighing constantly on my heart and mind.

I let go of two HUGE volunteer commitments this year. I feel a lot of relief about that as well. You cannot know how free I feel. It's a really good feeling! I'm trying to get a feel for my weekly schedule and not overload myself. I'm such a homebody and need lots of space built into my week! 

It's been feeling very fall-ish here this week which is a very nice change from the heat and humidity we experienced in AR. The kids wore jackets to school today and I just made another pot of coffee. I love fall! And since summer was such a blur, I fully intend to revel in my second favorite season--autumn!!!