The Last Day of School.

Today was the last day. Can it be that it feels like the year both flew by and dragged on at the same time?

Both T and M had really great teachers this year. We couldn't have handpicked them better ourselves. Both of them really clicked in their classrooms and personality wise and I think that makes such a huge difference.

What a year of lessons this has been for each of us.

For T, he has learned so much in school. I think that 3rd grade is a bridge. Before 3rd grade, you're still a "little" kid. A beginner at much of life. In the 3rd grade more of life and more at school begins to click and make sense. Beyond the multiplication he excelled at and the division he spent many frustrated afternoons on, he also learned some personal responsibility and sometimes we have to make choices between something fun and something not so fun. He knows that all we ask is that he tries his best, every single day.

For M, we watched her again toddle in unsure and unsteady of what was before her, and leave a completely joyful, comfortable girl. I expected much tears and sadness after school today kind of like last year, but instead she did just fine and while I know that she'll miss her teacher, I think she's finally learning that goodbyes are a part of life. A hard one, but a necessary one.

And I too, had a year of lessons, as today was my last day, too. This school year was a year of changes and a lesson in realizing that even the best laid plans tend to change. And I had no idea, personally or professionally what the school year had in store for me. It had a lot, from childcare issues, to the grief and sadness of losing my mom, to having my job cut, to a difficult start to another pregnancy. If it was not one thing, it was something else, all year long. Sometimes even I am surprised that we have made it through and somehow find reasons to smile.

So the school year is over and before we know it we'll be doing it all again. But this summer I am committed to making it count. It seems all to quickly that the days on the calendar go by and there is much life to be lived around here.

More lessons, both big and small, will come our way and we will relish in each of them just as we relish in these little (or not so little) lives we're working on raising.

The first day of school. September 4, 2007
The last day of school. June 3, 2008

(You can tell that T is thrilled that I am taking this photo. He'll thank me later, right?)
And just for fun.

The three musketeers in the back of "Daddy's beep-beep" over the weekend.

Too cute not to share.