Off to K-5

A month has now passed since we sent our oldest son to his first day of kindergarten. And yes, I am a slacker when it comes to posting pictures but no one told me that your life REALLY would get beyond crazy when baby #3 arrives so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Although, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that I haven’t posted the story behind this eventful day yet because I’m still coming down from my maddening rage but who has time to dwell? I know I don’t so maybe after I write this, I’ll be able to laugh about it. Yeah. We’ll see

To set the mood, let me just say, for those who don’t know me really well, that I am a planner. Some (my husband) might even say it’s borderline-OCD but nonetheless, I am one who needs to be on time, on budget and in order. To me, it’s essential in a world with small children. This was SO not the case for this big day. And I will try not to point fingers as to WHY this day didn’t go as planned but I’m sure you smart people will figure it out.

The night before, I had muffins made, clothes laid out, backpack ready, camera charged….all that was left for the next morning was to wake, feed and load up all three d’s for the trip to school. So, next morning comes and is seemingly smooth. While they are eating, I load the backpack, camera, and my purse into the van so that all we have to do is get in and go. D1 has to leave early to get his class ready for the kids to arrive so we tell him good-bye, that we will meet him there to walk d1 in together. We were even ahead of schedule enough to sit down and enjoy some good ole’ Tom & Jerry before departing. Everything is going just as planned, right? Five minutes before we were set to leave, d1 comes in and asks me to come unlock the van. I turn to get my keys and realize….yep, they are already in the van. LOCKED in the van. Apparently, ‘someone’ needed to get something out of the van before ‘someone’ left and ‘accidentally’ locked the doors when finished. It had to have been an accident, right? Because how many people lock their vehicles when they are in the GARAGE!!!!

So, I literally scream, ‘NO!!!!’ loud enough for all neighbors within a mile radius to hear and pick up the phone to call D1 at school. He explains that he can’t leave yet, maybe in 20 minutes. I am hysterical, crying that ‘my baby cannot be late on his first day of school’ and asking what I should do. And no, we had no spare key (we do now!) and there were no windows even cracked to try and reach in. The only solution I could come up with in my state of panic was to bust out a window. Yes, I know – a bit rash but what else could I do? I actually got to the point of tapping the hammer on the window and realized that I would probably end up severing an artery and that would probably scar d1 permanently AND ruin his first day so I decided against it. As I’m crying in the driveway and trying to figure out what to do (do taxis come all the way out here?), I look over at my neighbor’s house and realize they have three vehicles outside. They don’t need all of those, right? I run over, tell my story, and they tell me to take their van. They are AWESOME people and I was speechless….until I said, ‘Great, where are your keys? I gotta go!’ Keep in mind, EVERYTHING is locked in the van – drivers license, cell phone, backpack, CAR SEATS. d3 is the only one who had a real car seat (but fortunately their van had built in 5-point harnesses so I wasn’t completely breaking the law). We throw them in and I am feeling like Mark Martin on a NASCAR track with the turns I was taking and the speed I was hitting. Obviously, I know I’m not winning Mother of the Year award for this but we were not going to be late. I was not going to be that mom.

So we get to school, unload and head in. I am almost jogging into the school (in heels, no less – with a bit of streaked mascara and a 4-month-old, head-bobbling baby in arms), pulling d2 along and nudging d1 to hurry until we see D1 at the school entrance. He joins in on our little ‘race to the finish,’ unbeknownst to him on how we got there and we make it to d1’s class with about 30 seconds to spare. Other parents were crying tears of sadness/joy and I might have been one of those parents, had I had TIME. Fortunately, my tear-streaked eyes didn’t draw attention since every other mother was doing the same – although I can bet their mornings went a little smoother. And funny thing is, probably half of the kids were sad that their parents were leaving them. Not mine. Nope. He was probably thinking, ‘Get me away from this lunatic!’ I was so proud of him.

In the end, we made it in time, even if we had no backpack or camera (because, you know, I’ve only been planning this scrapbook page for 5 years now). So, the pictures you see below are from his second day of school – D1 was ‘encouraged’ to re-create the first day since the real one didn’t go as ‘planned.’

To those who have heard the story, sorry for the repeat but I need to document this for d1 to read some day because I’m certain there will be two sides to the story and he needs to know the truth. ;)