suzie

13 days til Kenzo and Suzie start middle school. New kids, new school, new pressures. The whole thing is making my face break out.

Start of middle school haiku

What are you wearing?

Went to Iowa and back on Friday and Saturday. 1100 miles, a visitation, a funeral for a great man, a gathering of relatives, and little sleep.

So glad to be back home.

Some random thoughts from the road:

We are nearing the last day of elementary school for Suzie and Kenzo. This is proving to be more unnerving to me than I expected.

I was in the cafeteria for lunch today and realized that this would probably be the "last time" I had lunch with them in this school where they have been for the last six years. And that the next couple of days will bring lots of lasts...

My mom passed away in 1978. I was 14, and my sister 11. My mom was a great mom who got eaten up by cancer when she was way too young. And so this is the 30th Mothers Day that we did not get to share.

Two weeks til the end of 5th grade for Kenzo and Suzie, then off to the cruel, harsh world that is middle school.

Seems like just yesterday that Kenzo screamed, at the top of her little five-year-old lungs...

"Kindergarten is just an evil plot to keep me from spending time with my Mommy."

Today was Suzie's "IEP day." And not just any "IEP day,"  this was her moving from elementary school to middle school IEP. This was the "leaving all we have known and become comfortable with over the last six years and toss it all to the wind and catapult her to a new school with new teachers and new everything" IEP.

It's here again...it is Suzie's birthday week...And was we went through the list of who she "wrote down" on the list and made out the invitations, it reminded me of something from a while back about Suzie's birthday...and like I said before, maybe if you act nice, Suzie might "write you down" next year.

Every night at bedtime, Suzie likes to have about ten stuffed animals, plus Boomer the dog, join her in bed. She gets snuggled down under the covers with all the animals around her head, and Boomer "down by her piggies."

Met the other morning with an old friend over a cup of coffee to catch up. After we left, I was running through the conversation in my mind, and one little piece stood out.

Him     We have to go later this morning to meet with our child's neurosurgeon.

Suzie and Kenzo are winding down their elementary school years. And as we go through the music programs and "Muffins for Moms" and book fairs...at each of these events there is a part of me that thinks "This is the last time they (or I) will ever do this."