Thursday, September 4, 2008

That Time of Year Again!

Well, it's September, and school has begun again. When I was teaching, I really hated September, which seemed to mock me the whole summer. It always used to make me crazy when people (non-teaching type people) would say how great it must be to have nothing to do for 3 months (where everyone gets 3 months from, I have no idea, as I always worked until July and began at the end of August). It always used to take me the month of July to recover from the year (the end of the year can suck the life out of you like nobody's business) and then August would come and I would wonder where the time went. Now, I'm not complaining - summers off is a FABULOUS deal, but you end up paying for it during the year. Nothing in life is free, I'm afraid.

Since I've been home with the kids, summer has been a really wonderful time; everyone around here sends their children to camp. These are not working mothers sending the kids to camp that I'm talking about; these are at-home moms, some with live-in help, mind you. Around March the mom conversations go something like this:

Them: "So where are you sending the kids to camp this year?"
Me: "Oh, we're not. We'll be home with them."
Them: After a horrified glance, as if they just saw me yank off one of my children's arms, "Oh, now nice," followed by a quick walk away to a different, more appropriate, mother.

Having already had many of these conversations, complete with the horrified looks, about preschool, I've become pretty comfortable with them. The Professor, however, not so much so. He took Miss Serious to a birthday party in March several years ago. When he came home, he immediately pulled me aside and asked, "Are we supposed to be sending them to camp?"

So, after our camp-less, and clearly inferior summer, Miss Serious is in second grade this year, and Big Trouble is beginning Kindergarten. They had orientation and met their teachers yesterday, and today was the official day one. They both really like school, so the first day back is greeted with much excitement 'round these parts. Here's Big Trouble trudging grumpily to school:

And here they are, backpacks in hand, ready to learn:

They both insisted on rolling backpacks, because you know at this age how heavy that single folder of papers can get...

Good luck Miss Serious and Big Trouble. You always make us so proud.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you always make us proud, Miss Serious and Big Trouble. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful year in school. We love you big bunches.

And tell the truth now, MN, I'm getting more comfortable telling our fellow parents that we are happily camp-less. Actually, I tell them that we go camp-ing. As a family. In a tent, no less. That really makes their eyes bug out!

Bezzie said...

Hee hee! Airborn!!!

And don't feel bad, I know plenty of working moms that send their kids to camp and think I'm nuts for just putting my kid in glorified daycare (nothing specialized like football camp, or soccer camp, etc.) over the summer(where they still do quite a bit of school work, muhahahahah!). I love it when they whine about how expensive it is! Insert eye roll here!