Farage Family: First Days of School!!!

Stress, anxiety, fear....that pretty much sums up how I felt about back to school! This was a big year in our house.....Rylie starting middle school as a 5th grader, Owen being the oldest Farage kid at the elementary school and Katelin starting preschool this year.....all this had my stomach in knots and there is not a lot of room in there for knots because Kinley is pretty much taking up all the space!

We had gotten our back to school shopping done, I try to buy the kids decent book bags so they don't fall apart so they had gotten 2 years out of their old ones so this year everybody got a new book bag......i'm sure you can figure out who's is who's!

Rylie and Owen started on Monday with a half day.....don't they look beautiful and so grown up?!?!?

Rylie had a little trouble going to sleep on Sunday but she got up on her own at 6:30 Monday morning and if you know Ry that is so not like her. She was nervous but got up and ready for her day and Daddy took her to Abby's so they could ride to school together. I picked her up and she liked school but hated her teacher. Tuesday morning she asked me if she could just skip school for one day.....uh...NO! So back to her normal self, I had to push her to get up and ready but she did and off to Abby's she went. Oh how happy was I when I picked her up today to hear.....I like my teacher now but the lunch was disgusting. That's an easy fix....I will make her lunch along with Owen's in the mornings! She is still struggling with opening her locker but I guess she has a girl near by who helps her. I really hope to see her blossom and grow with middle school....open up to new people and not be so shy. I really think she will do really well!!!! She also decided against playing the cello and is going with the viola which will be easier to carry and to keep away from all the little ones in our home!

My O man....the big kid at the school now! He was so scared to go to school. He kept saying i'm scared and I would ask him why? He wanted his teacher from last year not a new teacher. I assured him that once he went and got comfortable that he would be fine. Owen doesn't talk at school, he does to his friends but not in class and not to adults unless they prompt him to say something. He also shows no emotions at school....he is just that type of guy! So of course, as his mama.....I worry about him but he is also quick to adapt and he already has. When I picked him up Monday and asked how is day was, he says....horrible! O...why was it horrible? I got beat up.........and then he grins! Okay really....how was your day? Good and he likes his teacher and that's about all I got out of him. Tuesday he was fine with me dropping him off in the circle drive and walking in himself and all his anxietys seemed to be gone......whew....big relief for me!

And then there is my princess. Katelin has always been the more outgoing child not nearly as shy as the older two so I always thought things like dance class and preschool would be a piece of cake with her. I'm not sure what changed but for about the past year she has become real clingy with me.....wants to always be with me! So when I started having trouble with her wanting to go to dance (which she has always loved to go to no problem) I started worrying about leaving her places. She started afternoon preschool today so I imagined the worse knowing it probably wouldn't be as bad as I imagined. So she picked out a pretty new dress and we got her all ready and I may have bribed her with a new baby doll if she went to school like a big girl and then we headed for the school. In the car she ask if I was going to leave her there? Uh Oh....lump in my throat....yes but not for very long and Owen's classroom is right next door to yours. She ask if Owen can stay in her room with her and I explain that he can't and she ask if Ry Ry will be there and I explain that she is at a different school and then she tells me she wants someone from our family to stay with her. I assure her that I will not leave her unless she is okay and let's just see how it goes. We arrive and talk with her teacher and hang up her book bag, she picks chocolate milk to go with her snack and sits on her spot on the class rug. Sigh....okay this is going well.....until she stands up and runs to me clinging to my leg.....uh oh! Other parents are still there and Miss Rachel is singing a hello song for each kid, Katelin starts singing along and about 4 songs in she goes back to the rug. Okay another big sigh.....I didn't want to sneak out so I whisper to her that Evie and I are going but will be back shortly and she starts to whine a little and then Miss Rachel draws her picture to sing her song and that caught her attention so we left. I was nervous for 3 hours and then we get there to pick her up and she looks as happy as can be. Her teacher said she did great, she participated and sang songs! When she got in the car she was so excited, she got to play with play doh and she said she likes going to school! Big smile for Mama! And Monday thru Thursday Owen gets to meet her at the back of the school and I get to pick them up there instead of the big car line out front so......SCORE!!!!