First Day of School (7th and 5th)

First day of school. The girls were excited / nervous. They both got up earlier than usual to get ready. Lucia wanted extra time to blow dry her hair and put on her makeup (clear mascara and lip gloss so far; I've promised her soft-black mascara on our next Target run). Soon enough, they were off. Andrew and I dropped them off and then went to the parent coffee at school; always happy to mingle at school in person. 

Then--a quiet house. I don't start tutoring at Pitt till next week, so I gave myself a day to just decompress from the summer and unwind. I journaled, listened to an audio book, and sewed two lined zippered pouches and a small reversible tote bag. Andrew and I put together a newly delivered table for the Long Room--the final piece. Now all that remains is figuring out what to hang on the walls. The house is looking very very nice. Much more finished--all except the kitchen/family room, of course. But that's all to come. Or not! Maybe we'll just wait to do anything until the back of the house collapses. Ha ha ha ha ha.

I picked up Greta at regular dismissal time and the first thing she said was, "I LOVE fifth grade." Excellent. One less child to worry about. She has lots of friends in class and sat with them at lunch and seems just thrilled to start the year. When I picked up Lucia after cross-country practice, she was less than thrilled with her first day, filled with complaints about all the new rules and regulations the new assistant director has implemented. She also was in a different lunch than all her friends and sat by herself (later, she said she actually sat with a new seventh-grade girl who was really nice). Then she had to run three miles in 90-degree weather for XC. So: not a glowing report.. I'm sure things will get better once the year gets going.

I made pesto and Trader Joe's mozzarella sticks for dinner, and then all four of us went to the pool for a night swim. It was a lovely way to end the day. No one else was there--the kids had the pool to themselves. Andrew and I took a dip then had a gin & tonic while the girls played silly games and dove for their diving gems. (Sometimes we'd look over and see one of them doing a crazy dance on the side of the pool, or wearing a child-size life jacket they found somewhere, and say to each other, "What on earth are they doing?") We finally had to corral them to leave at 8:45 when we saw Lucia go to the bin of pool toys and pull out a whole armload of pool noodles, preparing to throw them all into the pool. Time to go. They had lots of fun and it was a good way to shake off the day.

Back to it tomorrow. Thursday is a strange day to start the school year but I think having these two days and then a weekend to regroup is going to be okay.