Lord, please give me patience, because if you give me strength, I may just beat someone to death.

Here are the 1st day of school pics of the kids! We made a big decision this year to homeschool Ella along with Dawson, so it's been a busy, busy couple of months! Now I have another thing to fail at, perfect! We also made a big {and very last minute} decision to put the twins in Pre-K. It's only for about 2 hours, 3 mornings a week, but that's a huge step compared to never being away from me, like ever. Their Pre-K is at my sister's church, just a few minutes away from home, and that gave me the extra comfort I needed to send them off for the first time. I felt like we were going to be in the same boat as we wound up in with Dawson, and that is the cry-every-time-your-Mom-leaves-or-even-thinks-about-leaving boat. Mitch and Charlie had yet to make it through a church service without our family number blinking on the overhead projector, so I knew we needed to slowly get them {and me} comfortable with letting go a bit. It has been super tough for Charlie, lots of tears and chasing after Mommy, and then came the round of Mommy tears and guilt. But I am happy to report that although he may not be excited to go to school, he is now tolerating it;) Dawson and Ella are doing the Home Link through NWC on Thursdays , Dawson did this last year and it gives them one day a week to pal around with friends and do some of the subjects that are trickier at home like P.E., music, Spanish, and the all important, lunch and recess. And I have one glorious day with just two kids, so I can tackle some of the tasks that glare at me all week while I have my teacher hat on. So how is homeschool going this year? Well, Dawson is still so fun to teach, and aside from his occasional obnoxious whine sessions, is such a joy to be around. And as for the Bean, I was nervous for her, and I was nervous for myself. She is used to and LoVeS traditional school, but she has adjusted really well. And although we have had a handful of AWFUL days, overall it is going way better than I hoped! Hooray for that. We are both alive and I consider that a success. Ok, so on to the photographic evidence of these monumental 1st days!

 It hit me like a ton of bricks when I wrote Mitch and Charlie's name on their school supplies. Oh my aching heart.

 1st day of home school for the year! Pajama day and candy ease us out of our blissful summer routine and back to reality.

 1st day in the 2nd grade! Ready for Link!!

 1st day in the 4th grade!!!! Ella was soooo nervous for her first day at Link! It broke my heart, my brave girl surprised me by being so emotional. She even cried:( I only got a couple of pictures because she was in tears:(

Um, I have no words. These pictures of the twins are priceless.

 My babies. How are they 4?

 Todd was so sweet and took a few minutes off of work to see the twins off to their first day. I needed him since we were all in tears!

 I think my heart literally cracked this day. Charlie kept smelling my hair and neck and squeezing me and whispering "I need you" and "don't leave me" and "I love you Mommy, please don't go." I absolutely suck at this part of the job, I don't do the brave face thing well, at all. Mitchy was brave but nervous, and kept telling Charlie that it would be ok and "don't cry or I'm gonna cry too."

 Big brother Dawson giving some pointers. Crazy that he was this age just 2 years ago. Sniffle.

 Poor Charlie just prior to a MAJOR melt down. Bless his heart.

Well, we all survived the first 6 weeks of school. I'll post what we've been up to soon!