Summer has come to a sleepy end and with it, the excitement of back to school has arrived. The anticipation of new teachers, classes and old friends has the kids eager to begin.
As I've heard so many times before, boys are "easier" than girls when it comes to many things and although I'm not entirely sure about that, I will say when it comes to back to school, it's pretty true in our house.
Our daughter is busy contemplating everything from what to wear, what pencils to use and what friends she hopes to sit by, while our sons are typically only concerned about how early they'll have to start waking up come Monday morning.
Lauren Elizabeth has even been planning all the way down to her locker for the past month. I'll have to admit, last year was the first year we were able to have a girl's locker so I jumped at the chance to cover her locker this side of a confetti shooter, especially after having three boy humdrum lockers with no more than a magnetic dry erase board at best. Needless to say, my heart warmed at the idea of fuzzy pink unicorns.
This year though, I'm tired. I've been working nonstop and don't have the energy to fight the masses for back to school shopping for anything other than the essentials. Disco ball locker ornaments are adorable, don't get me wrong...but maybe next year we'll be more ahead of the game.
But then, it happened. I was running through Target for five seconds of groceries (an oxymoron, I know) when I noticed huge carts of loaded items being shuffled around by parents and their kids getting ready for college. The teens all wore their college sweatshirts, University of North Carolina, Duke, NC State, while the parents wore everything from fear, crushing heartbreak to even a handful of Mom and Dads with exuberant ear to ear smiles and I swear a hop and a skip or two.
I stopped cold.
They're going to college. They're going to COLLEGE! We already have two boys in high school this year and in a split second, all of this will be gone. No more lockers, first day of school outfits, mechanical pencils...they'll be on their own without a locker to spare.
I 360'd my cart to the school supply section and found a pink mirror, pink pencil holder and decorations to boot, then threw them all in the cart. Was it an emotional buy? Absolutely, but I know it'll be even more emotional when our ten year old little girl becomes a teen and dances her way looking through the comforter aisle with matching sheets and towels.
Open house was the other night and we busily cut and decorated. It was a labor of love with anticipation of the new year ahead, knowing she would have a little piece of fun everyday opening and closing her locker door.
We have yet to install a confetti shooter o' glitter, but there's always next year.
For now, I'll cherish every minute...as exhausting as they may be. My throat tightens when I think about a shopping cart of dorm decore rather than locker mirrors, but we'll get to that when it comes, I suppose.
For today, a sparkly pink locker it is, along with three dry erase board lockers as well...and a world of excitement to begin. Off we go...
As I've heard so many times before, boys are "easier" than girls when it comes to many things and although I'm not entirely sure about that, I will say when it comes to back to school, it's pretty true in our house.
Our daughter is busy contemplating everything from what to wear, what pencils to use and what friends she hopes to sit by, while our sons are typically only concerned about how early they'll have to start waking up come Monday morning.
Lauren Elizabeth has even been planning all the way down to her locker for the past month. I'll have to admit, last year was the first year we were able to have a girl's locker so I jumped at the chance to cover her locker this side of a confetti shooter, especially after having three boy humdrum lockers with no more than a magnetic dry erase board at best. Needless to say, my heart warmed at the idea of fuzzy pink unicorns.
This year though, I'm tired. I've been working nonstop and don't have the energy to fight the masses for back to school shopping for anything other than the essentials. Disco ball locker ornaments are adorable, don't get me wrong...but maybe next year we'll be more ahead of the game.
But then, it happened. I was running through Target for five seconds of groceries (an oxymoron, I know) when I noticed huge carts of loaded items being shuffled around by parents and their kids getting ready for college. The teens all wore their college sweatshirts, University of North Carolina, Duke, NC State, while the parents wore everything from fear, crushing heartbreak to even a handful of Mom and Dads with exuberant ear to ear smiles and I swear a hop and a skip or two.
I stopped cold.
They're going to college. They're going to COLLEGE! We already have two boys in high school this year and in a split second, all of this will be gone. No more lockers, first day of school outfits, mechanical pencils...they'll be on their own without a locker to spare.
I 360'd my cart to the school supply section and found a pink mirror, pink pencil holder and decorations to boot, then threw them all in the cart. Was it an emotional buy? Absolutely, but I know it'll be even more emotional when our ten year old little girl becomes a teen and dances her way looking through the comforter aisle with matching sheets and towels.
Open house was the other night and we busily cut and decorated. It was a labor of love with anticipation of the new year ahead, knowing she would have a little piece of fun everyday opening and closing her locker door.
We have yet to install a confetti shooter o' glitter, but there's always next year.
For now, I'll cherish every minute...as exhausting as they may be. My throat tightens when I think about a shopping cart of dorm decore rather than locker mirrors, but we'll get to that when it comes, I suppose.
For today, a sparkly pink locker it is, along with three dry erase board lockers as well...and a world of excitement to begin. Off we go...
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