last day

Tomorrow I return to the wonderful chaos of my classroom filled with students. Yes. I was called back last week. I love my job and am filled with excitement for what's to come. It is a bit like that last week of pregnancy when you haven't met your baby yet and wonder what he or she will be like. I can't wait to meet my new kids, all 130 of them.

But getting back to today. I sit and write across the table from my littlest while he pages through a school calender admiring the selection of student artwork chosen for this upcoming school year. My oldest still lies in bed at 10:24, enjoying this last chance to catch extra hours of sleep. Tomorrow she will be eating lunch already at this time.

Today is a day to celebrate my kiddos and bring a close to the vacation called summer while empowering them to anticipate all the amazing opportunities on their way at school this year. It's a day to be a family, for me to be their mom.

By the end of this school year I will have a teenager going into her last year of middle school and a 10 year old heading into fifth grade. Each day matters as a parent. And I am Laney and Josh's mom everyday. Today is a celebration of that. Tomorrow our family multiplies once again.

crawling back to potential normalcy...

i love my life. it consistently reminds me that normal is in fact relative. for teachers, summer vacation is a break from our "normal" routine. for stay-home moms, school affords a break from the "normal" daily parenting tasks of summer. for those of you "normal" teachers out there whose schedules and tasks vary little from year to year, you are prepared for another "normal" year.

and so here i am, unsure which normal to prepare for as i have not been recalled to my classroom or school, yet enjoying the "normal" chaos of my life as a parent. let "normal" reign, and i will as i have a few weeks to go before everything returns to "normal?" once again.