Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool.*

The kids went back to school the third week of August.  They were all feeling good about returning to school, with the older three beginning milestone years: Cat as a senior, Jack as a freshman, and Eliza in her first year of middle school.  I was a little nervous about Luke going to elementary school without a sibling for the first time, but he did just fine!

12th Grade

Too cool for school.
It's the sunglasses + dinosaur lunchbox combination that gets me.

9th Grade

7th Grade

4th Grade

Cat and Jack thought it was funny that I was taking pictures of them.

Eliza, however, was not amused.

Ready to face elementary school on his own.

Luke had a great first day! What was his favorite thing?

This picture is quintessential Cat. Her backpack was so full of books that she had to carry
her big AP Bio textbook home, and since she had soccer practice after
school she also had her soccer backpack (on the front), and of course her shark
lunch bag and Hydroflask.  Love all of it.

2nd day of school

2nd week of school
(Reading for Socratic - Epic of Gilgamish was not his favorite.)

Jack attended his first stomp!
(High school informal dance)

Liza ran for class President!

She spent a lot of time on her speech but due to some

technical difficulties, her speech and some of the other candidates'

speeches were not shown on voting day.  She did not win.

Luke used Eliza's nex 7th grade History of Utah
textbook for some light reading.

I decided to take some me-time while the kids were at school one day...

More homework...

After a few weeks, the kids took school pictures!

Quick story about Luke's picture...

Luke's picture day fell on a day I was out of town. I'd reminded him and Ben over and over again about picture day, hoping they'd take the time to style Luke's hair, which doesn't happen every day.

What I failed to remind either of them about was that Mondays require full dress at Luke's school. That means navy pants, button-down shirt, and school necktie. Since Luke and his older siblings have been going through the same routine every Monday since 2018, I figured everyone in the family knew the drill. I didn't even think about pointing it out.

That night Ben told me how the events of the morning unfolded. The kids got ready for school, Luke's hair was done, and all was well. He dropped Luke off at school, and drove to work.

He got a call at work (Luke knew I wasn't available) that went like this:

School: Luke is wearing a polo shirt.

Ben: Yes, is there a problem?

School: Today is full dress day. He needs to be in his shirt and tie.

Ben: Can he just wear the polo today?

School: Ordinarily, we could make an exception but since it's picture day, he'll need to change. Could you bring his full dress uniform to school and he can change here?

Ben: (not confident that he will grab the right clothes) I'll pick him up in 20 minutes.

So he left work, picked Luke up at school, brought him home to change, dropped Luke off again, and went back to work.

I admit, I was surprised that nobody in the family noticed that Luke was wearing the wrong uniform. But, mornings are hectic and when Mom isn't around, it can throw things off.

It reminded me of this bit by Nate Bargatze:

*And If you didn't catch the reference in the title, it's from Billy Madison.  See this clip -