The Pictures Don't Tell the REAL Story of the First Day of School

I like to plan memorable experiences.  I'm a bit (just a itty bitty tad-ha!) sappy and I like to plan scenarios in my head of meaningful interactions. A great first day of school starts with the night before.  Okay, actually, it should have started a few weeks ago, but the night before would still be good, right?

Here's how I would have liked the night before school to go:

• Our family would sit down to a dinner that I cooked with everybody's favorites--including a yummy dessert.
• We would have engaging conversation about what they were looking forward to and what they were nervous about.  
• We would pray for Jesus to shine through the girls as they start a new year.
• The girls would have their really cute 1st day of school outfits picked out
• We'd have a quiet night and everybody would be in bed before 10pm
• The fridge would already be stocked with all the stuff needed to make their lunches

Needless to say, that is NOT how it went.  

First of all, I work until 8pm on Tuesdays and I didn't cook dinner.  I think they picked up Rosas (but I only know they because I saw the container in the trash--I totally forgot to plan anything for them).  I don't even know if they ate together. I did hear that Hope went to give her boyfriend a piece of cheese from our fridge, but there was mold on it.  So there's that.

And then, Hope went to get some school supplies with her boyfriend because she realized she didn't have any paper.  Or pens and pencils.  And, by the way, the only shoes she has are jandles and riding boots.  Because we didn't order them until Monday night...So they won't  be here until Thursday..  Two days after school starts.  But hey, I did buy lunchboxes a few weeks ago and Mimi bought new backpacks for both girls. So we are winning in that category.

To add some excitement to the evening, my car decided not to start when I got off work.  So Brian came (did I mention it's a 40 min drive from my house to work??) and we went to get a new battery hoping that was the problem (we had already done this 3 nights before,).  Here's a PSA for you...Walmart at 9:30 the night before school starts is probably not gonna make your bucket list.

We finally arrived home @10:30pm with no car and now 2 batteries.  Brian had to work for another hour and I went through the fridge to make sure none of the other items I had planned on using to make lunches were moldy.  Sadly, the strawberries also decided to become a science experiment.  You might ask, "Why didn't you think of checking this earlier in the week?  I DID!  They weren't moldy then!

At this point, I was too tired to head out to the store, so I made my list and went to bed, praying that our 1st day of school traditions would go well.

I'll bet you know where this is headed, huh?

Contrary to what the pictures show, the first day of school was not full of smiles.

I woke up early to head to the store to replace the moldy cheese and strawberries and pick up an extra treat for their lunches.  I made the batter for the pancakes and decided I wouldn't cook the bacon in the microwave like normal.  I would fry it in a skillet on the stove--with the thought that the smell of bacon would put everyone in a good mood.

Let me back up for a minute.  I'm not the pancake maker in the house.  Caroline makes them from scratch (i.e. no Bisquick).  Brian uses Bisquick, but he makes fluffy, yummy pancakes.  They already cut their eyes at each other when I let them know I would pinch hit and make the pancakes this year since Brian was going out of town, so I knew I was fighting an uphill battle, but it was worth it to me.

Why pancakes, you ask?

Because, I am allowed 4 pics of my girls without complaining each year:  Christmas Eve jammies, Easter, 1st day of school and last day of school.  The 1st day of school pic includes one of them holding a plate with pancakes made in the grade #  they are starting that day.  I have very few things I am consistent on, but this is one of them.  I never took the cute pic of my girls with the same stuffed animal every month their first year.  I never took them to get professional pics on their bdays.  (It was all I could do to manage their yearly well-child visit and even those have been several months late at times).  This is my ONE THING, people!!!

Sooooo, back to the first day of school.  I was told I made the pancakes too early.  And they were flat.  And I don't have the skill with the pancake pen that Brian does so it took several tries to get 1s and 9s to be recognizable as such.  So they posed with the deformed #11 and #9, but neither one ate them.  Honestly, I didn't either.

One child was mad at me because I had asked her not to wear sweat pants on the 1st day, so she was wearing jeans and DID NOT CARE how she looked.  I was then told I drove too slow (because 1-2 miles over the speed limit is tortoise-paced) and that I slammed the brakes too hard.

I was "THAT" parent cheering as I zipped out of the parking lot immediately after they shut the car door (and *might* have locked the doors as fast as I could).  I didn't wait to make sure they got inside.  I got out of there as fast as I could and threw up a prayer for the teachers as I drove away.

So, when you see the pics of my girls smiling and holding their pancakes, just know there is much more going on behind the scenes and just because we took a 1st day of school pic in which said teens are smiling, doesn't mean that was the reality of our morning. 

We are all just a hot mess and one step away from disaster.  Some of us just cover it better than others.