Our Second "FIRST"... I Have SURVIVED!

I'm laughing as I write the title to this post. My original intention was to complement yesterday morning's posting title. For those of you not able to follow my erratic way of thinking just yet, while yesterday was the boy's "first" day of school, today was the girls "first" day, therefore yesterday's title "Our First of TWO Firsts".

So I can hear my sister saying, "Sue, what's so funny about that?"

As I was just leaving this morning to drop the girls off, Mark sent me a text I will not quote ... but let's just say it was along the lines of letting me know that once again, on his way to school for the boys, HE received a text from their mom asking "How far are you from school?". Huh?

Yes my dear friends, she was meeting the boys and Mark once again today for another series of school pictures. She explains that TODAY is really Cooper's FIRST day of Kindergarten, since yesterday was just orientation. So the boy's have had their OWN "TWO Firsts"... and my humor is in my husband's ex-wife now giving yesterday's post title two entirely different meanings.

I laugh thinking about his basketball shorts and Nike t-shirt he adorns today, which will look majestic in this picture years from now... can you FEEL my smile?

If I lost you, I apologize. Please, please, please just read on. My erratic thinking is obviously a major characteristic flaw in any writer's mind. Alas, I am not a writer, remember???

So back to the girl's first day. We made it through like pros. I have been preaching 2 new rules all summer that would start today. Of course, my little one tested both between last night and this morning, but my nonchalant reminder of the rules and offering to help her actually worked and we did it. WARNING: These are big, life-changing rules, and you would not believe how they can make or break a morning ritual of simply getting ready for school:

1. We are all going to work on being more healthy. This includes eating healthy, choosing better snacks, and taking care of our own bodies such as brushing our teeth every night. (This is mind-altering, I know.)
   
2. We are going to work hard to pick out our clothes the night before school, and there will be no morning television until each of us are dressed. (I have turned into my mother mind you.)

We actually got dressed, watched some TV to relax, packed lunches and ate breakfast before I realized my camera battery had died. Of course, you can probably tell when comparing my blog to other "mommy blogs", I'm not one of those with overwhelming amounts of pictures. Mark and I are those people that TAKE our camera to most events, even vacations believe it or not...but won't usually remember that we packed the damn thing until our last day during hotel check out, or in the middle of a school event as we're being elbowed and stepped over by other normal parents who are willing to perform back bends and double somersaults to get that one good shot of their little tike singing or dancing or reciting their special poem.

Anyway, while I have continued to mock the boy's mom about her school picture tradition, I of course do all this in jest... Today, I can say to the world that I have independently taken my OWN girl's first day of school picture this year. Here it is:



Ok, so it's not here because I still don't know how to insert pictures in layers through text. But you can scroll to the top of my posting, as this is the only place I know how to insert a damn image so far!! (help any one???)


[Reader actually scrolls up and reviews picture.]

Yes. We are in the almighty minivan. Yes. They are already seat belted. There is no pose. There is also no recurring theme or location for this traditional event. But I'll be damned, I got the picture, they are actually smiling, and we, my friends, made it to school just as first bell began to chime. This was a proud moment.

I am going to sit and savor in my personal glory today, for this was a successful "First" for me.

And maybe tomorrow, I will share with you Mark and I's recent picture of the Niagara Falls we so proudly snapped on our way home from 3 days in Ontario, as we drove over the bridge to re-enter the United States, entering our customs lane, remembering, at the very same split second of our departure from Canada, that we never even pulled out the damn camera.