Know how you can....

Do you know how you can tell your kids are back at school? I mean other than the fact that your house is quiet, there aren't sounds of kids fighting coming from outside and the floor stays clean after you vacuum?

For us... it's the fashion show I sit through in exchange for first day of school pictures. They will happily allow me to follow them to the bus with the camera as long as I sit through the fashion show before they leave.

Here's how they looked yesterday:

Eli in his "Angel sports T-shirt" (As he said 'It's an angel wing Mom!') and favorite dark jeans and his birthday present- Real life, not so Mommy budget friendly Vans shoes:

And Liz in her sweet tank (that stayed covered all day or Mommy was gonna shred it) Flashy Pink sweater that was a must if she wanted to wear the Skinny jeans, AKA the not so Mommy happy jeans of today's generation. Oh and we can't forget the 'big girl Hannah Montana' shoes... There isn't a mention anywhere on them that they are Hannah Montana inspired shoes, so it fits her 'gotta be a big girl for the peeps' status, but since that's exactly what they are (at least according to the tag that was on them when we bought them), they also fit that rapidly shrinking part of Elizabeth that wants to stay a little girl...

And this picture is the one that I sat through the fashion show for... them getting on the bus. You know, we always pray for our teachers and for God to guide while they teach our kids. In fact, a lot of schools have prayer meetings for that reason, to pray for the teachers. How often do we stop and pray for (and say thank you) to the men and women who get our children safely to and from school, or the rest of the faculty that effect our kids on a daily basis? Melinda has been our bus driver for the last three years, and a very good friend of mine before we moved to Carnation. And I honestly can't think of anyone else I would gladly intrust my kids to every morning and afternoon. I'm so glad she's our bus driver, and I'm glad she plans on continuing... even though this will be Lizzie's last year, Eli still has 2 more.

You know the biggest thing that proves my kids are in school? The dog. Oscar is a HUGE Mama's dog. He whines and fusses when I leave the house. But when the kids are gone all day, he misses them. You can tell because when they get home, if they leave their backpacks where Oscar can get to them, you will most likely find him sleeping in, on or around them. I think Eli leaves his out purposely for Oscar.

I hope ya'll have a great day. And if you have little ones (or not so little ones) in school, I hope and pray they have good teachers and bus drivers and other faculty that care enough to be where they are right now.

SMOOCHIES YA'LL!!!!!