and it's upon us again!

summer was too short!  if you didn't know, i'm a fan of the summer.  i like the heat.  i like the sleeping late(r).  i like not having to be in a strict routine.  i definitely like not having to do the "get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, get your shoes on, get in the car!!!!" crazy dance every morning!  but school is in session, and nobody contacted to me to get my opinion on the matter.  i read in the paper last week that "they" (whoever "they" are) were concerned about having to cool the schools during triple digit temperatures, and "they" were worried about the extreme heat affecting bus riders.

hello?!?!?  don't start school right after the 4th of july, and it won't be 109 degrees while you are trying to bus kids home.  give it a few weeks and start at a normal time of the year.  again...nobody asked me.  and since i wasn't given a choice in the matter, my people are now in a nice, air-conditioned school room along with the rest of the world.

last week, we went to open house to meet the teachers and see our new classrooms.  william and allie posed outside of their new room before heading in to get the lay of the land.  (notice the gray tooth...this was two days before his awesome dentist trip!)

and then mary mize joined them for a quick picture with mrs. vaughn.

much, and i do mean much, praise has been heaped on this sweet lady.  i know that we have a crazy, busy year ahead of us with her...but when william gets out of her class, he will apparently be able to quote every book of the bible by heart.  and he should be able to score well enough on the SATs to get into harvard at the age of 6.  i'll admit, i'm slightly nervous as to what this year will hold, but he is super excited.  i guess i'll start filling out college applications tomorrow afternoon.

william and allie helped their younger siblings get acclimated in their new room.

wes and mary elliott have miss wanda this year.  she's a ton of fun, and i know they are going to have a blast.

and if all else fails, there is a ton of cars/trucks/trains/blocks in the back of the room.  he should totally be able to survive on that for a year!

then this week...the first day of school finally arrived.  william had his bed made and clothes on within minutes of getting up.  i had to drag wes out of the bed...despite the fact that william had every light possible on and was surely shaking the bed around while he made that top bunk!  wes is 4.  i'm dreading the teenage years.

anyway, we managed to get ready in enough time to get a few pictures before we headed out the door.

but before we made it to the car, wes had a meltdown.  william was getting his lunch out of the fridge, and wes started crying because he wanted to stay for lunch, too.  i had planned on picking him up at 1130, but he was adamant about staying.  i just couldn't say no.  so i threw together a pb and j and made a lunch in about 30 seconds.  he was pumped and ready to go then!

william took the lead and showed wes how to be cool while walking in the building.

and then he made sure wes found his locker and hung his backpack in the correct spot.

the three amigos were ready for this year to begin.  i had to force knox out of his desk to come take a picture.  he was ready to get to learning something!!

and the three little amigos (younger siblings of those 3 in the picture above) that were two rooms down the hall were itching to get going as well!

i still say that it should be summer.  but, with those happy faces and eager attitudes...i guess i'll accept that school is back in session.  that pool better watch out, though...reed and i intend to keep on pretending like it's still summer!