Cousin Fun and the First Day of "School"

"School" has quotation marks for two reasons:

1. I teach, but not really at "school", rather at a home school group
2. Small One goes to Children's Morning Out while I teach, which is not technically "school", (as my Middle Child keeps pointing out with much eye rolling), but we call it school so she can be more excited over it. (C'mon! Would she be running around saying "Oh BOY!!! Children's Morning Out!!!"? I don't think so.)

Wednesday, Small One's cousin/bff came to play, and they had the kind of giggly, exploratory, exhausting good time I've always had with my cousin/bff. It made me happy and nostalgic all at the same time.I should mention, though, that one of my favorite pictures from this play date does not involve the small one, just her cousin...she's very intent on her task, but look over her shoulder.Yes, friends, something wicked (and furry) this way comes.

Anyway, back to today. Small One got so excited about school that she spent all morning yelling "OH BOY! SCHOOL!" (which sounds, actually, like "Oh Boiyee! Cool!") I love her. I spent last night getting UBERprepared- her bag was packed, my bag was packed, a sack lunch was involved, all things were labeled, I even laid out our clothes the night before. So why was I late? Yeah, one of my shoes went missing. That's how we roll!

Here is a picture of my Small One all ready for school.
Note the piggies on her shirt- those are her piggies, and if you don't believe me, just ask her. "MY Poggies!", she'll tell you. Note, also, the Elmo name tag. ("Melmo! Melmo!") She LOVES that name tag, though not for wearing. She absolutely refuses to wear it, so they went the route of writing her name on masking tape and sticking it to her back. Oh well, so much for the cute name tag.

When I took her to school, she yelled "Bye Bye, Mommy!" and was gone, without a backward glance. I think it was harder on me than it was on her.

My class went well. More students than I expected, which is lovely for my bank account! Bring on the students! Woo! Actually, my classes are still quite light, so I'm hoping that perhaps I'll pick up a few more students next week, when I begin in earnest. This week, I could only teach one class, because I had to pick Small up early, because that's the policy for "first timers".

I hadn't received the books I'd ordered for my class, so I had to sort of wing it today. It went fine, it was a good way to ease into it and get to know the students. I taught Kipling, and you can't go wrong with Kipling. (Maybe that'll be my new motto.) However, much to my bitter chagrin, when the books DID arrive, this afternoon, there were about 5 times as many as I ordered, including a bunch of resource materials I was not expecting... but all for the wrong grade! I guess I got someone else's shipment? What the heck?!?!? Of course, if I'd known that a month ago, I'd have just switched gears and taught a different grade, but now... well, it's an issue, isn't it? I truly hope I can get this resolved by next week, because otherwise, I'm going to look like an idiot. Bah!

When I picked up the Small One, she did not want to leave her school. That's really just SO great. Greater still, I discovered today that I am going to have some days off that she is NOT going to have. 4 whole hours all by myself, roughly once a month- what to do with all that free time?!?!?

An unexpected bonus- she was so worn out from "school" that she slept THREE and a HALF HOURS this afternoon! Woot!

They're SO cute when they're sleeping.