This year, we have two in middle school...
I'm positive that only last week Sierra was stuffing her 4 month old baby sister's mouth with chocolate cookies while I was busy in the kitchen. Now, here she is, 12 years old and starting 7th grade. And that chocolate faced 4 month old? That would be my 10 year old Caitlin, starting 5th grade.
Shame on those who say you shouldn't hold your babies too much. I say, hold them while you can and as often as you can. You only get one chance to soak it all in. The days are long, but the years are fast. Too fast.
Here are my two oldest girls heading toward the bus. Caitlin is so blessed to have such a great big sister to show her the ropes.
Half an hour later, it was time for the rest of the kiddos to start their first day.
Our three youngest aren't so little anymore, either. Just yesterday, I marveled at my 2 year old boy riding his bike without training wheels and cradled teeny-tiny, mop-headed Abby in my arms. And about five minutes ago, cleaned mess after mess that Elise left in her path during her terrible twos. Now, Trevor is in 3rd grade, Abby is in 2nd, and Elise is taking one more in year in preschool to prepare for kindergarten.
Elise needs a photo of herself for her classroom, and I'm finding it quite humorous that being a photographer, I didn't have a photo to send with her. So we snapped a new one to print off:
I'm all too aware that tomorrow, I will have blinked again, and this little girlie will be following in her siblings' footsteps and growing up way too fast. But for today, I will enjoy her "strike a pose" phase.
Once we got to the school, Trevor and Abby took off running to catch up with friends, so there are no photos of them excitedly walking into the building. But I did get Elise putting her backpack away in her locker.
Those shorts weren't that wrinkled when she first put them on this morning. She was just up early enough to cuddle on the couch until it was time to go. :)
Now, please don't comment about all the free time I have on my hands now. That is not the case. I'm a wife, mom, homemaker, photographer, and bookkeeper. Plus, Elise is only gone a couple of hours every day. There is no free time. But if I ever do get some, don't give me guilt trips if I take advantage of it. I don't think people look at my whole picture. They just see no kids in the house, not all the hardships & struggles this mom has gone through to get to this stage of life. Who am I kidding? I still have struggles - mainly, trying to keep up with everyone, my work, and the house. I need 10 of me. Even during the two hours nobody is home.
Whelp, I should get back to editing. I just remembered that I've been waiting to use this song ("I Can Tell that We are Gonna be Friends" by Jack Johnson - it's the intro song to one of my favorite movies, 'Napolean Dynamite.'). And knowing me, if I put this post off at all, it wouldn't get posted until Halloween, and then the song would seem out of place...
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