For some reason, unbeknownst to me, my children didn't go back to school until September 4th. At first, I thought this was great news: More Summer! If you know me, you know that one of the saddest days of the year is when I have to stop wearing my capri pants and actually put on shoes that cover my toes. But... once I thought about it, I realized that I would be going back to MY school a full 8 days before my kids. This meant several things to me, but most notably, it meant:
- The two weeks before school would be a mad rush to get my classroom ready.
- There would be five days of shuffling my sweet children around while I start school.
- And last, but definitely most sad, I would miss the first day of school for them.
Now I love Matt. I adore Matt. He's the most fun, playful, hilarious Dad ever. But the First Day of School is a day for Moms. Isn't it? Is that terrible to say? Maybe. I don't know. The past few years, I have been able to arrange to be there with them on the 1st day and I HATE that this year had to be different. So much so that I spent most of August in denial of this fact. And I threw a few temper tantrums on the inside, narrowly avoiding throwing myself down on the floor and screaming. Eventually, I had to face the facts: I couldn't do the first day of school this year. I put on my big girl pants and got to work. Sigh.
In order to prepare for the first day, we had a lot to do. I spent all of August and the first week of school getting Victoria and me ready and preparing for Daphne's Baptism Day. So, Labor Day was "Get the Kids ready for School" Day. We went to Super Target AND Super Wal-Mart. All of us. Together. I know... you're jealous, right?
While at Target, we found new clothes for Isaac (who will ONLY wear basketball shorts and white t-shirts), but I was worried that the shorts would be a little big. The line at the fitting room was so long that we decided to just risk it. Of course, by the time we finished our three and a half hour shopping trip, we got home and they were way too big. Ugh!
I set in to preparing dinner, dividing up school supplies, labeling, baking the "Back to School Cake" and washing everyone's clothes. In the midst of all of this, Isaac accidentally dropped a can of coke which started spraying all over in my basement food storage. AAAAHHH!!!! So after cleaning that up, Dinner, Dishes, Family Home Evening, Baths, Bedtime and Lunch Making, I headed back to Target to exchange the shorts and pick up a few much needed items. I drove all the way back home only to find that I was missing an ingredient to frost the cake. And for the one millionth time, I am grateful that we live right behind a grocery store. One Mommy Meltdown and about 200 tasks later, I fell into bed at about 1:30 am.
The next morning, I got Victoria and me all ready for school and wiped back the tears and choked back the guilt as I headed off to my school and left Isaac, Daphne and Dad to figure out the first day stuff. Matt got them all fed and ready and went to the meetings and took notes for me, like the wonderful partner he is. But alas, when my heavy heart compelled me to text him at 10 and see if he took pictures of them, I received back a text that said,
"I forgot."
I realized that I never asked him to take pictures... And with that, all my guilt and sadness bubbled over until I was a teary-eyed mess right there in the middle of my own classroom. Sweet Victoria came over and rubbed my hand and kept saying, "it's OK , Mommy. I love you."
And so then I felt bad for crying in front of her and causing her unnecessary worry to her tender heart. Seriously, could my week of Parenting Fails just stop? Oh, yeah... I haven't told you how Daphne was supposed to give a talk in Primary on Sunday and I totally. forgot. We came to church empty-handed... and when they came to get me out of my class, I ran into the primary room to see her standing next to the child-sized podium: arms folded, eyes panicked and chin tucked into her chest in complete mortification. Nice job, Mom. With a little love and coaxing and "Blame it on Mom" reasoning, she left Church smiling and unscathed. ( I think)
Having learned my lesson that it will all be ok, I sucked back my tears, took a deep breath and did what any Mom would do:
I took pictures after school and posted them on Facebook like they were taken in the morning!
Honestly, I have NO idea why I make this Back to School Cake every year. When I first got the idea to make this cake, I thought how great it would be that they could hold the cake for their pictures in the morning and then we could have a piece after school and talk about their day. And, I do love that about it.
For some reason, the fact that I am completely incapable of decorating cakes completely slipped my mind when I started this tradition, and now I am too far into it to go back now. Every year, as I decorate this cake in the wee small hours of the morning (heaven forbid I prepare enough to have it done any earlier), I think, "Next summer, I'll take a cake decorating class and it won't look like a first grader made it." But, I still have not taken a class and the cake looks as ridiculous as ever.
That said, I have had a few friends compliment my decent singing and say to me, "I wish you could sing my kids lullabies at night"... which is always so shocking to me! Your kids DON'T want someone else singing them lullabies. They just want their Moms to sing with them; off-key, scratchy, however it comes out. So... as far as the cake goes, I'll take my own advice and remember: My kids don't care if my cakes aren't pretty. They want Me. My time, My love, and My Ridiculous -looking Cakes.
So, when we sat down after school to have a piece, I didn't even apologize for how pitiful it looked. I just sat with them, ate cake, and listened: Daphne's teacher has a Pirate theme and took their whole class on a treasure hunt all around the whole school! Isaac's whole first day was like on big party... there were only 5 minutes that were boring. :)
After all, these days go by so fast.... I didn't want to miss a word!
Happy Back to School, Y'all!
