I’m going to do this in shifts, because that’s how they left yesterday.

In “shift one” we have an 8th Grader who will help “rule” the Jr. High this year:

And let me introduce our new high school-er:
(9th Grade.)
Wait, did I just say that? A high school-er?? I honestly cannot believe it.

Here they are for their traditional school-pictures-in-front-of-the-front-door:
Awww, love these guys.
And I have to stick this one in ’cause I love Max’s face:
On to “shift two:

Here’s our delighted 5th Grader:
…and our 2nd Grader:
(I love that they are holding hands.)
We obviously had a little too much time for pictures after waking up so early for scriptures and breakfast with “shift one.”


…they didn’t seem to mind though…
Love these girls so so much.

Then it was on to “shift 3” after the “shift 3” girl got her beauty rest and slept until 9:30. (!)

Meet our Pre-K girl:We luckily warded off a nervous breakdown when we found this tinkerbell folder right in the nick of time before school:
You just never know what this girl is going to be obsessed about.
Waiting for the bus:
After school we had our traditional first-day-of-school-cookie-chat:
(minus Grace who got “lost” at her friend’s house on the way home.)

I made Max’s friend come in and take a picture since we have pictures of them every single year since kindergarten.
How did it happen that those teeny boys turned into these ones so fast? They seemed pretty confident about their first day.

I loved watching Max and Elle ask Lu about her big first day:

They sure get a kick out of that girl.

And here’s this unflattering picture Elle snapped I thought I’d add because this is what we did for like an hour.
This is so typical…I’m texting the Laurels trying to remind them of our activity I was in charge of that night and Gracie is waiting for me to sign something or other. I wish it showed the piles of papers I had to sign and lists of extra school supplies we need to go get and rule books and all the first-day-of-school paraphernalia for five kids spread out in front of us. And really, in order to get the whole picture I wish you could hear Lucy’s whining since she was so darn tired after a day of regimented schedule. Oh, and one minute before Max and Elle were hoovering over me too telling three different stories from the day and needing me to fill out forms. That’s what the first day looks like over here.

We ended up with a good little matching game:

Let’s back up to the “back-t0-school” nights the two nights before.I love going back to our dear old elementary school every year.

It’s so great to see so many familiar faces we have missed over the summer and there’s so much excitement in the air.

The kids love to go visit all their old teachers. One of our favorites ever has taught all these three kids in third grade. We all adore her.

Here’s Claire’s new teacher:Elle had her in 2nd Grade too…she is awesome.

And here’s Grace’s teacher:
Max and Elle both had her. Another awesome one.

And Lu’s beloved teacher she waited with baited breath for all summer long.
I tell you there wasn’t hardly a day that went by when she didn’t ask when she would get to go back to Mrs. Smith’s class.

Moving on to the big kids:
(I only had my iPhone so please excuse the quality of these pictures.)

Again, so many familiar faces we love at that Jr. High.

And last but not least, on to the HIGH SCHOOL.

I wish you could tell from this picture, but this place is massive. SO much bigger than my high school. Eight cavernous halls leave this main area leading out to all kinds of classrooms. Check out the map:
Yeah, who wouldn’t be confused about that thing?

Despite the fact that I beg Dave to take us to live in a foreign country on a daily basis, I love that we have lived here for so long that we feel so at home even in a huge unfamiliar high school with so many people we love crowded in.
It almost makes me want to go to high school again.

Max looks a little worried up there…

…but here he is after a girl he hadn’t seen all summer came and gave him a hug.
Yeah, he’s gonna be just fine.
(of course I couldn’t get these guys to pose for a picture)

Isn’t my iPhone awesome?

First day down, 179 to go.

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27 Comments

  1. Cute post with a capital "C"!! Good luck with the new school year 🙂 I'm so grateful for awesome teachers who give so much of themselves. Well, I assume those are what yours are like – they look great 🙂 And that picture is NOT unflattering. You are frumoasa 🙂

  2. You have inspired me. I'm gonna be a picture taking fool when my oldest starts kindergarten in a couple of weeks! And I love the fresh baked cookies tradition for the first after-school snack!

  3. Ah, thanks for sharing your after school chaos so that I can see that I am not the only one! You basically just described exactly what we just went through, I just need to cut and paste my kids pictures in place and my first day post would be done! Thanks for always being so honest and sharing! You make me feel like I am not alone in my day to day endeavors!

  4. Thank you for sharing you wonderful pictures and family. I am especially in love with Lucy's glasses. My littlest was a 25 weeker and we just found out last week he is almost legally blind. After much heartache… we marched in there and picked out the cutest little glasses for him. So, yeah, I was a little touched when I saw her wearing them…. so very cute!

  5. Your back to school is just wonderful, I have loved following your blog and my kiddos have benefited greatly from your wonderful mothering and insiring me to be present when mothering (or least catch those moments on camera)We start in a week and I see a similar spread in my near future !!

  6. Your photos are so awesome! They capture each age group so well and I love the color you use… not too much photo-shopping like a lot of others. 🙂

    I don't know how to contact you for the Friday Q&A, so I thought I'd post a few here:

    1. Where do you live? That sounded kind of stalker-ish, but it just seems like it's gorgeous there all the time!

    2. How did you get into photography? I've read your tips for photography, but what are your tips for those just purchasing their first DSLR camera?

  7. How exciting!! You are my HERO! I have three, very soon to be four, little kids (oldest is about to start 1st grade) and I think it's all pretty easy right now – what TERRIFIES me about having 4 kids, is having them all in school… I got overwhelmed last year with all the paperwork and stuff I had to keep track of with ONE in KINDERGARTEN!! Ha ha!

  8. Paperwork! Gah! I'm so not looking forward to that.
    I'm registering baby#2 for kindergarten tomorrow and I can't decide if I'm excited yet. Yes for his sake, and no for mine!
    Thanks for helping me get mentally prepared.
    Also, how do you manage to spend time with your kids after school? I feel like, after being gone for 7 or 8 hours, they come home and they're STILL not mine because we're slaves to homework. Does your school pile on the homework even for the little ones?

  9. Was it coordinated that y'all wore shades of blue the first day of school or was that some crazy 6 Person coincidence?! The kids all looked so great!! I wish mine didn't have to wear uniforms. Love your pix. Love them.

  10. awww everyone looks so grown up! I've only been reading a year or so but everyone is getting bigger! And max is looking like is dad!

    wow that high school mass looks like a university campus map!

    one at school is keeping me busy so I can't imagine when all 4 are there

    Corrie;)

  11. I love all these pictures especially the girls jumping so awesome for you. We have always have extra time to play around in the first few mornings when school starts. They all looked cute for their first day.

    Hey about some pictures and writing about what you did on this first day all alone with a quiet house??? Would love to know.

    My daughter starts high school too and we just got her schedule which is ok but she missed out on Drama which was going to be a favorite for her. My next daughter is in eighth grade also. So many changes for us this year. Glad everything went ok for your kids.

    It doesn't matter if you have one or 5 kids the amount of paper work we get that first week is CRAZY for any parent. My mom said it wasn't like that for us as kids. Have fun and thanks for sharing these with us.

  12. I love your first day of school traditions. We didn't have many traditions in my house when I was growing up so I'm always on the lookout for new ideas. Thanks for sharing!

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