{progress report}

So after last week's rough start, this week was shaping up to be pretty good. No one woke up with spots, or anything else for that matter. We were settling into a routine. Regular bedtimes, wake-up times, meal times. It was all going pretty well.

These pictures are from Tuesday. Paige and I were trying to figure out what she would wear for picture day on Wednesday. We settled on this outfit. And I took her outside to take a few pictures...you know, just to make sure it would look okay. After a few shots, we both decided we had a winner. And a THANK YOU to Grandma Carol for the SUPER cute outfit!

The next morning was pretty routine. The girls had breakfast, got dressed, got their hair done. NO big deal. Emily asked me if I could drive them to school because she was very tired of being late - their bus driver is not what you would call punctual. Okay, fine. I drove them to school. I waited with Paige until she went in with her class - and only because she begged me not to leave her until then, and then I made my way to the PTO office to get ready to help out with picture day.

So far so good. And that's how the rest of the morning went. Kids came in to get their picture taken, I made sure their hair wasn't sticking up - unless they made it that way on purpose - made sure their shirts were straight, all the general fussing that goes with getting your picture taken. And then Paige's Kindergarten class came in for their pictures. When it was finally Paige's turn, she got up on the platform, got in the pose, and then kind of, lost her cool. She told me "NO!" when I asked her to put her hands where they were supposed to be, and then came the tears. And the screaming. Yep. My kid, you know the one who has had a camera in her face FOREVER, lost her mind on picture day.

It was BAD. She clung to me. Didn't want to smile or even think about having her picture taken. And her teacher - we LOVE you Mrs. Hollinsky! - saw all this going down and took her aside so that we could all get ourselves together. And when I turned around, there was another sweet, adorable, little girl who was also starting to lose it. It took a few minutes, but I managed to talk her off the ledge. I hope her Momma appreciates her picture from that day - because HOLY COW - she was a tough one.

Back to Miss Paige. The ladies - her teacher and our PTO Vice President - managed to talk Paige off the ledge enough to get her picture taken. I did get to see it, and all things considered, it was actually okay. But right after that, Paige lost it again, and had to be dragged back to the classroom by her teacher, all while screaming down the hall, "I want my MOMMY!!!" It broke my heart, but I know that this is a HUGE adjustment period she is going through, and me running down the hall after her was helping no one. So I didn't. I stayed at my post. I did see her teacher a couple hours later, and she said Paige got over it about 1 minute after they got back to the classroom, and was perfectly fine.

So, to sum up the week - 15 successful no spotted wake-ups (Me, and both girls), 10 packed lunches, 10 packed snacks, 1 forgotten rest time mat (oops), 1 forgotten water bottle (oops again), 1 temper tantrum, 1 late night for little girls due to a PTO meeting that was on a Thursday night - Eric works late, 1 sad nine year old who cried when she saw rain this morning, and didn't believe her Mom when she tried to tell her that it was only going to rain in the morning - Friday means an extra 30 minutes of recess, (and BTW - the Momma was RIGHT),1 forgotten tube of chapstick (oops x3) and three tired females. Bedtime is at 9pm tonight for all!