Back to School

Today we finally joined the rest of the country in going back to school. For the kids anyway, UO still has a couple weeks to go. It's so strange to begin this late, and yet it's fantastic because then we get to enjoy the amazing Pacific Northwest summers while the rain is at bay. Aeryn protested my accompanying her to the bus stop for pictures, which means that none of this year's photos are amazing. She was not willing to wait the .5 seconds for me to adjust settings and she hardly looked at me without major coercion.

She was required to have a zip binder this year. We found a cute girly one at Costco but waited to buy it and as fate would have it could never find it again. She picked out this one and I suggested that she decorate it to make it "hers." The only issue is that it does not fit into her backpack. What are you thinking, Gap? We just need one extra inch... I guess it's lucky she picked one with a handle.

Considering how much she loves puffy paints, that was something she jumped all over. Yesterday we had a girls day where we hung out in our PJ's all morning, got a redbox, ate popcorn, did some school stuff and just jung out together. I was really surprised when friends came over asking to play that she said she didn't want to yet because she wanted to finish our movie and be with me. Awww. That isn't going to last much longer.

This was the best look she would give me. I was not excited to see the end result but when I lowered the camera to change settings she took that as a cue that we were done and wanted nothing else to do with it.

C'est la vie. It's blurry, but I truly think it's an accurate picture of the morning.

I almost had her look at me! Then she saw her friend and it was all over.

One of my attempts at coercion (so she would stop protesting my going to the bus stop) was "don't you want pictures with your friends?" Luckily, we barely got one. The bus was early, the kids were getting on as soon as we got there, and she stopped up the line to let me take this picture as her friend ran up to her.

I promised her it was the last first day of school ever that I would follow her to the bus stop and take a picture. Next year she will just cross the street and be at the middle school. It's an end of an era, you could say. Enjoy 5th grade, little lady.