This year everything changes. Back to that in a moment ... lol

The first day of school here was Wednesday.

The morning got off to a ROUGH start. There was much snapping and arguing and whining and complaining and then the kids got up. lol

It was SO busy around here that between finding we had no cereal for breakfast, making lunches, curling hair, straightening other hair, fighting about outfits and school appropriate shoes, getting myself picture ready, taking pictures, and trying to leave the house at 7:20 IN THE MORNING ... I didn't even get a DROP off coffee!

But we MADE IT. We got out of the house ON TIME and with all of our school needs intact. THAT, my friends, is a WIN in my book :) I even remembered to take pictures :D

Flower Child looked SO pretty with her hair curled and she was SO happy and excited and just felt beautiful :) So the 25 minutes of curling said hair was worth it ;)

And Lil Miss look SO super cute and was also very excited! I have heard some not-to-nice things about her teacher so I was FREAKING OUT when we went in the classroom :-/ She seems nice enough though, so the jury is still out. I may, or may not, be making some Lemon Pound Cake to try and sweeten her feeling toward us ;)

And then she ran off to join her peeps :) She couldn't have been happier and I couldn't have been more proud :)

So I took myself to Starbucks and sat and read a book ... for a LOOOONG time :) and then I went to a thrift store looking at nothing in particular ...

and then the Hubs and I met for lunch :) and didn't worry about the time because I now have SIX WHOOOOOLE HOURS EVERY DAY TO MYSELF :) That's right, the BEST YEAR EVERY IS FINALLY HERE!!! All of my kids are in school ALL DAY!!!! I have put in 14 YEARS of parenting and I've now reached that GOLDEN AGE where they are in school and I have SIX WHOLE HOURS EVERYDAY to remember who I am and what *I* like, apart from my children. It's amazing ... and a little scary, to be honest. But that, is a post for another day ;)

What's the best thing to do the day before school starts?

Go on a day long EXHAUSTING trip to an amusement park and eat nothing but sugar all day! :D

LOL, well it might not have been the BEST idea for the last day of summer, but it's what we did ;) The older kids were with their other parents so it was just Lil Miss and us! The Hubs was able to get the day away from work so off we went!


We rode roller coasters and saw lots of animals ...





The Six Flags park in Vallejo is a great mixture of roller coasters and animals. So we could go on tons of rides and then have a nice rest and watch some awesome animal shows!

They have a great killer whale show that Lil Miss just LOVES!


She really enjoyed the HUGE shark exhibit too!


Then we rode more rides and saw a Looney Tunes show that Lil Miss REALLY enjoyed now that she watches the OLD Looney Tunes shows on the Boomerang channel ;)


Then there were more rides ... and some energy drinks ;)

Next up was the dolphin show, my PERSONAL favorite! Their show is SO good, VERY entertaining!




Then more rides and running all over the park! She had the BEST time :)

She looks so grown up these days :) I love that she's grown up enough now to stand in line all by herself! She doesn't cut and she's grown up enough to call people out when they cut in front of her ... even when it's a full grown lady LOL

I don't think she's QUITE grown up enough for THIS though LOL ... some lovely turtles in the Jeep Ride were teaching the kids the facts of life! LOL







Then there was more rides and more running until it was finally time to wind things up.

The last thing on our To-See List was the butterfly habitat.







LOL You can see she's all pictured out ;)

She was a tired lil thing when we finally got on the road but we had A GREAT time :) I think it's good to take advantage of the times we have when it's just us and Lil Miss and I'm so glad we were able to go out and have fun together. Those Six Flags Season Passes are the BEST THING EVER!

Today we had MORE HIGH SCHOOL activities to attend.

They couldn't just throw it all together in one day ... noooooo no. They had to stretch all the FUN over TWO days.

Today was registration. Which is where you stand in line for 20 hours, sign away your first born, pick up YOUR WEIGHT in books, and take your HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK PICTURE.

All of those things are just FRAUGHT with drama, let me tell you.

First thing today we went to the library because I am keeping them funded with my late fees. Then I took Teen to get her hair done :) She is now at the stage where she need a REAL hair dresser. Her hair is crazy. It has a mind of it's own. It is a teenager without all the sweetness. So we went to my girl, Tiff.

Teen got washed, cut, thinned, dried, and straightened and OH.MY.WORD. ...

She looked BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE her hair!! It took 30 minutes JUST of straightening, but WOW did it look great! And it's so soft! BEAUTIFUL :)

But according to her, I'm her mom and it's like I get paid to say that ;) LOL

Then we celebrated with overly salty fries :)

And a little drama from Lil Miss who just seemed to be out of sorts today :-/ which was such a JOY during the registration TRAMA let me tell you ...

At the registration we stood in line, stood in ANOTHER line, AND THEN ANOTHER LINE, FINALLY got her picture taken (WHICH SHE HATED), stood in a smaller line just to have some chick tell us we were in the WRONG LINE, picked up a stack of books that LOOKING AT made me tired, and FINALLY got her schedule :) Then she texted all her friends to see what they had as we wandered around the campus. We found her locker and I taught her how to open it, then we walked her classes and located all of the MANY buildings she needed to be aware of.

It's funny because it doesn't make me sad at how old she's getting. I LOVE this stage! I LOVE her personality and I LOVE being able to really enjoy her as a person :) But I must admit it was a little weird to see her amongst all these other HIGH SCHOOLERS. Partly, because I can see how next year she probably won't need me to walk her around or even come with her. That's just a weird thought. Good, because it means I'm raising her to be independent and be able to handle her stuff without me. But MEH because it's one less thing she needs me for.

Another strange thing, seeing her with THOSE PEOPLE. When she's with me, she doesn't seem so ... TEENAGE. She's just who she is. But around those HIGH SCHOOLERS ... she's ... different. She's ... ONE OF THEM! And I gotta admit, THAT scares me more than anything else :-/